Folk singer Kate Rusby’s annual Christmas shows have become as much of a tradition for her fans as mince pies and mulled wine. And she wouldn’t have it any other way - as she tells What’s On...

Despite her music enjoying something of a crossover appeal down the years - she’s been in the pop charts and even made the Mercury Prize shortlist - Kate Rusby has always been proud to call herself a folk singer, and more importantly, a South Yorkshire folk singer. 

Those geographic roots have always played a huge part in her music, but particularly during her annual Christmas tours, when she performs a number of South Yorkshire carols alongside traditional favourites and her own festive compositions. 
She happily admits Christmas is her favourite time of the year, and to prove it has just started work on a sixth (sixth!) album of festive tunes.
“I get asked if I’m running out of material, because artists will usually only do one or two Christmas albums, but because of the South Yorkshire carols that we have, there’s a whole wealth of songs to choose from. There’s over 50 different versions of While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks By Night for a start, and we’ve only recorded six or seven of them so far, so I could do a whole album of that!”

Typically friendly and down to earth - with a broad Yorkshire accent and wit to match - Kate loves performing the festive tunes she’s known for decades, not least because she feels like she’s giving them life beyond her local area. Despite many of the carols dating back 200 years or more, the versions she performs are largely unknown outside South Yorkshire.
“Every year from the weekend after Armistice Day to New Year’s Day there’s quite a few pubs around South Yorkshire that have these singing sessions,” she tells me, quickly getting into her (even quicker) stride. “It’s not a folky thing, it’s people from all walks of life because it’s all been passed down the generations. 

“They’re songs that would have been sung up and down the country in churches, but come the Victorian times they threw out a lot of the ones that were a bit more jolly. Here in South Yorkshire they’ve been kept alive in the pubs, because when the songs were thrown out of the churches, the people that loved singing them - and loved beer - went ‘Right, let’s take them to the pub.’
“When we were young, my parents took us to these things, and we would sit in the tap room with all the other kids, colouring in, drinking pop and eating crisps, but all the while those carols were seeping in, so we learned so many of them just by being there.”

It was only after she started touring that Kate realised the rest of the country only knew very specific versions of the carols, so she decided to make it her mission to change that. She’s now been doing a Christmas tour (pronounced ‘too-err’, please) for nearly 20 years, adding a brass quintet “because that’s quite important for the South Yorkshire carolling sound” to her usual backing band, which includes husband Damien O’Kane. Family is a crucial element that we’ll come on to later, but it’s evident that the shows have a lighthearted vibe that the players enjoy as much as the audience.

“We always have a big laugh, and there’s a big dressing-up moment at the end of each gig as well. The theme changes each year, and I keep it a big secret from all the boys in the band - they don’t even know what they’re dressing up as this year! I can’t wait! It’ll be very funny, and I’m going to laugh a lot at their expense!”

Having a laugh and going at her own pace - and with her family alongside her every step of the way - is a fairly accurate assessment of Kate’s 30-year career. Her parents were musicians who met in a folk club (“it was a match made in heaven”), encouraged her musical education and eventually helped book her gigs and run her record label. They also provided her early instruments, including a piano that she was forced to play in the garage.

“My dad got one second-hand from a pub and it smelt of old beer and cigarettes! It was gross and a bit sticky, so my mum said it’s not going in the house! So it went in the garage, and I would sit in there playing away. It was better for me because the reverb was nicer than in the carpeted sitting room. I used to love it.”
In 1992 a friend of her parents involved in organising the Holmfirth Folk Festival heard her playing, and the rest is history - but not without a few typically idiosyncratic bumps along the way.

“She stuck her head in the garage door and said ‘You’ve got quite good at that; do you fancy a spot at the festival in two weeks?’ I nodded and said ‘yeah, yeah’, but inside I was thinking ‘What are you doing?!’
“I did a half-hour set, and it was one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever done. When I came off, I vowed I’d never do it again and that I preferred to play with nobody listening.”

Despite her shyness, and reticence about performing in front of audiences - if asked to play at parties, she’d often do so alone in a separate room - the gig offers kept coming and she kept accepting. The gigs and venues continued to grow, and it became obvious that music would be her career, even though it was never part of a pre-meditated plan.
“Thirty years on, I totally believe that music chose me, not the other way round. Even though there was music every day of my life and I was surrounded by it and really loved it, I never thought that people might want to listen to what I was doing.
“I’m still actually quite shy, but a lot more comfortable being on stage in front of people.”

Which is just as well, as there’ll be a lot of people to see her when she performs two shows in one day at Birmingham Town Hall this month, having added a matinee show to meet demand, compensate for an Omicron-enforced cancellation last year, and also to encourage families to come along.
“People do bring families to the Christmas shows, and we’ve toyed with bringing our show times forward to around 6.30pm so it won’t be a late night, especially if it’s a school night. But it’s balancing that fine line between people getting home from work and school, getting some tea and getting the glad rags on and out to the venue. So we thought, let’s try having a matinee - and Birmingham is the first.
“We love playing the Town Hall because it’s one of those venues that singers love to sing in because of the natural reverb. And being right in the town centre is great - the Christmas buzz that surrounds it, it’s lovely. I’ll even get to do some shopping in the Christmas market!”

Kate Rusby plays Birmingham Town Hall at 3.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday 10 December

By Steve Adams