Will Varley @ La Belle Angele, Edinburgh, 2 Feb

It’s taken Will Varley a long time to get where he is. While in recent years his stock has risen thanks to support slots with the likes of Frank Turner, Billy Bragg and The Proclaimers, he’s been making music for a decade-and-a-half and in that time he's developed a larger than life persona that is perfectly suited to his simple but engaging songs.

First up tonight is a duo who, at least in their latest guise, seem to be on something of a meteoric rise. Ida Mae are a young and recently married duo making rough-and-ready blues that drinks deeply from Jack White’s favourite early 20^th century bluesmen, Son House and Howlin’ Wolf. Though formerly part of garage rockers Kill It Kid, in their new clothes they only have one track available online, the raucous Feel Them Getting Closer, but today they’re in a celebratory mood: their record deal was signed today.

Switching between an amped up acoustic and a steel resonator guitar, Chris Turpin is an adept songwriter with the soul-blues voice of Steve Winwood, while Stephanie Jean adds wispy vocals and bangs her tambourine like Stevie Nicks. Easily Alone was inspired by their time in the Mississippi Delta, where they were mistaken for a lesbian couple, but it’s startling how believably authentic they are for a duo from the wrong side of the Atlantic. Expect to hear a lot more from Ida Mae in the future.

Our headliner Will Varley seems to be having a great time on the road. Venues are getting bigger and he’s brought his backing band along to add heft to tracks from his soon-to-be-released fifth album. An early airing of Weddings and Wars sets the scene for an artist who is both a student of history and a keen observer of human nature, while The Man Who Fell to Earth – about a nineteen-year-old who died smuggling himself to the UK aboard an aircraft – is gently heartbreaking.

La Belle Angele suits Varley well as a venue. It’s not quite full but his vocals sound great and after a career mostly spent playing to three people at open mics, he seems genuinely grateful that paying punters are here to see him. Despite his prodigious work rate, not every track is a success. I Got This Email – essentially a riff on the Nigerian Prince scam – feels pretty frivolous, but it does inspire Varley to attempt an on-the-fly Scottish rewrite, complete with a crap (but enthusiastic) Scottish accent.

Similarly his anti-politics screed We Don’t Believe You is pretty unsophisticated, but at least the crowd can chant along to its catchy refrain. Reaching the end of the evening, King for a King is given a new poignancy as Varley announces he is set to become a dad, but it’s the closing Seize the Night with its exhortation to make the most of the time we have, that best captures the spirit of a singer delighted to find himself in appreciative company.