When barely out of his teens, Willy Mason found himself being compared to Bob Dylan, and he was soon touring with famous fans including Radiohead and KT Tunstall.

Tunstall duets with Mason on his new single and a guest spot from her would surely have enlivened this first of two nights in Shepherds Bush.

Instead, it was a solid performance of modern blues and folk from a talented artist with a singularly deep and rattling voice for one so young (he's still only 22).

Mason, who's from Martha's Vineyard off the US east coast, had a slightly dazed presence, but it was largely endearing.

Certainly the fans, including plenty of girls, shouted for him all night despite some hopeless banter and guitar problems.

To his credit, though, Mason never lost sight of his songs - unlike, say, the less focused Ryan Adams - and his dreadlocked viola player Nina Violet gave a rootsy feel to tunes such as Our Town.

She also provided Tunstall's vocal on We Can Be Strong, but the duet veered awkwardly between strident and subdued.

Perhaps the problem was that, with a band he described as "my friends from back home", it was all a bit too easy-going.

When Mason did take charge for a solo version of the hit Oxygen, though, he conjured up a wondrous finale to the evening.