I've been couped-up far too long in my parents old house, helping my dear ol' mumsie convalesce from her operation. Its like being nineteen again, but without the going out, getting pissed and trying to get a shag part. So when I blagged Jennifer Delaney to see her gig with Daniel Ward Murphy at the Troubadour, it would be the first time in a few weeks that I would see a show.

The Troubadour looks like a tapas restaurant on the inside, but with banjos hanging from the ceiling. I'm drinking a mango and pomegranate smoothie, watching the coarse hairdos of the performers march to and fro for their soundchecks. I met Jennifer on-line through my producer, so I wasn't entirely sure what she looked like. When a good-looking girl with a 50's bowl haircut walks in, I'm not entirely sure if its her, so I wait for her entourage to sit down and have a good look before I walk over. Fortunately, I guessed right.

Officially, I'm there to listen to the show to see if we'd work together well for a collaboration, but after the first sound-check song there's no doubt of their quality. Jen and Daniel have been working together for some time, which clearly shows in their playful rapport on stage. In contrast to the multitude of melancholy musicians playing an acoustic venue, they looked as though they were having fun, enjoying themselves; the performance rarely without a smile.

We remove to the restaurant where the band tuck into pie+mash. I enjoy chatting with Annette Menke, a songwriter who is accompanying me for the show. I talk of my own relatively modest experience with song-writing, particularly lyric-writing, which is the part I find the hardest. She tells me of her approaches to writing, and assures me when she says all songwriters have to work at lyrics. We sit at the back of the show, swapping critical observations of the performances like music connoisseurs.

Listening to the artists at the Troubadour for the Rough Sketch event, I was asked why its taken so long to find someone for the show. I guessed it was because we set the bar so high, but Annette immediately dismissed it- I should never settle for second-best. In hindsight, I think it might be because we're looking for something so specific, its like a chef dipping his finger into his concoction, knowing it needs something, but not sure what it is until he tastes it.

All of the acts on the bill had excellent voices. Normally, acoustic shows are high-quality, but all of the acts were in voice and everything translated well in the small, in-your-face venue. The only downside was that the management had apparently employed Rolls Royce to make their hand-dryers in the next-door toilets, providing an audible back-drop throughout the sets, that sounded like a pad going through a high-pass filter. I thought this mechanical backing would be mentioned on the bill, but I didn't see anyone listed as “So-and-so and the hand-dryers”.

For fans of Jen and Dan (whom judging by the reception they got when they went on-stage were numerous), it was a buy-one-get-one-free; Daniel did backing vocals for Jen in a half-hour set and vice versa. Backed by a cellist and percussionist, I was impressed how they managed to bring some diversity into the set. At acoustic shows, I usually expect five or six more-or-less identical songs on a guitar, with perhaps a capo or a harmonica to snap me out of a daydream. What I got was a subtle flavouring of different influences. One song reminded me closely of Oasis' Wonderwall, others a more intricate ballad reminiscent of Nick Drake, right through to country music.

I see why Daniel is one of the thirty-odd artists to have sold fifty thousand parts on Sellaband. The songs are just poppy enough to be instantly catchy, with memorable lyrics and melodies, yet the instrumentation and subject matter is still rooted in the Troubadour-end of the music circuit; a more refined and intelligent side than thrashy lager-spilling indie-wannabies. We leave at the end entertained and inspired, and agree to keep in touch ahead of our collaboration. I wonder how I will draw them away, maybe I'll ask them if they need a keyboardist instead.