JAKE Bugg will return to Southampton for the first time in five years after announcing 16 new dates in 2018 for his solo acoustic tour.

The Nottingham born singer appears at The O2 Guildhall on Sunday March 11 to support his critically acclaimed fourth top ten album Hearts That Strain, which was was released to critical and audience acclaim earlier this month.

Recorded in Nashville with Grammy award winning producers David Ferguson and Matt Sweeney and session musicians who worked with Elvis Presley and Dusty Springfield, this latest compilation is a return to country rock for Jake after his take on hip hop, dance beats and other diverse sounds on last year’s album On My One.

Last month the 23 year-old played Victorious Festival which saw one of the first live performances of latest single How Soon the Dawn alongside hits from his back catalogue like Lightning Bolt, Seen It All, Gimme The Love and Broken.

The tour, which begins in Europe next month, also has dates in Reading, Brighton and at The London Palladium.

Bugg picked up the guitar at the age of 12, and within a year he was composing his own songs.His first single Lightning Bolt became a smash hit in 2012 before he reached the age of 20.

Disinterested in the hip-hop and grime that dominated the listening habits of his peers, he turned to the classics for inspiration. Bugg’s first brush with recognition came at the age of 17, when a local DJ began spinning one of the cuts he uploaded to BBC Introducing, a program that supports “unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar musicians.” An invitation to play Glastonbury arrived shortly thereafter, and before he knew it, he was supporting acts like Lana Del Ray, Example, and Michael Kiwanuka, and had inked a deal with Mercury. His first single, “Lightning Bolt,” arrived in early 2012, while his debut, the eponymously titled Jake Bugg, appeared in October of the same year and featured production work from former Snow Patrol collaborator Iain Archer.

Tickets are on pre-sale from today and go on general sale Friday at academymusicgroup.com or 023 8063 2601.

Raised on a steady diet of the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and the brothers Gallagher, English singer/songwriter Jake Bugg blends the melodious, working-class swagger of the La’s and the primal, bluesy simplicity of the White Stripes with the wry, weathered romanticism of Jens Lekman. Born in Nottingham,