Underneath The Stars written
and performed by Kate Rusby
Underneath the stars I'll meet you Underneath the stars I'll greet you
There beneath the stars I'll leave you
Before you go of your own free will
Go gently
My first female artist and my first folk song. Underneath The
Stars is a special song to me as it was Kate performing this song on the BBC
highlights of the 2005 Cambridge Folk Festival that started me off on the road
to discovering her? I immediately went and bought the album of the same name
and also her new album’ The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly’ which had just come out. I
loved her music and I loved Kate. She has a voice of an angel and along with ‘Alison
Krauss, Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith and Heidi Talbot will be the angels
singing to me in heaven…
I have seen Kate many times in concert and have all her albums.
This song remains special and I love hearing it in concert particularly if she
has her’ brass boys’ accompanying her. My wife always says that I have a stupid
smiley grin on my face every time I see Kate and I am sure she is right. I met
her at the 2007 Cambridge Folk Festival and I think this photo proves the
point.
I read a very good book a couple of years ago, ‘Bringing it all
home’ by Ian Clayton. It has been
described as ‘One of the best books about popular music ever written’ but it is
more than that. It has a slight political edge and also describes growing up in
a Yorkshire mining town. Be warned it has a
very sad and tragic ending. I recommend you seeking this out and reading it. My
local Oxfam Books and Music shop currently has a copy on its shelves. Anyway in this book Ian describes meeting Kate
Rusby and I quote.
‘On the night Kate Rusby
played I made a bit of a closet of myself by heckling her to play the Iris
DeMent song ‘My Town’ halfway through her set when she had planned to do it as an
encore.
I wanted to meet Kate
Rusby after that and hoped that she wouldn’t remember it was me spoiling the ambience
at The Wardrobe. I got my chance when I was commissioned to present a series
called ‘My Yorkshire’ which explored contemporary Yorkshire
through its musicians, artists and sundry other characters. Most of the filming
was done at Kate’s mam’s house. We sat on the settee and by way of interview just
talked about Kate’s love of folk music and where she was from. I asked her if she’d
got a guitar and would she play me something. She said ‘Do you still want me to
play that Iris DeMent song and then she giggled.
Two years after I had rudely shouted
out from the audience at Leeds I sat on Kate Rusby’s
mam’s settee and got my own private concert. ‘My Town’ is a lovely song about where
you grow up and the things you recall about what shapes you. Kate sang it four times
for different camera angles, each time I stared wide-eyed at her like a kid who’d
just rubbed the sleep out of his eyes on a Christmas morning.’
The last sentence is how I feel when I see or listen to Kate
I have three versions of this song. The original from the album
of the same name. The new version recorded for her latest album 20 which
celebrates her 20 years in the business where she gets to re-do 20 of her favourite
songs and a live version on of that 2005 Cambridge Folk Festival appearance on
the ‘Cool as folk’ compilation album which has 36 live performances from
different artists at Cambridge over the years.
I find the dedication in the ‘Underneath the Stars’ album cover
to be very poignant. It says’ Especially
to John. May we lay underneath the stars for many years to come’. This
dedication is to John McCusker her husband, producer and band member at the
time. Sadly they are now divorced but Kate is now happily married to Damien O’Kane
another musician who now plays in her band and on the new album. John McCusker is married to Heidi Talbot
another of my singing angels. It all works out happily in the end.
Cast
Underneath The Stars Album version
Kate Rusby –
vocal, acoustic guitar
John McCusker -ukelele
James Mackintosh – wee
bells
Richard Marshall
– cornet
Jim Fletcher – Eb
horn
James Hartley –
tuba
Robert Shires –
flugel horn
Michael Dodd -
euphonium
20 Album version
Kate Rusby –
vocal, acoustic guitar
Brass –
Grimethorpe Colliery Band
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