FRESH from their participation in this month's Transatlantic Sessions travels, folk trio Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle leave behind ten nights on the trot with Patty Griffin, Rodney Crowell, Sara Watkins and John Smith to mount their own tour.

"A UK tour with myself, Michael and John has become a fixture in the touring diary and has been growing arms and legs every year," says McCusker, ahead of Wednesday's 7.30pm gig at the National Centre for Early Music in York.

McCusker, McGoldrick and Doyle have known each other for years. "John produced my wife Heidi Talbot's records before I knew Heidi and me and Michael have grown up musically side by side since we were 16," says McCusker.

It all builds up an unspoken trust in each other, both in the Transatlantic Sessions shows and now in the trio tour.

"We wanted to keep the excitement of the Transatlantic shows in rehearsing but not over-rehearsing our gigs," says McCusker. "We'll do very different sets each night, like when John says, 'let's do this song' and Mike and I don't know it but you want to keep everything fresh, keep the energy up, and keep ourselves excited, so we'll play on the seats of our pants."

Looking ahead, a new album may be on the way.

"The plan is hopefully we'll make a studio record this year; it's long overdue," says McCusker. It will, however, be a question of finding the time in an ever busy diary, especially as John will be in Mark Knopfler's band for 50 European dates and 40 more later in the year in North America.

"I've played on four of Mark's records now and toured with him for seven or eight years and this will be the fourth world tour I've been on," says fiddle player McCusker, who features on Knopfler's new album, Tracker, released on March 16.

McCusker took "lots of time off" in the second half of 2014 after the birth of his and Heidi's second daughter, Jessica Rose McCusker, but he has returned to the studio to play on sessions for Teenage Fanclub, Fishermen Friends and Boo Hewerdine.

"I can confirm Teenage Fanclub are making a record though it's fair to say they're taking their time," he says. "I've played on their last five or six records. Their drummer [Francis Macdonald] is my best friend; he was the best man at our wedding."

John, Heidi and young family have moved into a mill house, built in the 1700s in the heart of the Scottish Borders, where they are converting the bothy into a recording studio.

"We loved this space," says McCusker.

"Having spent almost 25 years travelling to other people's studios, it feels like the next exciting chapter for me and Heidi. It's been designed by a friend of ours – the legendary record producer and studio designer Calum Malcolm, who was responsible for designing two of the finest recording studios in Scotland, Gorbal Sounds in Glasgow and Castlesound in Pencaitland – and we're really looking forward to recording there."

Next year will see McCusker celebrate 25 years as a professional musician since his debut in The Battlefield Band at 17. He will mark the anniversary by recording his first solo record in 12 years.

"It feels a good time to be making another solo album," he says. "The longer you leave making a solo record, the more you wonder what kind of record it should be, but the one thing I don't want to do is make a dull record."

Roll on those recording sessions. "There are lots of other exciting projects and records planned for the studio, but firstly myself and Heidi Talbot will release our upcoming albums on our own new label, Under One Sky Records, and I'll also publish my new book of tunes later this year featuring lots of my compositions from the last 25 years," says McCusker. "I'll accompany that with a tour by the John McCusker Band, as well as the solo record."

There's yet more in the pipeline. "We'll start a Phil Cunningham Christmas Song Book record in April; we've waited nine years to record it but hopefully it will be worth the wait," says McCusker.

A new John McCusker website is on its way too, and if you enjoyed the record McCusker made with Roddy Woomble and Kris Drever, Before The Ruin, that 2008 album has been remastered for release on Reveal Records.

Where does he find the time?

Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle play the National Centre for Early Music, York, on Wednesday, 7.30pm. Box office: 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk