Before playing a note, Kate Rusby addresses her London audience in her Yorkshire accent: "This song used to be French," she says with a cheeky smile, "but now it's from Barnsley." The audience laugh and she strikes up her five-piece band. And so she sets the tone for the rest of the evening: great folk songs, reinterpreted and given the Rusby twist, marvellously played and arranged and wrapped up with self-effacing banter. Although the chatty interludes can pall, it all makes for a fine evening of music - if not for a great one. It feels faultless, but as the set continues, there's a sense that the band and songs aren't finding a free rein to really let rip, to inspire dancing feet - which is a pity.
Kate was last year's Mercury-prize token folk nominee. She didn't win, but has proved she is far from token. Avoiding major record companies and setting up her own label, she has flourished. The last time she played at the South Bank it was an accomplished solo performance in the Purcell Room. This time it was the QEH with a band. No doubt, she will fill the RFH next. Despite her humble charm, she seems unstoppable.
Central to her success here (and to her recordings) is the Britfolk supergroup she has assembled. Michael McGoldrick on flute and whistles, Andy Cutting on accordion, and the dazzling fiddle player John McCusker, along with the guitarist and bassist, give a rich, sensitive backing. In the heartbreaking rendition of As I Roved Out, perfectly placed bass notes underpin Rusby's fluttering, emotional voice and intricate guitar picking as she gives a shivering delivery of that ballad of doomed love. Then she capriciously breaks the mood she has created, saying that to have a happy folk song you have to write it yourself - playing Cowsong, before leaving the stage for the band to play a few tunes without her. And here is the brief lift, as folk dance tunes are reeled out.
She returns to close the set alone, accompanying herself on guitar with a new song to a lost friend. It's moving, with a unique vocal signature, but it's just a bit restrained - which folk should not be.
