Beth Orton

It's all in a day's work for the typical hell-raising rock star - but not what you'd expect from chilled-out songstress Beth Orton.

Having recently returned from the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland where she spent time causing havoc with David Holmes and his band The Free Association, Beth is quick to point out that the room-trashing was not typical of her behaviour on tour.

"That's the most rock'n'roll I've ever been," she admits. "Apparently no one's ever done that at Montreux. It's been my most rock 'n' roll touring experience. I also fell in a pond, but that wasn't very rock 'n' roll at all."

And as for the strip-searches? "That was quite bizarre," she states matter-of-factly.

Beth is currently taking her brand of dance-tinged folk music to several festivals across Europe, with performances in Spain and Portugal before the end of the month.

Most recently she has played the Montreux Jazz Festival and Glastonbury. This year's Glastonbury was the best one ever, she reckons.

"I had an absolutely hilarious time" she enthuses.

With all this travelling, Beth admits to missing her beloved UK, and in particular her friends, her house and British TV.

Most of all, though, she confesses to missing the infamous British sense of humour.

"There's a particular humour here, isn't there? I miss English humour, and having a good laugh."

With the combination of rock 'n' roll stories and appearances at the world's most renowned live music events, Beth is living the life of a musician at the peak of their career.

She certainly isn't at ease with any suggestion of being famous, though.

"It makes me a bit self-conscious sometimes. I don't like people knowing me before I know them. I'm am observer, and it becomes a bit weird when you become the one being observed. It's silly. It doesn't make sense."

Since the release of her debut album Trailer Park in 1996 and right up to last year's Daybreaker, Beth has been showered with critical acclaim and countless Mercury and Brit award nominations.

She finally bagged the Best British Female award at the Brits in 2000.

Despite this success, a place in the upper reaches of the top 40 has eluded her - something that Beth sees as a blessing rather than curse.

"I think it puts me in a strong position. If I was to have a number one song, I think that would tie me to a certain thing, and I'm actually in situation where I can do whatever I want."

Beth's priority is the quality of her song-writing as opposed to the number of units sold.

"I think it frustrates my record label sometimes," she jokes. "I'm not out to get number ones, I'm out to write the best songs in the whole wide world. That's my goal. I just want to be a really good songwriter, to touch loads of people and inspire them, and make them want to change their life! Something like that."

Fairly grand aims, but with the range of genre-spanning artists Beth is renowned for working with - from Terry Callier to the Chemical Brothers and even hip-hop diva Princess Superstar - she has a huge fan-base to touch and inspire.

Beth Orton is at The Anvil, Basingstoke on 31 July. Performance: 7.45pm. Tickets: £17.50. Box office: 01256 844244.