IT IS her experience growing up in the Deep South which made Lauren Pritchard the artist she is. That and her friendship with the daughter of The King.

Straight outta Jackson, Tennessee, she was immersed in a world of playing piano and AmDram.

At 15 she moved to Los Angeles and hit the bar circuit. Finding herself broke and homeless, her break came when she was taken in by her friend’s mum – Lisa Marie Presley.

“I know all of the things that have happened to me wouldn’t have happened if the Presleys hadn’t offered me a place to stay,” she reflects.

She went on to land a role in a New York musical, Spring Awakening, and was signed by Sony – which saw her as a tween-friendly pop-R&B act. She wasn’t into it. The day I realised things had gone awry was when the label told me I needed to look hot,” she said.

Teaming up with songwriter Eg White, she moved to London and signed with Island, cutting bluesy Mumford & Sons collaboration When The Night Kills The Day, and her soulful anthem Wasted In Jackson.

“I remember writing the song and thinking, ‘oh my town’s really gonna hate me...’ But it really isn’t necessarily meant as a backhand to my town.

“You could insert any town name anywhere in the world and you can be sure that there’ll be kids who feel the need to move away, to escape what’s comfortable and head out into the land of the great unknown. I love where I’m from so much. But I needed to get away from that place, to get to the place where I am now.”

Lauren plays the Jericho Tavern in Oxford on Sunday.