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ENGLISH folk music fans go misty-eyed at the mere mention of Kate Rusby’s name.
Drop it into a pub conversation and it’s difficult to stem the tide of praise.
It’s also impossible to find anyone who has a bad word to say about either Kate or her music.
But then, she is beautiful, has the voice of an angel and writes songs to die for.
Commentators credit her with almost single-handedly reviving English folk music.
She’s described as “photogenic, with light-brown ringlets framing a softly radiant face - the sweetheart of England’s folk scene”.
Choose any superlative from the dictionary and someone will have used it about Kate first.
But when she returns to her beloved Barnsley bolt hole home she turns back into just Kate - or Aunty Kate who has a blue sweetie jar in the cupboard.
“At home I am just Steve and Ann’s daughter who does a bit of singing,” she says modestly. “I like that.
“I just love this area of the world. The people are straight forward and kind - and I know these fields so well.
“When you travel so much it’s always important to have a place called home where you can judge where the world is in relation to you.
“I don’t want to sound arty farty but that’s the best way I can describe it.
“I also have two nephews, 10 and six. They are the best escapism that ever there was and I love hanging out with them.
“I took them rowing the other day and it was the best day I’d had in ages.”
Best days are frequent occurrences for Kate who’s at the top of the folk tree after a decade as a solo artist.
Adoring fans world wide, a string of successful albums and tours playing to packed houses - the folk world literally lies at her feet.
It’s hardly surprising she followed the folk route after a childhood touring festivals with her parents’ ceilidh band.
Fortunately she loved the music, and after a brief brush with acting - she just missed a role in Emmerdale - and a couple of collaborations, a solo career beckoned.
She hasn’t looked back.
Her first highly-acclaimed solo album provided the launch pad and a clutch of major awards followed.
Recent compositions featured on scores for both television and the silver screen and a duet with Ronan Keating reached number 6 in the charts this summer.
The latest album - The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly - won rave reviews and confirmed her status as a compelling songwriter.
And she has recently finished music for Jennifer Saunders’ new sitcom Jam and Jerusalem.
Despite all the success and attention, family are still at the heart of Kate’s career.
She is firmly rooted in Yorkshire, home and a place surrounded by the people she loves most.
Behind her decade rise to fame lies the Rusby family - a folk dynasty in the making.
She says: “Family means everything to me. I couldn’t do what I do without them.
“We support each other. We are a team and all an important cog in the business.”
Dave Steve runs the family record company and is Kate’s agent. Mum Ann does the accounts, sister Emma is publicist and brother Joe is sound engineer.
And last, but by no means least, is husband, producer and musical partner John McCusker.
“I just turn up and sing the songs and make the records,” Kate says.
“I am extremely lucky, not only growing up in a house full of music but also to have such a team behind me.
“People ask me how we can work together but we are very close and I think it’s only like a family run butcher’s shop.
“Your family are the best people to work with because you can trust them with your life.”
Husband John is Kate’s most important critic. He’s first to hear any new song and produces her records.
“He is my musical ally. I respect his opinion and trust him greatly with my music, so he is always first to hear.”
Kate’s success is firmly embedded in a trademark mix of traditional ballads and her own new compositions.
She has few superstitions when it comes to writing new material. She just needs the house to herself and a long night ahead.
“Nothing really happens until about one in the morning and then if I remember it the next morning I will work on the idea again,” she explained.
“I don’t have a set way of writing songs - sometimes I have ideas for lyrics and the melody fits around them. Other times it might just start with a riff on the guitar.
“As for inspiration, I have lots of old ballad books that I find stories from, or I get songs from my parents or they just come out of my head.”
Stories are central to Kate’s music and each new tale has to win its place on an album.
“I am attracted to traditional songs with great stories. Singing songs is all about telling stories, and if the songs out of my head sound like they might stand up to the traditional ones, then they make it onto the record.”
Audiences take to Kate immediately she steps on stage.
She has a natural stage presence, a warmth that makes everyone in the auditorium think she is singing exclusively for them.
Her stage craft comes from a life alone in the spotlight and some advice from performing arts college.
She said: “I remember being told to be aware that whenever you are on stage you can be seen, even if someone else is talking.
“You have to look interested. You can’t pick your nose or yawn or anything like that.”
Kate puts the current folk revival down to the number of young people playing and listening to the music.
“The sons and daughters of the people around at the original ‘folk revival’ have now grown up and are either playing the music or going to gigs to hear it.
“Some of them now have children that they take along.
“It’s such a great family environment. I feel very privileged to have been brought up with the music, and the freedom to develop my own love of music too.
“The folk scene is in very good shape and long may it continue.”
The title of Kate’s latest album comes from her own, well-documented fear of flying.
She stopped taking to the air for three years after her last American tour.
“Not only was it quite horrific every day checking in to fly - I don’t like having a gun pointed at me - our instruments were thrown about and we had a very bad flight.
“So bad, that when I got off I was gonna buy a house and live there for a bit just so I didn’t have to get on a plane for a while.”
Kate conquered her fear, flew on to New York - “did the gig while shaking”, flew to San Francisco and then home.
“I just kind of shut off my fear and finished the tour. I decided I wasn’t going to fly for a while, especially not there.
“I was there for five weeks - five weeks of being randomly selected for having your bags emptied, your instruments thrown about and having guns pointed at you.
“I have much better things to do in life.
“I doubt I will ever enjoy flying again but I do see myself flying a bit more these days.
“Luckily I had flown all over the world before I got scared so I don’t beat myself up about it.”
Kate goes back into the studio next March to record a new album - simply because it feels like time to do it again.
“There is always a new album on the horizon. It’s not planned but it feels like time for a new record every two years.
“When I make a record I never set out with a plan - just a bunch of songs and I suppose they fit together because they are done in our own way.
“But I do actually do different things all the time like the song with Ronan.
“It was great fun to take a peek in someone else’s world for a while.”
ends
Copyright: Bernie Saunders
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