Open mic nights get their fair amount of stick, but in a UK music scene otherwise ruled by Simons (Fuller and Cowell), the acoustic circuit is the last bastion of democracy.

Anyone with a guitar and a dream can turn up and once their name is on the list, it's up to them to convert their floor spot into a big break.

One star to rise through such ranks is Edwina Hayes, who returns to the Halfmoon this Sunday with fellow singer-songwriter Sam Semple, replacing Hayes' friend Ivor Game who was to play.

"Funnily enough," she recalls, "Ivor was at the first acoustic gig I ever walked into in London, at the Playpen in Earls Court. It was November 1999 and I took my guitar along hoping I could do a couple of songs.

"When I went back the following week, he was headlining and I ended up going every week for a year."

Another Playpen baby of the period was KT Tunstall, earning a not-to-be-sniffed-at £30 a spot. "But her stuff was a lot more ballady in those days," says Hayes, "not quite as rocky as she is now."

Hayes' material could never be classed as rocky - her voice on debut album Out on My Own as sweet as honey in your tea and her music, folk-tinged ballads with a shot of Jack Daniels country attitude.

Dublin-born and Preston raised, she has divided the last six years between London and Nashville, working the acoustic scene in both cities.

"I first went over there in 2000, but it was never to be a big country music star," she says of Tennessee. "I fell in love with the place and its musical community. There's a real coffee shop culture, similar to the London circuit, but it's a lot easier to work a few shifts and write at the same time."

It was out in the States that Hayes first met her longtime idol Nancy Griffiths, with whom she has just toured for a second time. Jools Holland, Van Morrison, Loudon Wainwright III and Daniel Beddingfield are other acts she has supported over the past year.

What of her future ambitions? "I want to make a second album," says the 33-year-old.

"The first one got a lot of support from Bob Harris and Michael Parkinson, but it didn't make the Radio 2 playlist. A big break would be brilliant, of course, but I'm going to keep doing this forever."

In the meantime, her song, I Want Your Love, has featured on the best- selling compilation Acoustic Love, alongside Daniel Powter, Dido and the ubiquitous James Blunt. "I was thrilled to be included on it," says Hayes, "especially because my song was two tracks away from Bob Dylan.

"My greatest ambition would be opening for Bob Dylan, writing a song with him, basically being his best friend! But if I got run over by a bus tomorrow, at least I could say I was on the same CD as him."

  • Edwina Hayes, Halfmoon, 93 Lower Richmond Road, August 13, 8.30pm, £7. Call 020 8780 9383 and visit halfmoon.co.uk or myspace.com/edwinahayes