AN UNUSUAL night of music comes to the Subscription Rooms in Stroud this weekend when Keith James plays tribute to The Songs of Nick Drake.

In the early 1970s, Nick Drake went largely unnoticed, as he was assumed to be too fragile, insular and pained to engage with the ebullient post 60s rock scene.

Thirty years on, Drake has become one of the most revered of all British singer/songwriters and his three albums, Five Leaves Left, Bryter Later and Pink Moon, have gone on to sell millions.

It is no surprise that people would want to cover his songs, in a rock world where everyone comes with at least one tribute band punning badly on their name.

Nick Drake, however, has taken a while longer to be honoured in this fashion; this may be because of his perceived fragility, but is as likely to be because of the complexity of his beautiful, simple-seeming songs.

Keith James, who has taken up the challenge of presenting Drake's songs, is himself a highly regarded singer/songwriter and a sought after producer.

He has been receiving much acclaim since he took to the stage with his Nick Drake tribute, with double bass accompaniment from Richard Foot.

The show will be preceded with a showing of A Skin to Few, Jeroen Berkvens' documentary, originally shown on BBC4, detailing the silent landscapes, locations, people and music that haunted the life of an unorthodox loner who died too young in the hope of understanding what drove him.

The Songs of Nick Drake takes place at the Stroud Subscription Rooms on Friday, October 7 at 8pm. Tickets are £10 or £8.50 concessions and are available from the box office.