AS he prepares for the release of his new album, Hayes Carll has found a rare opportunity to bring his trio to the UK for five intimate live shows, including Pocklington Arts Centre on September 11.

Hayes Carll is an odd mix. Wildly literate, impossibly romantic, absolutely a slave to the music, he is completely committed to the truth and unafraid to skewer pomposity, hypocrisy and small-minded thinking.

In a world of shallow and shallower, where it’s all groove and gloss, that might seem a hopeless proposition. “Another Like You”, Carll’s stereotype’s attract duet of polar opposites, was American Songwriter’s number one song of 2011.

Carll connects with music lovers across genres lines. Playing rock clubs and honkytonks, Bonnaroo, Stones Fest, SXSW and NXNE, he and his band merge a truculent singer/songwriter take that combines Ray Wylie Hubband’s lean freewheeling squalor with Todd Snider’s brazen Gen Y reality and a healthy dose of love among unhealthy people.

“I guess you could say I write degenerate love songs,” Carll said.

“That, and songs about people who’re wedged between not much and even less; people who see how hopeless it is and somehow make it work anyway. And the best kind of irony, sometimes, is applying no irony and letting reality do the work.”

Carll was born in Houston, and released his debut album, Flowers & Liquor in 2002. He then topped the US Americana charts with his self-released Little Rock before reaching a wider international audience with the stunning Trouble In Mind in 2008.

Fiercely individual, Carll’s banged-up take on classic country is honed by the road – sometimes as a man and guitar, sometimes with his scrappy band, but always taking in the vistas and humanity before him.

To book tickets, phone Pocklington Arts Centre on 01759 301547 or go to pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk