Kate Rusby Discography
The discography of Kate Rusby, an English folk singer, consists of twenty solo albums, four albums as part of a duo or group, four extended plays (EPs), two video albums, fourteen singles, and seven music videos. Rusby's debut was Intuition, an album recorded in collaboration with five other female singers from Yorkshire, which was released on a small label in 1993. Her breakthrough came with an eponymous album recorded with Kathryn Roberts, another of the singers featured on Intuition. This album, which was named as the best of the year by Folk Roots magazine, was the first release on Pure Records, a label set up by Rusby's father on which all her subsequent solo recordings have been released. Rusby and Roberts also formed the band the Equation in conjunction with the Lakeman Brothers, but Rusby left the group after their debut EP. In 1996 she joined the all-female folk group the Poozies, with whom she released one EP and one full-length album.
In 1997 Rusby released her first solo album, Hourglass, and two years later followed it with Sleepless, which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. Two years later, Little Lights became Rusby's first release to enter the Top 100 of the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number 75. Her highest placing on this chart came with 2012's 20, which reached number 22. In 2006 she provided guest vocals on the single "All Over Again" by Irish pop singer Ronan Keating, which reached number six on the UK Singles Chart. Rusby has also made guest appearances on albums by artists such as Show of Hands, Battlefield Band, Roddy Woomble, Ella Edmondson and John McCusker.
Albums
Solo albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK |
US World | ||||
| 1998 | Hourglass
|
— | — | ||
| 1999 | Sleepless
|
— | — | ||
| 2001 | Little Lights
|
75 | — | ||
| 2002 | 10
|
— | — | ||
| 2003 | Underneath the Stars
|
78 | 10 | ||
| 2005 | The Girl Who Couldn't Fly
|
45 | — | ||
| 2007 | Awkward Annie
|
32 | — | ||
| 2008 | Sweet Bells
|
91 | — | ||
| 2010 | Make the Light
|
99 | — | ||
| 2011 | While Mortals Sleep
|
91 | — | ||
| 2012 | 20
|
22 | — | ||
| 2014 | Ghost
|
— | — | ||
| 2015 | The Frost Is All Over
|
— | — | ||
| 2016 | Life in a Paper Boat
|
98 | — | ||
| 2017 | Angels & Men
|
40 | — | ||
| 2019 | Philosophers, Poets & Kings
|
— | — | ||
Holly Head
|
— | — | |||
| 2020 | Hand Me Down
|
12 | — | ||
| 2022 | 30: Happy Returns
|
97 | — | ||
| 2023 | Light Years
|
76 | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country. | |||||
Collaborative albums
| Year | Album details |
|---|---|
| 1993 | Intuition (with Kathleen Deighton, Rosalie Deighton, Julie Matthews, Kathryn Roberts and Pat Shaw)
|
| 1995 | Kate Rusby & Kathryn Roberts (with Kathryn Roberts)
|
| 1999 | Infinite Blue (as a member of The Poozies)
|
| 2004 | Heartlands (with John McCusker)
|
Extended plays
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1995 | In Session
|
As a member of the Equation |
| 1997 | Come Raise Your Head
|
As a member of the Poozies |
| 1999 | Cowsong
|
|
| 2004 | Underneath the Stars
|
Singles
| Year | Title | UK |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | "Withered and Died" | — | Little Lights |
| 2004 | "Underneath the Stars" | — | Underneath the Stars |
| 2005 | "No Names" | — | The Girl Who Couldn't Fly |
| "You Belong to Me" | — | ||
| "Little Jack Frost" | — | ||
| 2006 | "All Over Again" (duet with Ronan Keating) | 6 | Bring You Home |
| 2007 | "Planets" | — | Awkward Annie |
| "The Village Green Preservation Society" | — | ||
| 2008 | "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" | — | non-album single |
