FESTIVE folk queen Kate Rusby will release her third album of South Yorkshire carols and winter songs, The Frost Is All Over, on her Pure Records label on November 27.
The Barnsley singer will accompany the record with her traditional series of 14 Christmas concerts next month, opening at the Scarborough Spa Grand Hall on December 3 and taking in further 7.30pm Yorkshire shows at Huddersfield Town Hall on December 4; Sheffield City Hall, December 9; Leeds Town Hall, December 16, and York Barbican, December 17.
She will perform not only with her regular band of Damien O’Kane, on banjo and tenor guitar, Aaron Jones, on bouzouki, Nick Cooke, on diatonic accordion, Duncan Lyall, on double bass, and Steven Iveson, on electric guitar, but also with her "Brass Boys", five members of the Brighouse and Rastrick Band.
For her Christmas concerts and albums, Kate embraces the South Yorkshire tradition she first took part in as a child with her family. For 200 years and more, from late-November to New Year’s Day on Sunday lunchtimes, the good folk of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire have flocked to their local pub to sing their own variations of familiar carols.
"These carols were kicked out of churches during the Victorian era for being too happy," says Kate, who released her first Christmas record, Sweet Bells, in 2008, followed by While Mortals Sleep in 2011 and a DVD, Kate Rusby Live At Christmas, recorded at Harrogate Royal Hall in December 2012.
The track listing for The Frost Is All Over will be Bradfield; Cornish Wassailing; Sunny Bank; Winter Wonderland; Little Bilberry; Dilly Carol; Cold Winter; The Christmas Goose; Yorkshire Merry Christmas; Mount Lyngham and The Frost Is All Over. The inclusion of an interloper, Cornish Wassailing, can be explained/excused by Kate having Cornish as well as Yorkshire roots.
Her Christmas shows will feature songs from all three records, along with selections from Kate's 2014 album, Ghost.
Tickets for Kate Rusby At Christmas at York Barbican can be booked on 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk; Scarborough, 01723 821888 or scarboroughspa.co.uk; Leeds, 0113 224 3801 or leeds.gov.uk/townhall
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