In Glasgow, where I used to live (Partick, since you asked) it's compulsory to have a nickname - a bit like the Native Americans, who traditionally wait till they know who you are before they give you a name. I was given the nickname Woodstock by a man called Mr Simpson and soon everyone was calling me that because it seemed to suit me. After that I decided to call my band Woodstock Taylor but people kept assuming that the whole name referred to me personally so I decided I might as well give in to the pressure. Just call me Ms Taylor.

Give me a microphone and an audience and I'm happy. I love the buzz of a big crowd, and also really enjoy playing small clubs where you can see people's faces. Once I played a set in a railway carriage when we got stuck for several hours en route between Durham and Darlington. The train staff provided free soft drinks and it was all very jolly.

The internet is the best thing to happen to ordinary working musicians since the dawn of rock and roll. Apart from the music itself, of course. Anyone can make their music available online, without having to worry about whether it conforms to fashion or has mass appeal. This is good for audiences too because they have more choice. And quite apart from that it's brought together scores of musicians who would never otherwise have met. If that ain't a global village Mr McLuhan's been pullin' my chain.

I'd need to read the small print first, but if the money and conditions were right, of course I would. Next question?

Woodstock Taylor began writing songs at the piano and playing in restaurants in 1990. She appeared in two one-woman shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before taking up the guitar 15 years ago.

Half French and half British, she grew up in London and is now based in Edinburgh.

After BBC Radio One featured one of her songs in a documentary, Politics and Pop, presented by Billy Bragg, she attended the first of several songwriting workshops led by Kinks songwriter Ray Davies.

Since then she has been a regular performer at a wide range of venues in Scotland and England, both as a solo artist and fronting a variety of different lineups. Many of her songs have been played on BBC Radio and she has supported a number of well-known artists.

In 2002 her debut album, Road Movie (Woodstock Taylor & The Aliens), produced by 60s legend Zoot Money and featuring an allstar bill of British bluesmen, was released on the Cuppa Records label.

Woodstock has also fronted her own band, Alien Kabaret, in two different incarnations. The first, which included guitar virtuoso and fellow songwriter John Peacock and cellist Stephen Hughes, enjoyed some success on the London indie scene between 1999-2000. A more recent Edinburgh-based lineup, featuring "Accordion Pete" Garnett, morphed into a contemporary folk project to provide a European twist to some of her more melodic songs. Live appearances at cabaret and experimental theatre venues in Scotland were enthusiastically received, with appearances at the Wickerman Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

More recently Woodstock has been seen acting and singing in various guises in alternative cabaret and fringe theatre as well as performing solo gigs and working as a backing singer for a number of different live and studio projects. She is currently working with producer Stuart Epps towards a new studio album. Slowly, as it is self-financed, but surely.

Ray Davies, Marianne Faithfull, Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, Pink Floyd, XTC, Alexis Korner, Derek Taylor, Jack Bruce, Pete Brown, BB King, Woody Guthrie, Jacques Brel, Michelle Shocked, Maria Muldaur, Michael Marra, Roy & Nick Harper, John Martyn, Gerry Rafferty, Kate Bush, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Spencer Davies, Pete York, Geddy Lee, Edith Piaf, John Peacock, Damon Gough, Kirsty MacColl, Maria McKee, Donovan and Zoot Money - and I don't sound like any of them. I don't look like any of them either.

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner...
Glasgow for audiences, Venice for romance, Toronto for jazz, Vancouver for views, France for food, Berlin for ideas, Edinburgh for my back garden, East Anglia and Mill Hill Park for my soul.

Voice, mike and anything else I can get to work at the time.

Only sweat the small stuff.