BARNSLEY-BORN folk singer Kate Rusby's career was only slightly slowed down by her decision to take six months off earlier this year. "I was so busy I got really run down and tired," admits Kate. "I just had to take six months off - I'm fine now though."

Described by The Guardian as "the most beautiful voice in England", Kate's current Underneath the Stars tour includes concerts in Salisbury and Newport, Isle of Wight. Despite her temporary absence from the folk scene, Kate's name was in the news back in the spring when the film Heartlands was premiered.

"My husband John and myself did the soundtrack for it after the producer Richard Jobson phoned up to see if they could use one of my songs in it.

"Of course, we were dead chuffed to be asked! Then they wanted to use more songs, then asked John to do the score, then they wrote in a scene where the main character, Colin, goes along to a concert in a pub, which was me and John.

"I'm sure that will be my only brush with Hollywood, so I will cherish it."

The break also allowed Kate to finish her latest album, Underneath the Stars, released last month.

"We had such a ball making it. It always seems so daunting to start out with a blank tape, but it was so lovely to sit and be creative again.

"The only plan we had was to base the album more around the tinkles - the wee guitars, cittern, banjo and mandolin - instead of having lots of flutes and fiddles playing tune bits in the middle of songs.

"My 'boys' - Ian Carr, Michael McGoldrick, Andy Cutting and John McCusker - are all on there again, plus Eddi Reader who kindly agreed to come and sing on it.

"Simon Fowler, the singer with Ocean Colour Scene, also sings on one of the songs. I asked him after hearing the Live on the Riverboat CD, and dropped through the floor when he agreed! He came up to record it and proved he was the perfect man for the job. What a gorgeous singer he is!"

Growing up in a musical family, it was almost inevitable that Kate would become a folk singer.

"When I was a kid, there was always music going on in the house, be it on the record player or my mum and dad having a tune and a sing," remembers Kate.

"My dad plays banjo and

my mum plays the accordion, both of them sing too, so I

was learning songs from

them from the day I could talk.

"I still learn songs from them and they also run our record company, Pure Records, along with my older sister.

"My younger brother is a fantastic sound engineer, so it is very much a family business we have. All as important as each other or it would fall to bits." Kate has been singing professionally since the age of 17, first coming to prominence as a member of all-female folk band The Poozies.

After going solo her career was boosted by the Mercury Music Awards of 1999, when her second album Sleepless was short-listed as one of the twelve best albums of the year.

Kate followed up with the albums Little Lights and Ten over the next few years.

Now 29, Kate is quite content to stick with folk, rather than crossing her music with more mainstream idioms to court commercial success. "I've been at it for over ten years now and I'm making a good living from it.

"With each album the audience grows, outside the folk scene as well as in it, so we are going in the right direction. The only thing the commercial market offers these days is a very slim chance to be famous for a year or so.

"I never have regrets about doing what I do. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world and hope I can still be doing this for years to come. "If I wasn't a folk singer any more, I would love to have a greengrocer's shop!"

Kate and her band play Salisbury City Hall tonight (box office: 01722 327676) and Medina Theatre, Newport, Isle of Wight tomorrow (box office: 01983 527020).