Kate Rusby is a twentysomething folk singer and sometime songwriter hailing from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. She is one of those at the forefront of the traditional folk music revival that has seen an exponential growth in popularity both in the UK and worldwide; she has achieved fame for her stellar recordings and live performances of traditional English folk songs and contemporary ballads.
From a young age, Kate was exposed to traditional music through her family's ceilidh dance band. She started off singing and playing the fiddle; by the time she was 15 she was an accomplished vocalist and guitarist playing the British folk festival circuit. In 1995, she and young folk singer Kathryn Roberts released an album of traditional songs entitled Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts; the recording was hailed by Folk Roots as the best album of the year. As a member of the all-female folk group The Poozies, Kate appeared on the albums Come Raise Your Head and Infinite Blue, released in 1997 and 1998 respectively. Two solo albums and an extensive tour schedule later, she has attained popularity at home and abroad and been recognised at the 1999 Mercury Music Awards for her album Sleepless, one of the twelve best British albums that year.
Kate has a rare performer's ability to utterly captivate an audience with her smoky folk-singer's voice, brilliant instrumentation and musical arrangements, and her bizarre and random anecdotes between songs. She is a skillful pianist and guitarist in her own right, and together with a band made up of her husband and producer John McCusker on the fiddle and a rotating collection of supporting musicians (including members of Ocean Colour Scene) records consistently fantastic albums on the Compass Records label.
She plays a guitar made by English luthier Peter Barton.
Discography:
1995 - Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts
1998 - Hourglass
1999 - Sleepless
2001 - Little Lights
2003 - Ten
2004 (scheduled release) - Underneath the Stars
Sources:
http://www.allmusic.com
http://www.katerusby.com | 
