Chantel McGregor

Chantel McGregor plays Southside on Thursday 19 November, with the show starting at 19:30. It's a solo bill, so she's the only name on the poster for the night.

McGregor is a guitarist from the deep south of a major Yorkshire city, and her background is a bit of a story in itself. She started in the blues, but that eventually turned her towards rock. Along the way, a major label once told her she had a great voice but that girls didn't play guitar like that. She ignored them, enrolled at the Leeds College of Music, and became the first student in the college's history to get a 100% pass mark at BTEC, with 18 distinctions. She left with a First Class Honours degree in Popular Music and the college's musician of the year award.

Her debut album, Like No Other, came out in 2011, followed by Lose Control in October 2015 on her own independent label, Tis Rock Music. Since then she's returned with ten new songs that salute contemporary rock and show her moving from conventional blues to a harder, bolder rock sound with progressive influences. It's a shift you can hear in the newer material, and the set will draw from that transition.

Fans describe her as a talented guitarist who travels the country year after year, backed by her Yorkshire humour. The gig is at Southside (the former St Katherine's Church) on Colegrave Street, LN5 8DW, and tickets are £19.80 including fees, which works out to around £18 face value.