Babe in the wood

Owning a voice blessed with a rare sense of graciousness, Barnsley so-called folk-babe and Mercury Prize nominee Kate Rusby - an intrinsic part of the new wave of English folk performers - has made a strong impression on the public perception of British folk over the past few years. Her unaffected voice has been compared to that of Annie Briggs, Maddy Prior and Sandy Denny (and deemed better than the latter two), while her position on the occasionally clinical expression of folk music is decidedly left-of-centre.

Her noted self-deprecation can sometimes undermine the strength of purpose of her material, but when she gets into a song she sings it with dogged determination. She plays The Ormonde Hotel, Kilkenny, today, as part of the Kilkenny Arts Festival.