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Kate Rusby, sometimes known as the Barnsley Nightingale is one of the most important contemporary British folk singers. Drawing from both contemporary and traditional sources, her material is so charming and guileless that she has become one of the few performers within the folk idiom who has transcended it and become far more than a folk singer, she is now a folk institution. Perhaps the most telling tribute to her was in 2012 when Island Records reinstated their legendary pink label, home of such musical luminaries as Fairport Convention, Dr Strangely Strange and Nick Drake, for Kate's album 20. It was a telling moment, because Kate has become as important to the current era of this music, which is larger and more important than just folk music, but which despite it's commercial and cultural success retains the humility and humanity of 'the people's music', as the aforementioned acts were in previous eras.
Kate Rusby