Kate Rusby "super excited" about new Life In A Paper Boat album

"I am so super excited about it, I can’t wait for you all to hear it," says Kate, who will showcase her new songs at Leeds Town Hall on October 1 on her autumn tour before playing Harrogate Royal Hall on December 15 and York Barbican on December 18 on her Christmas carols tour.

Boasting six Rusby originals and produced by husband Damien O’Kane, the 12-track album is "full of O'Kane's vibrant trademarks and unexpected twists and tangents, ranging from subtle, sensitive treatments to unflinching flamboyance making for a brimming, full bodied soundscape".

“Damien had more time in the production seat for this album," says Kate. "We wanted to experiment much more with sounds and effects, especially those that can be recreated on stage. He is quite the master of it these days. We were both really excited about where it would lead and both love the end result.

“I used to think songs had more space with less going on around them, but actually by widening the sonic perimeter we made a larger space for the songs to thrive, just like moving the jumpers to make a wider goal posts. It’s certainly been a wonderful journey of discovery for myself as a music maker.”

The track listing is: Benjamin Bowmaneer; Hunter Moon; The Ardent Shepherdess; Life In A Paper Boat; Only Desire What You Have; Hundred Hearts 7 The Mermaid; Pace Egging Song; The Witch Of The Westmorland; I’ll Be Wise; Night Lament and Big Brave Bill, the album-closing bonus track about a Yorkshire Tea-loving superhero, more of whom later.

Vocalist Kate and acoustic and electric guitarist Damien made the recordings with Duncan Lyall, on double bass, Nick Cooke, on diatonic accordion, Steven Byrnes, on bouzouki and tenor guitar, Steven Iveson, on electric guitar, and Josh Clark on percussion.

“I wanted more percussion for this album, but not drum kit, says Kate. “What I wanted was for the percussive sounds to be generated elsewhere, to really emphasise the union between old songs and modern musical technology. They fit so perfectly alongside each other but also at times have a gritty friendship that creates an uneasy darkness around a song. Josh Clark expertly deciphered what we were after and also mixed the album.

“The other fantastic sound ever present is the Moog, played by our amazing bass player Duncan Lyall. It provides a sumptuous electronic layer that moulds perfectly to the songs like tinfoil on a home-made space outfit."

The album also boasts a string section, comprising Donald Grant and Magnus Johnston on fiddle, Triona Milne on viola and Laura Anstee on cello, while two members of The Alison Krauss Band, Ron Block and Dan Tyminski, contribute banjo and vocals respectively. Michael McGoldrick, on flute and whistles, and Anthony Davis, on keyboards and synth, feature too.

The title song was prompted by Kate being moved by endless television reports of the migrant crisis. “I wrote Life In A Paper Boat after watching the many desperate souls prepared to risk the lives of themselves and their very young families to cross the sea in hope of a better, safer life," she says.

"I wish I had some answers, but all I have is a song. The title seemed fitting for the whole album as it lends itself to so many different images and metaphors, giving me a canvas with scope for a multitude of musical and lyrical brushstrokes.”

Inspired by her old ballad books, Kate regularly trawls her collection to unearth fresh songs to sing in imaginative reinventions of traditional folk material. The album opens with Benjamin Bowmaneer, a quirky song said to have been inspired by the Hundred Years War, about a tailor moved to fight for England with a horse made from board and a bridle from scissor parts.

Track two, Hunter’s Moon, is Kate’s solar tale of the moon’s unrequited love for the sun as they move around the celestial world, destined never to meet.  Strings and electric guitar combine to create a song of longing.

The traditional words of The Ardent Shepherdess are set to Rusby’s own tune with Ron Block providing a banjo interlude for this tale of circumspect love. This time temptress and shepherdess Janie barters her kisses for sheep.

Kate Rusby's new album cover

Michael McGoldrick’s whistle laces Kate’s reflective Only Desire What You Have while Hundred Hearts mixes traditional words with those of Kate, set to her tune in the aural equivalent of an eternity ring.

Kate dips her toe in the sea for her ominous, mournful song The Mermaid with guest vocals from Dan Tyminski, whereupon the mood changes for the traditional Pace Egging Song. This upbeat celebration of the West Yorkshire Easter tradition of performing Pace Egg village plays, in which St George combats all challengers, is sent on its way with bouzouki, whistles and flute.

There follows a cover of Scottish singer songwriter Archie Fisher’s The Witch Of The Westmorland, a haunting tale of the knight saved by the sorceress.

Kate’s I’ll Be Wise could come straight from the tradition, with its story of a girl beguiled and betrayed, before stately strings herald Night Lament.

Meanwhile, Kate has acquired an honour over the summer when she attended a ceremony at Barnsley Town Hall to receive the Honorary Freedom of Borough of Barnsley. Poet Ian McMillan was among the four recipients too at a special full council meeting.

“I am utterly overwhelmed and delighted to have been made a Freeman Of the Metropolitan Borough Of Barnsley, the very place on this Earth that I love and adore the most," says Kate. "We all had such a lovely day at the Town Hall with Madam Mayor and the councillors, and they even joined in with a song I sung as part of my speech at dinner."

Damien OKane: producer, musician, husband

That song, Big Brave Bill, finds its way on to the album as the closing bonus track featuring her "brass boys". "The song was about a man from Barnsley called Bill, so it seemed fitting that the Town Hall should be the first time it was sung. Thank you so much to all who were involved. I truly am the luckiest girl,” says Kate,  

Big Brave Bill, Kate's superhero, is a gent fuelled by her beloved Yorkshire Tea, and his journey into the recording studio took him from being a bedtime story for her girls Daisy and Phoebe to the song's premiere at Kate's Underneath The Stars Festival this summer.

“I wrote the song in celebration of Yorkshire, Barnsley and of course my love of Yorkshire Tea," she says. "With memories of superheroes from my childhood, I thought, ‘why shouldn’t there be a hero from Barnsley?'."

Kate's Freeman of Barnsley status would suggest she is one too.

Tickets for Kate Rusby's York Barbican concert are on sale on 0844 854 2757, at yorkbarbican.co.uk, or in person from the Barbican box office.