What Kate is going to do next...

THE singer-songwriter tells Julie Marshall why she is making a special visit to Wakefield Cathedral and about her work in the recording studio. Main picture: Andrew Bellis.

So it was when I met her earlier this month. She arrived bang on time, dressed in jeans and parka and looking a good 10 years younger than her 37 years.

Fans of Ms Rusby are always amazed when they mention her name and receive blank stares. They can’t believe she is not more widely known despite her being a mainstay of the British folk scene for the past 20 years, dueting with Ronan Keating and penning the music for the hit BBC television programme Jam and Jerusalem.

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That may be about to change. Her record company is trying to persuade her to put out a “best of” album to introduce her to a wider audience and redress the balance. In the meantime she is working hard in the studio with her producer, her brother Joe, looking after her 18-month-old daughter Daisy, and planning her next tour.

Kate has played many times in Wakefield but for her next appearance on May 6 she will take to the stage in the city’s cathedral to help raise money for the £5m scheme to transform it into a 21st century venue for worship, activities and performance. All 633 tickets were sold out in a matter of weeks.

The Rusby family’s links with the cathedral date back to Kate’s childhood when brother Joe was a chorister there for many years.

She said: “Joe came to rehearsals four nights a week and we would come with mum to pick him up, as well as attending on a Sunday.”

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Their shared love of music kept the Rusby family, which comes from Penistone, close. Father Steve is a sound engineer and plays mandolin, banjo and guitar; her mother Ann plays piano accordion, and all three Rusby children attended festivals and played and sang in the family ceilidh band from an early age.

Kate said: “Mum and dad sing together beautifully and, every weekend on the way to some folk event or other, we’d all sing in the car together. We children started to learn the fiddle when we were about six. Dad taught me to play a few chords on the guitar when I was 15 and I learned the piano to accompany songs.”

It was a piano that gave Kate her first taste of solo success. The family had acquired an old instrument that was, by Kate’s admission, a “bit smelly”. It was consigned to the garage and Kate along with it. One day, while she was playing and singing in the garage, she was discovered by one of the organisers of the Holmfirth Folk Fesitival. He suggested that the 16-year-old Kate, still a student at Barnsley College’s performing arts department, might like to do a spot.

She went down a storm and, as they say, she never looked back and her career took off.

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Her first album Hourglass was released in 1997 followed by nine more; a mixture of traditional and self-penned songs that all received critical acclaim.

Awards followed including in 2000 the much coveted Folk Singer of the Year. The latest album Make the Light, released in 2010, is the first to consist entirely of self-written material.

It’s full of mellow tunes that reflect her new-found status as a contented wife and mother; Kate married fellow musician Damien O’Kane last summer.

“While I was pregnant with Daisy I had lots of time to write – sitting in the garden listening to the birds sing struck a creative chord. Jennifer Saunders had said to me a few years ago that I should do an album of my own songs but at the time I didn’t have enough material.”

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Kate’s record company Pure Records is a real family affair; father Steve is the managing director, mother Ann handles the merchandising and accounts and sister Emma press and publicity.

Kate’s close ties to her family have also meant she has was able to continue with her career just a few months after Daisy was born.

“My mum looks after Daisy when we’re recording and she comes with us on tour so she is with someone she knows and loves.”

It’s going to be a busy 2011 for Kate and her band. As well as a full touring schedule she’s taking part in the annual August bank holiday music festival at Cannon Hall Country Park at Cawthorne, near Barnsley, which is organised by the Rusby family.

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“It’s so lovely as it’s all outdoors and so close to home. The sun goes down behind where we’re playing and people bring picnics and even dining tables, chairs and chandeliers. The people from village help out – it’s a real community affair.

“It raises money for village funds and this year I think some of it will be used to help build a playground and some for the cricket club.”

* More details about the event can be found at www.cawthorneconcerts.co.uk and a list of dates for the 2011 tour at www.katerusby.com