RusBy Babe

IF folk music can be said to have superstars, then they would certainly include Kate Rusby.

With her wistful vocals, disarming honesty and striking looks, the girl known in her Yorkshire hometown as the Barnsley Nightingale is a captivating performer who has achieved what would have seemed unthinkable a few years ago – making folk music not just cool...but sexy.

Her engaging music draws in and transports you; and she has that rare knack of making every song sound like it is directed at you. Personally.

It’s a reason why, 10 years ago, at the age of just 26, she was named one of the Top Ten Folk Voices of the last century.

Yet, despite her off-stage candour and cheeky on-stage banter, this Mercury Music Prize-nominated singer remains understated, modest, even shy; a down-to-earth Pennine girl who shuns the trappings of music industry success – and excess – and has stayed close to her roots. When she’s not on the road, that is.

On Sunday, she comes to Oxford for a gig in the distinctly un-folky surrounds of the city’s New Theatre. So what can fans expect?

“Ooh, a little bit of everything!” she laughs. “Old songs, new songs, old songs with new tunes, new songs with old tunes, tunes, sad songs, happy songs...

“They can expect guitars, banjos, basses, accordions, tenor guitars, chatting, laughing, fairy lights, dresses, suits...the list goes on.”

Her music veers between traditional and self-penned. So, which does she prefer?

“My first love is the traditional side of things, but I do enjoy writing too so I will probably always be a bit of both. I like the challenge of taking an old song and making it my own, re-telling an old story, bringing it to life again. I have never really thought of myself as a songwriter though, they just seem to pop out of my head late at night.”

As Kate’s reputation has grown, so has her influence beyond the folk scene – a factor which has spread new English folk to audiences who previously dismissed traditional acoustic music as the preserve of bearded pot-bellied men with tankards on their belts and fingers in their ears.

“It’s always lovely when different things come along,” she says. “I have been very lucky.”

They include performing the theme tune to Jennifer Saunder’s TV show Jam And Jerusalem (a cover of the Kinks’s Village Green Preservation Society), providing the soundtrack to Scottish road-movie Heartlands and writing music for children’s programme Jack Frost. Oh, and the small matter of that duet with heartthrob Ronan Keating. The track, All Over Again, reached number six in the charts; not bad for a girl who started off playing guitar, fiddle and piano on the edge of the Peak District.

So, who does she consider her biggest influences?

“My parents,” she says. “They were always playing and singing around the house and in the car. So me, my brother and sister were picking up songs from the word go.”

And family has remained important to Kate. In fact, she admits, her whole career is run along the lines of a family business.

“Years ago, when I was first thinking of making a record, lots of people were saying be careful, and telling me not to sign my life away. I thought ‘this is folk music; surely everyone is honest!’ But I had a sit and a think. At the time, my dad was lecturing on instrument repair but was looking for something new to do, so we wondered if it was something we could do ourselves. We looked into it, filled in some forms and created our own label – Pure Records.

“Pure, apparently, is the Greek meaning of the name Kate, that’s why we chose it. And it has gone from strength to strength over the years. My mum works for us doing the accounts, my sister Emma does the PR among other things, and my brother Joe is my sound engineer. Both live in the studio, so it’s quite a family affair.”

And while she seems to shun publicity, she admits it has led to some unexpected highlights.

“I've recently achieved two of my goals in life. One was to play at the Royal Albert Hall, which we did as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust, and the other was to sing with Dolly Parton! I was asked to sing with an amazing singer from Ireland called Maura O’Connell for her record, which I was dead chuffed about because I love her singing – and the track turned out to be an acapella song with her, myself...and Dolly!”

So what plans does she have for the future?

“Touring and more touring!” she repliies. “Of course we have our new daughter Daisy Delia (with husband Damien O’Kane) so there is also a lot of baby watching – and also a lot of nappies to consider.

Does she ever consider what she might have done had things turned out differently?

“I feel like the luckiest girl in the world, and hope I can still be doing this for many years.

“But I suppose if I wasn’t a folk singer anymore, I would love to have a greengrocers shop. And, I wouldn’t usually admit it, also a bit of a swingball genius!”

* Kate Rusby plays the New Theatre on Sunday. The show starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are £20, plus booking fees