EVERY once in a while Bournemouth produces an exciting musician that takes the world by storm.

Think Blur’s Alex James riding the Britpop charge in the 90s or Klaxons’ Jamie Reynolds winning the Mercury Music Award in 2007.

Singer-songwriter Drew Allen is also on a mission and 24Seven thinks the 23-year-old from Winton is destined for a big future.

Drew’s honest lyrics and stripped down guitar sound is steadily winning him a growing fan base.

A year and half ago, Drew gave up a well-paid job building supercars for McClaren and moved back to his hometown to make music.

Since his return, Drew’s song-writing has been prolific and he has just released his debut album, Sydney Afternoon.

“I had to leave it all behind.

“I’m driven to make music now and I can’t do anything else. The album is out, but I’ve only scratched the surface,” says Drew.

His contemporary folk sound is individual and effortlessly blends meaningful lyrics with an immediate style of acoustic guitar work that reaches out to audiences across differing ages and tastes.

He started playing acoustic guitar at eight years old, learning tabs from Bob Dylan chord books and rocking out to Thin Lizzy and AC/DC.

You can hear this melting pot of influences in his music, which even includes literary references to Dorset’s Thomas Hardy. But it’s on stage that Drew’s music and raw talent comes to life. With a handful of live shows under his belt this year that included the new act stage at Glastonbudget festival in May.

Jake Bugg failed the audition here, while Drew was accepted.

“Dylan started it all for me and I’m writing at the rate he did when he started out.”

It will surely now only be a matter of time before Drew is snapped up by a major record label. Make sure you catch Drew Allen performing at the Cellar Bar in Boscombe on Thursday night, as his continues his quest to put Bournemouth back on the musical map. The album Sydney Afternoon is currently available on iTunes and is well-worth a listen, please see drewallen.co.uk for more information.