You don’t have to be miserable to sing the blues, Delta Maid tells Laura Davis ahead of her two Liverpool gigs

SWAP the Mississippi for the Mersey, the front porch for a Wavertree bedroom and the Deep South railroad for Merseyrail’s Northern Line.

Then imagine not a blind, ageing former cotton picker whose fingers caress the frets of his sun-bleached guitar, but a pretty, blonde 25-year-old with a degree in vascular science and you pretty much have Delta Maid.

Real name Katie Foulkes, the Liverpool-born singer-songwriter is an unlikely exponent of the blues. She had a happy childhood, encouraging family and the advantages of a university education. But she dismisses any suggestion that she has not yet lived enough to understand the genre.

“People are surprised when I say I love blues, but I don’t get why,” says the former St Julie’s pupil.

“My mum and dad were always into electric blues, like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Bonnie Raitt, and they were always buying imports.

“I remember them coming back with Rory Block, Best Blues And Originals, and because it was a woman on the cover, and nondescript, I took it with me on holiday. I listened to nothing else for two weeks, and then went about searching out all the original artists.”

Delta started listening to the blues at the age of 13, but it took until her late teens before she picked up a guitar.

At her family’s suggestion, she began gigging around Manchester, as well as playing a couple of concerts at The Picket in Liverpool, where she came up with her pseudonym.

“I was just playing for myself in my bedroom before my mum made me do this charity show,” says Delta.

“I was never part of any scene in Liverpool, and no one really knew who I was or was doing anything similar to me.

“I had dreamed of being a singer, but I’d kind of decided that it was never going to happen for me.

“People told me to go on The X Factor, but I never saw the point. I had a decent voice and could play a few tunes on the guitar, but I wasn’t complete. I want to be me, and be in the realm of all the singer-songwriters that have inspired me. The X Factor just moulds people.”

The slow road paid off. Delta’s debut album, Outside Looking In, was released on Monday and she began her first UK headline tour last week after supporting household names including Ellie Goulding, Martha Wainwright and Gary Barlow.

She has two concerts lined up in Liverpool this month – at the Masque on May 14 and St Luke’s “Bombed Out” Church on May 19, the latter as part of the Sound City music festival.

“I’ve done a fair few support tours and things, but never headlined all my own shows before,” she says.

“It’s a massive new experience, and getting people to come and see just me is really exciting, and more relaxing that a support slot, too. When you’re supporting, you have a small amount of time to win over the crowd, but I think I can relax a bit more now.”

And does she have the blues, as well as sing them?

“I’m not sure, really,” says Delta.

“I would say I’m a deep thinker and things affect me, but then put that next to what the blues musicians were going through in the 1930s and there just isn’t a comparison.

“I’m very wary of even saying that. I come from a good family and have good friends, but things get me down the same as anyone else.”

DELTA Maid plays the Masque on May 14 and St Luke’s “Bombed Out” Church on May 19, as part of the Sound City music festival.