* THE name may not be familiar yet – but, believe us, it soon will be. With a minimum of fanfare Oxford-born singer-songwriter Lewis Watson has established himself as the next big thing.

Possessed of a self-assured songwriting-style, relaxed delivery and an engaging voice, he is destined to be the city’s next big musical export.

He has already attracted three million YouTube hits and his EP (the-honestly titled It’s Got 4 Sad Songs On It btw) out sold Adele, Madonna and Coldplay on its release, reaching Number 10 in the iTunes album chart and Number One on the singer-songwriter chart – above Ed Sheeran, Ben Howard and Laura Marling. Still only 19, Lewis started playing as a hobby at a young age. He says: “I got a guitar and started covering lots of songs. I would put them up on my blog or YouTube, as I didn’t think I was ready to perform them to an audience.

“I then started getting some very generous feedback and things went from there.”

Lewis plays the O2 Academy on Saturday for the latest installment of the venue’s Upstairs nights, held in association with BBC Oxford Introducing. Also on the bill are Adam Barnes, Jasmine Hill, Gavroche and Alex Lanyon.

 * FANS of the Doors will be able to sing their hearts out to such classics as Riders on the Storm and Strange Days courtesy of one of the country’s finest tribute bands. They may hail from Milton Keynes, not Los Angeles, but in every respect The Strange Doors sound like the real deal – bashing out The Lizard King’s finest tunes along with expert improvisation. They play Fat Lils in Witney tomorrow. Tickets are £7 from wegottickets.com

 * Congratulations go to Truck festival organiser Ralph Broadbent and his team from Y Not Festival, who picked up an award for best small festival for their sister event in Derbyshire at the UK Festival Awards this week.

The guys had also been nominated for best promoter for their work in saving Truck from financial collapse.

Despite not winning, respect also goes to the organisers of Wilderness, which took place at Cornbury Park in August, which was nominated in both the best small festival and best family festival categories; and Gathering, which took place in East Oxford in October, which was nominated for best new festival and best metropolitan festival.