Kate Rusby

20

(Island)

This double album celebrate's Ms Rusby's twenty years of making music and features re-recordings of her favourite songs. It is long, langurous and often beautiful, perfect for these suddenly grey skies and falling leaves of autumn. A predominently soft and gentle series of thoughtfully rendered songs, they are made particularly notable by those who duet with Rusby, once one of the "young folkies" and now a somewhat more established figure on the nation's acoustic and folk scene. So we hear a notably raw Paul Weller testing the height of his register on the excellent new song Sun Grazers, as well as contributions from Richard Thompson, Eddi Reader, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. There are also cameos from the Grimethorpe Colliery Band (on the trembling Underneath the Stars), Radiohead's Philip Selway, and the estimable Dick Gaughan. Ms Rusby's albums, whether becalmed or aflame, have always been graced by her beautiful voice, and this album is no different. Are the re-recordings necessary? Not always. Is this a gorgeous record that will repay many times the price of its purchasing? Yes.

Phil Miller