BARNSLEY folk singer Kate Rusby will return to York Barbican on her 2016 Christmas tour on December 18.

Kate has been playing such shows for the past 15 winters, as captured on her 2013 Live At Christmas concert DVD, and once more a brass quintet will join 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. Just as they did in York on December 17 last year.

The key word in Kate's winter shows is "joy" as she showcases a South Yorkshire tradition that she first joined as a child. For more than 200 years, 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 that were, in Kate's words, "kicked out of churches during the Victorian era for being too happy".

Kate has released three albums of such carols and Christmas songs: 2008's Sweet Bells, 2011's While Mortals Sleep and last year's The Frost Is All Over.

Tickets for Kate Rusby At Christmas are on sale at £28 or £20.16 on 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk. Meanwhile, Kate's autumn tour will visit Leeds Town Hall on October 1; box office, 0113 224 3801 or at leeds.gov.uk