| 2019 | "Jenny" | — | Philosophers, Poets & Kings |
| 2020 | "Manic Monday" | — | Hand Me Down |
| "Friday I'm in Love" | — | ||
| "Shake It Off" | — | ||
| 2023 | "Glorious" | — | Light Years |
Video albums
| Year | Video information | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Live From Leeds
|
Recorded live at the Leeds City Varieties Originally broadcast on BBC Four |
| 2013 | Live at Christmas
|
Recorded live at the Royal Hall, Harrogate |
Music videos
| Year | Title | Director |
|---|---|---|
| 2006 | "All Over Again" | Simon Levene |
| 2016 | "Big Brave Bill" | unknown |
| 2017 | "Big Brave Bill Saves Christmas" | Jay Sillence |
| 2019 | "Jenny" | unknown |
| 2020 | "Manic Monday" | Kate Rusby and Damien O'Kane |
| "Shake It Off" | ||
| 2019 | "Glorious" | unknown |
Other appearances
Soundtracks
| Year | Song | Album |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | "The Collier Recruit" "Broken-Hearted I Will Wander" |
Over the Hills & Far Away: The Music of Sharpe |
Compilation albums
- Only otherwise unreleased material included on compilation albums is listed
| Year | Song | Album/Single |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | "The Cobbler's Daughter" | Cambridge Folk Festival: A Celebration of Roots Music 1998-99 |
| 2004 | "I Wonder What's Keeping My True Love Tonight?" | Folk Festival: A Celebration of Music Recorded at the Sidmouth International Festival |
| 2006 | "It's Curtains" | The Song of Steel |
| "Underneath the Stars" | Cool as Folk | |
| 2011 | "Butterfly" | Davy Steele: Steele the Show |
| "Awkward Annie" "The Mocking Bird" "The Blind Harper" |
Cambridge Folk Festival 2011 (DVD) |
Guest appearances
| Year | Artist | Album | Credit | Track(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Chris Sherburn & Denny Bartley | Last Night's Fun | Vocals | "The Roseville Fair/The Concert Reel" "Starry Night" |
| 1997 | Battlefield Band | Across the Borders | Vocals | "The Green and the Blue" |
| Roy Bailey | New Directions in the Old | Vocals | "Light Years Away" | |
| 1999 | Show of Hands | Dark Fields | Vocals | "High Germany/Molly Oxford" |
| 2000 | Gibb Todd | Connected | Harmony vocals, box | "The Final Trawl" "Will Ye No Come Back Again" |
| John McCusker | Yella Hoose | Vocals | "Night Visiting Song" | |
| 2001 | Cathie Ryan | Somewhere Along the Road | Vocals | "Somewhere Along the Road" |
| 2002 | Linda Thompson | Fashionably Late | Guitar, harmony vocals | "Miss Murray" "No Telling" |
| 2003 | John McCusker | Goodnight Ginger | Vocals | "The Bold Privateer" |
| 2005 | John Doyle | Wayward Son | Vocals | "Bitter the Parting" |
| Cherish the Ladies | Woman of the House | Vocals | "Bogie's Bonnie Belle" | |
| 2006 | Kris Drever | Black Water | Harmony vocals | "Braw Sailin' on the Sea" "Green Grows the Laurel" "Navigator" |
| Roddy Woomble | My Secret is My Silence | Vocals | "I Came in from the Mountain" "Act IV" "From the Drifter to the Drake" "Waverley Steps" "Play Me Something" | |
| 2007 | Various artists | Ballads of the Book | Vocals | "The Weight of Years" (by Idlewild and Edwin Morgan) |
| Martin Simpson | Prodigal Son | Vocals | "Never Any Good" | |
| 2009 | Maura O'Connell | Naked with Friends | Harmony vocals | "The Bright Blue Rose" |
| Ella Edmondson | Hold Your Horses | Vocals | not specified | |
| 2010 | Damien O'Kane | Summer Hill | Vocals | "Summer Hill" "Raven's Wing" "The Sun is Burning" |
| 2014 | West of Eden | Songs from Twisting River | Vocals | "The Bee That Stung" |
| 2015 | Damien O'Kane | Areas of High Traffic | Vocals | "Banks of the Bann" |
| 2017 | Damien O'Kane | Avenging & Bright | Vocals | "Lately" |