AWARD-winning folk legend Martin Simpson is heading to Barnsley for what promises to be an intimate and emotional gig.

At the Birdwell Venue on November 8, Martin - who was nominated for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 32 times, winning Musician of the Year twice - will be revisiting tracks from his 40-year-long career.

This won’t be the Lincolnshire-born talent’s first trip to Barnsley however, having previously headlined Cawthorne’s Underneath the Stars Festival - while this show will obviously be a smaller affair, Martin assures fans he’s still going to give it his all.

“When I’m not doing full on tours I always make sure I’ve got a number of gigs lined up,” he told the Chronicle.

“I love doing it but it’s also essential.

“If you’re an athlete and you don’t keep running you cease to be a good athlete and it’s the same with music.

“I love what I do and I really do want to be the best that I can be.

“Wherever I go, I go in there to give people the very best performance I can - it doesn’t make a difference if I’m playing for 70,000 people at a festival or 700 at a village hall.”

Known for producing more emotional tunes, Martin says that he feels ‘privileged’ to have sparked such strong responses in his fans.

“There’s a joke that all I do is make people cry - but I think there’s a truth to that and it’s important that my music affects people.

“I’m known as a very good guitar player and I’m proud of that, but it’s always been in service of the message of the song.

“When I’m on stage I have mental images of the people who inspired me - I think of being a little kid when my mother would play us records.

“I thought it was magical that people could sing onto a piece of vinyl and it would make me feel all these different emotions.”