Roll over Joan Baez, and tell Odetta the news: There's a powerful new folk singer on the scene, and her name is... Holly Golightly?

Wait a minute. The same Holly Golightly who emerged in the early '90s with garage band Thee Headcoatees, part of Billy Childish's stable of collaborators? The UK singer-songwriter who has churned out 12 long-playing records since going solo in 1995, plus countless singles and EPs (compiled on the 2001 anthology Singles Round-Up)? The dynamic chanteuse who joined Jack White for "It's True That We Love One Another" on Elephant?

Yup. Holly--who performs at the Crocodile on Tuesday, October 26--may describe her own sound as "punk rock with harmonies," but iTunes says otherwise. Pop her new CD, Slowly but Surely into the computer, and there it is, in the genre column: Folk.

Golightly laughs at this revelation. "I'm branching out and I don't even know it!" Still, this categorization does contain a kernel of truth. "Everything I like is based on American folk music," she concedes. "I don't like European folk music at all. The sound of bagpipes is like a cat sliding down glass. And when I hear an Irish jig, all I think of is all the pubs where I've seen people being thrown through doors as I pass by."

Holly doesn't warble "We Shall Overcome" on Slowly, but she does continue mining the U.S. roots music traditions that have informed her previous work. She renders three '60s blues and R&B classics with notable vocal aplomb: Little Willie John's "My Love Is," Randy Hobb's title tune, and "Mother Earth" by Memphis Slim. She's been waiting 10 years to record the latter two. "I didn't reckon we could do a good job with them before," she admits. "But I am so happy with how they came out."

Golightly credits her improved singing to her explorations into another roots-music form. "I joined a gospel choir a couple years ago," she discloses. "I wanted to sing with other people, people who could really sing." Alas, touring and recording commitments have kept her from Tuesday-night practices of late. "I feel bad, because I went to such great trouble to be let in. What the choir master liked about me was that I knew a lot of old gospel songs, and everyone in the choir was into more modern music."

"All the older women the choir, these big, 20-stone black ladies, were all lovely and welcomed me with open arms, although I think they thought I was a bit of a novelty," she continues. Did they have any idea she was a recording artist? Nope. "I only let the cat out of the bag when some recording came up, and it struck me that I'd made friends with all these people who could sing, and thought, 'It would be amazing to get them in to do some backing vocals.'" That hasn't happened yet, but don't be taken aback if Holly's next album pops up on your computer screen in a different column: Gospel/Religious.

kurt@thestranger.com