No one exposes the contemporary meaning within traditionally based material as effectively as Kate Rusby, who can sing The Recruited Collier or Sir Eglamore dead straight and yet sound as relevant as anything else in the CD racks.
Humanity and intelligence shine from her voice, an instrument of quiet and subtle strength. Ostensibly a celebration of her 10th year as a performer, her fourth solo album - released, like its predecessors, on her own Yorkshire-based label - goes far beyond the conventional function of a retrospective to reveal the continuing growth of her powers.
Four previously released songs are joined by two live recordings and nine newly recorded studio tracks, the latter marked by the way she and her musicians make their instruments - guitars, double bass, accordion, sometimes violin, whistle or banjo - weave in and out of each other with miraculous clarity.
On her own gorgeous Over You Now and a new version of The Fairest of All Yarrow, they seem to be breathing in unison, the state to which any band should aspire. John McCusker's elegantly spare production provides the most beautiful voice in England with a perfect setting.
