If Catherine Feeny was an explorer, she would wade into crocodile-infested waters and emerge without a scratch. She pulls off a similar feat in pop, venturing into Phil Collins's back catalogue and coming back with a surprisingly stark and intimate version of In the Air Tonight. She then informs the crowd: "No Jacket Required was one of the first albums I bought when I was a kid." No one ridicules her; they just whoop and applaud, which suggests the American singer-songwriter must be doing something right. But then, Feeny's instincts and childlike innocence serve her well.

Her sweet song Mr Blue, which tells of the painful decision to dump a beloved boyfriend, became a US download No 1. Then, even though American TV programmes were starting to use her music, she made the baffling decision to relocate to Norfolk. However, Mr Blue is now being playlisted on Radio 2, and the more relaxed environs may suit her as she pines for an America long gone - as on New York in the 70s, where she sings of "carefree days, even though they don't seem so at the time" and of children of different races being able to hold hands in the street. In contrast, Unsteady Ground was written "just before the United States started the Iraq war". Events since have proved her right.

It will be interesting to hear where the girl with the silver dress and crystal voice goes next; Hurricane Glass hints at a possible Lucinda Williams-y rock direction. In the meantime, it's a triumph of sorts that she can have an audience of cool Mancunians fretting that maybe they always liked Phil Collins after all.

· At Norwich Arts Centre tonight. Box office: 01603 660352. Then touring.