Page 7 - May issue 2021

on the soundtrack of Billy Connolly’s World Tour Of New Zealand, in 2004; and her duet, All Over Again, with Ronan Keating reached number six in the UK Singles Chart in 2006. A few months later, her cover of the Ray Davies song, The Village Green Preservation Society, provided the theme track for the British sitcom, Jam And Jerusalem.
The albums from ‘Pure Records’: Underneath The Stars, The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly, and Awkward Annie kept on coming. 2008 saw the release of Sweet Bells, a Christmas compilation that was the predecessor of four other festive collections released over the years. The carols helped create an annual tradition of Yuletide Rusby concerts held around Yorkshire each December.
The ‘cottage industry’ format of the family- orientated label continues to thrive at their home studio in the rural village of Penistone on the outskirts of Barnsley. All the Rusby clan tend to be multi- instrumentalist (including Kate’s second husband, Irish musician Damian O’Kane). Her dad, a former sound engineer had passed on his knowledge to Kate’s brother, who is now her sound recordist. Her mum and elder sister have a natural aptitude for administration (a task Kate freely admits herself to be ‘rubbish’ at). There is nothing of the ‘big star’ in Kate’s personality.
She modestly perceives her own role as merely ‘fronting the family business.’
Kate’s later releases: Make The Light; 20; Ghost; Life In A Paper Boat; Poets, Philosophers, And Kings; along with the Christmas albums: While Mortals Sleep; The Frost Is All Over; Angels And Men and Hollyhead; are all -along with the others mentioned- available direct from ‘Pure Records’.
was a dire threat to a small, family-run business. Although long-planned tours had to be axed, Kate maintained a strong presence online -most notably perhaps, with her Singy Song Sessions. As the parents of two young daughters, she and her husband had to provide reassurance for the girls. Consequently, each morning during ‘lockdown’ the Rusby household began the day singing Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, with it’s cheery hook line: ‘Every little thing’s gonna be alright.’
This simple act of family togetherness partly led to the launch of Kate’s latest album,Hand Me Down. She has a keen appreciation of music outside the folk idiom, and last summer, the home studio saw the recording of some of her favourite titles -as diverse as the Bob Marley feel-good anthem mentioned above, to Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours, and‘ The Bangles’ Manic Monday. This, her first collection to consist solely of non-traditional covers sailed high into the Brit album chart shortly after its release -despite
the fact that, due to a second UK lockdown, it had been impossible to promote through the usual process of live gigs.
Last month (April 10th) Kate was able to perform a live stream concert of the album from the Yorkshire city of Doncaster -for the first time with a full band. Hopefully this heralds the welcome return of ’The Barnsley Nightingale’.
Not surprisingly, the covid situation when it struck 7
Rob Atkins.