AWARD-winning blues artist Laurence Jones has launched his new album in Shipston.

Jones, aged 24, from Shipston, who has won Young Artist of the Year twice at the British Blues Awards, launched his new album “Take Me High” at Shipston’s Townsend Hall to a packed venue of excited fans, introduced by local music promoter and Shipston Proms chairman Tim Porter.

The Townsend Hall has a particular place in Jones's heart as it is the first place he played live, aged 12, in the Shipston Proms Fame Contest.

Two years later aged 14 he took the covered prize, which included a slot on the stage of the last night of the Shipston Proms in front of nearly 1,000 locals in the town’s square.

He was encouraged to start playing the guitar, aged 11, when he heard his father Mel Jones playing the Animals hit “House of the Rising Sun”.

As he said before the gig “I decided then after hearing my dad playing the Animals song that I wanted to see if I could be a better guitarist."

So he started learning classical guitar, before moving onto local gigs at pubs such as The George in Lower Brailes.

He said: "I decided that I need to sing as well as play blues guitar, so have been singing with my band since I was 16.”

He got his first record deal aged 18, after deciding to cut short his music degree studies to go touring with Jonny Winter, with the highlight of playing at the Royal Albert Hall with Eric Burdon. As Burdon was part of the Animals the story had gone full circle.

For the last five years he has been signed to Ruf Records and managed by Golly Gallagher, and since 2014 has been touring in UK, Europe and North America almost continually. He played this summer at the North Sea Jazz Festival at the Ahoy venue in Rotterdam, sharing the stage with Simply Red and Level 42 amongst others.

Jones was supported by local 5 piece band Jüpitronz, with Shipston born keyboard player Darren Clarke. The rest of the line-up was Steve Eagles (vocals/guitar), Chris Danby (vocals/bass guitar), Claire Hemingway (vocals) and Dean Phillips (drums). They played an energetic set with “Time on my Side”, “Alive” and “Curse of the Green Monkey” the stand-outs.

Jones and his band: Roger Inniss, bass and Phil Wilson, drums, took to the stage to a rapturous welcome to a packed hall.

They wowed the crowd with live versions of tracks from his new album including the title track “Take Me High”, “Got No Place to Go” and “Live it Up”.

He then played “Down and Blue” with pyros at the end as a tribute to all Crohn's disease suffers, one of which is Jones.

Next he will headline the Mold Blues Festival before more dates in Europe and the USA.