SOUTH YORKSHIRE singer Kate Rusby is regarded as a queen of the British acoustic scene known as The Barnsley Nightingale.

Since the release of her debut album Hourglass in 1997 she has become an international star and is one of the few folk singers nominated a Mercury prize.

She was born into a family of musicians and a recent celebration of her life in music gave Kate the chance to collaborate with a host of big names including Paul Weller and guitarist Richard Thompson for her album 20, which featured reworkings of many song from her previous albums.

20 included a version of the emotional track Bitter Boy, recorded with her musician husband Damien O'Kane.

She said: “I wrote Bitter Boy just after my Uncle Stan died, I was absolutely broken to pieces. My nanan (Stan's mother) had passed away two weeks before, but Stan’s passing was unexpected and wrong.

"He had never married and he had promised to look after my nanan when my granddad contracted emphysema from working down the mine. Even though the song sounds like an unrequited love song, the grief and lamentation is for Stan."

Kate Rusby is hitting the road for the festive season to celebrate her home county's tradition of carol singing in early November, which on Sunday lunchtimes can bring hundreds of carollers together.

Her seasonal show features a mix of well-known traditional carols and new variations of carols mostly unheard outside South Yorkshire which feature on her two albums of festive music.

In October the multi-instrumentalist released a DVD filmed at Harrogate's Royal Hall featuring her Christmas show plus an exclusive interview.

Kate Rusby will be live on stage at Wolverhampton Civic Hall on Saturday December 7.