Kate Rusby
30: Happy Returns
Pure Records
2022
Rightly considered a national treasure, Kate Rusby has made a significant contribution over the last few decades to popularising English folk music, and I’m regularly surprised when friends, who otherwise wouldn’t dream of going to a folk gig, tell me they’ve been to see Kate and her band. With this latest release, she celebrates 30 years as a professional musician. She is still very much at the top of her game.
I first saw Kate supporting Richard Thompson at the Guildford Civic Hall in 1998 (six years late to the party), where she was promoting her first solo album, Hourglass. One year on and Sleepless album was shortlisted for the Mercury Music Prize. Among her other accolades, she has two honorary doctorates, performed the theme song to Jennifer Saunders’ Jam And Jerusalem, and has picked up a stellar list of fans, including Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry, Brian Cox and Ade Edmondson. The guest artists featured on this release reflect not only her influences but also the respect held for Kate amongst the worldwide music scene. They include Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Richard Hawley, Darlingside, KT Tunstall, Sarah Jarosz, Sam Kelly, Dan Tyminski and Beth Nielsen Chapman. The same could be said for her previous anniversary album ’20’ from ten years ago, which featured Nic Jones, Dick Gaughan, Paul Weller, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Eddi Reader and Richard Thompson.
All the tracks on 30: Happy Returns are newly-recorded and re-interpreted versions of past favourites. It opens with the unmistakable tones of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. It’s extraordinary that the South African male choral group blend so perfectly with Kate’s pure English vocals. It’s a joyous and enchanting opening on which Kate’s partner Damien O’Kane, also a featured guest on the album, provides ethereal and haunting guitar parts and impeccable production throughout.
There are so many highlights to choose from; Richard Hawley’s baritone brings an extra emotional intensity to No Names, while Darlingside delight on the traditional sea shanty Cruel, previously featured on her fourth studio album, Underneath the stars (2003). When the Boston four-piece join Kate one minute in, it’s a heart-stopping moment. Similarly, the banjo-driven High on a Hill is majestically magnified by four-time Grammy Award-winner Sarah Jarosz. Meanwhile, not unexpectedly, Beth Nielsen Chapman offers a star-turn on Walk The Road. The breadth of Rusby’s influences is also showcased through the guest artists, with KT Tunstall bringing a pop edge to Let Me Be, while Dan Tyminski’s bluegrass tones light up Only Desire What You Have.
Even with such an esteemed supporting cast like this, Kate more than stands up on her own, proving (as if needed) that she has earned her place at the head of the table. Her band are similarly superb on this record, the previously-mentioned Damien on guitars, banjo and drum programming, Duncan Lyall adding mood and texture with Moog, synths and double bass, alongside a plethora of guest musicians, including Michael McGoldrick’s whistle playing on Only Desire. Also from Kate’s band, Sam Kelly gets a spotlight in the closing track, the uplifting As The Lights Go Out. It’s worth purchasing the CD version for an extra bonus track, Secret Keeper, featuring the Royal National Symphonia.
If you think you’ve heard these songs before, you may well have. But never like this. It’s always a risk to re-record existing classic tracks, but it’s done here with such care, attention and purpose. As a celebration of three decades of incredible music that has touched the lives and hearts of so many people, ’30: Happy Returns’ can’t be faulted. Take a bow, Kate, and keep shining your light.
30: Happy Returns is out now
Order via Proper Music | Rough Trade