TENNESSEE-born musician Earl Thomas is kicking off the spring-summer season at the Brontë Blues Club.

Earl and his seven-piece band The Royal Guard will perform at the club’s venue, Laycock Village Hall, on April 24.

Club spokesman Maggie Marsden said Earl was an internationally-renowned, festival-heading showstopper, who previously played the Brontë Blues Club in 2012.

She said: “In our tiny venue it’s sure to be a stage-extended packed night with tickets for this acclaimed singer-songwriter in hot demand. At the time of writing only a handful of tickets remain.”

In 1991, just before reaching the age of 30, Earl recorded ‘Blue..Not Blues’, a record strongly influenced by his parents' love of blues and gospel music and his own affinity for '60s and '70s soul.

Coming up on May 22 will be UK band The Producers, who according to Blues In Britain magazine perform “apparently effortless, cool, smooth blues for connoisseurs”.

There will be a special Ladies Of The Blues night on June 26 with club favourite Kyla Brox and, from Australia, Fiona Boyes and her band.

The women will celebrate the work of the “greatest songwriter in blues history” during a Willie Dixon Centenary Night on June 26.

The current season ends on July 10 with Moreland & Arbuckle, a hard-rocking blues trio from the Kansas heartlands.

House band BBC5 will provide support to all the gigs.

Tickets, which cost between £12 and £18, are available by visiting bronteblues.com, calling 07773 637325, or calling at the Turkey Inn in Goose Eye.