CERYS MATTHEWS' first gig in Wales in two years is more than just a stop-off: she's coming home. The Pembrokeshire singer - who kicks off a UK tour tomorrow with a sold-out concert in Llangollen as part of the town's Fringe Festival - is moving back to her homeland with husband Seth and their children Glenys Pearl and Johnny Jones. Cerys, who started as a busker in Bangor before becoming one of the stars in Britpop as frontwoman with Welsh band Catatonia, next month releases her second solo album Never Said Goodbye, the follow-up to 2003's Cockahoop. The title couldn't be more apt: she is eyeing a move from her home of five years in Nashville back to West Wales, to bring up her children "the Welsh way". She says her daughter "talks with a pure southern accent - southern Tennessee, not South Wales." She wants her children "to have the experience of being brought up by the sea, and to get instilled in the Welsh ways. "I miss the news, I miss the eccentricity and the individuality and the education of people and I miss the sea. So for all those things we hotfoot back." Cerys moved to Tennessee following the split of Catatonia, who had hits with Mulder And Scully and Road Rage. After 10 years of touring and aspell in rehab she says she "fell in love with the place", although eventually the religious fanaticism of the Deep South got to her. "It's bloody strange," she says. "People proclaim what they believe on these bumper stickers and on the church signs on the roadsides, and there's people gathering strength from the Bible but not being very Christian at all. It's not about love - it's about fear and about prejudice, and it just doesn't add up. It's almost the polar opposite in Wales, where it's the old ladies, isn't it, that go to chapel. There's something very old-fashioned and it's so sweet, the religion in Wales." She says motherhood has helped her grow as a song writer. "I thought having a baby for some reason was going to be the end," she says: "I just thought it was going to be a different chapter. But then, actually, I feel alot happier with making music than ever before." Her new album includes two songs written with Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys, from Bethesda. One of the songs, Elen, she describes as "like an opium trip back home", adding: "It makes the album around. It starts off in this song about New York, goes south, and then there's this trip back down memory lane, about old horsemen being drawn back home by an old lady playing the piano, going 'Come home for rest and respite'. "I like that," she sighs. "I like that end to it all." . Cerys Matthews' sold-out concert is at Llangollen Town Hall, tomorrow at 8pm. Her single Open Roads is out on August 7, with her album Never Said Goodbye released on August 21, both on Rough Trade | 
