BARNSLEY nightingale Kate Rusby is to mark her 25th year on the folk circuit by releasing her fourth album of Christmas and winter festive songs, Angels & Men, next Friday on Pure Records.

Her 15th solo record, it follows on from her past sets of South Yorkshire pub versions of carols and winter works: Sweet Bells in 2008, While Mortals Sleep in 2011 and The Frost Is All Over two years ago.

This is the first of Rusby's Christmas outings to be produced by husband Damien O'Kane, whose "other-worldly soundscapes are sprinkled like fairy dust throughout", while Rusby's trusty "Brass Boys" make their trademark contributions too.

"I am lucky enough o be from South Yorkshire where we have a fascinating treasure trove of old Christmas songs rooted in the soil of our hills," says Kate. "They are sung in pubs here, not churches, and they are handed down from one generation to the next. I have been brought up with these songs and it brings me great delight to share them."

Introducing her latest collection of 13 songs, Kate says: "Angels & Men is a mixture of songs old and new, some you may recognise, others you may not. It's the first festive album to be produced by Damien and because of that it has a different feel: am iridescent twinkle, a brighter palette of sound and a musical depth that surrounds and hugs you like a cosy log fire!"

The track listing will be Hark Hark; Let It Snow; Paradise; The Ivy And The Holly; Sweet Chiming Bells; See Amid The Winter Snow; Rolling Downward; Deck The Halls; Richard Thompson's We'll Sing Hallelujah; Banjo Banjo; Santa Never Brings Me A Banjo and two Rusby originals, Let The Bells Ring and Big Brave Bill Saves Christmas.

Rusby's Christmas tour visits Hull City Hall on December 2 and Leeds Town Hall on December 8.