TURN to page 13 of Pocklington Arts Centre’s autumn and winter brochure and you will find an unusual notice for Friday, December 6, at 8pm. This reads: “A rather special singer/songwriter will be appearing on this date”, a message inserted at the request of the artist’s management.

The no-longer mystery act is Cerys Matthews, Welsh musician, BBC6 Music Sunday morning presenter, documentary maker, children’s author and folk song historian, who issued Hook, Line And Singer: A Sing-a-Long Book in hardback this year.

Hence the title of the December tour by the former wild woman of Catatonia: Hook, Line And Carol Singing, a “festive feast of carols, stories and singalong classics”.

“It’s all in the title,” says Cerys. “I put together a book for Penguin and I’ve been pretty much doing concerts all year based around it. Because of the book, I’ve been invited to literary festivals at Hay-on-Wye, Edinburgh, Chester and Grassington to get the crowds singing.”

Her Pocklington debut comes in the wake of the September release of Hullabaloo, her new album of traditional Welsh music dating back to a dance song of the 1400s.

“I’ve been interested in the history of songs for years, as you imagine music to be so different from different countries, but it’s not. It’s often linked,” says Cerys. “And it’s whether you like it or not that really matters.”

She uses the song Who’s Going To Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet as an example. “It started out as a Scottish song, sung by a mother to a child, but it’s become an American standard, which has been done by the Everly Brothers and now by Green Days’ Billie Joe Armstrong and Norah Jones on their Everly Brothers covers album.”

The “stories” element of Cerys’s show will be the stories behind the songs she performs.

“I kind of don’t have a script, so the show can go anywhere, though it’s not usually personal stuff that I talk about, but observations on life and artistry and maybe some local stories about where I’m playing,” she says.

Last Christmas, in the wake of the release of her Christmas album, Baby, It’s Cold Outside, Cerys played a series of solo shows featuring songs and carols from that record.

“It was my favourite tour I’ve ever undertaken, but this year I’m bringing one player with me, Mason Neely, from Chattanooga,” she says. “We’ve been playing music together for several years on the big projects I’ve done, including Don’t Look Down, my cinematic-sounding album.”

Carol singing will be to the fore in tomorrow’s concert.

“I’d always wanted to do a Christmas album, as most artists do because it’s fun and normal rules don’t apply. Mind you, they never apply in my life,” says Cerys.

“You can let your hair down, and it’s such a magical time of the year. You can have such joy singing Little Donkey, when you need your coconuts for the sound of the donkey’s feet, and I’ll bring my sleighbells with me too, as I did last year.”

• Cerys Matthews, Hook, Line And Carol Singing, Pocklington Arts Centre, tomorrow 8pm. SOLD OUT