'Strange But True' is not a new Kathryn Tickell album in the strictest sense, yet nor is it the standard compilation. As Kathryn herself puts it, “It's really a kind of retrospective - looking at a few of the collaborations I've been involved in over the years, ranging from the sublime (I hope) to the ridiculous...and yes, there are some strange moments on it”.

Put together over the course of a year, it features a range of musical styles from the pure tradition that we have come to expect (instrumental duets with Karen Tweed and Catriona Macdonald) to work with jazz saxophonist Andy Sheppard, Norwegian brass ensemble the Brazz Brothers, harpist Corrina Hewat and Folkestra, a collection of young folk musicians of whom Kathryn has been the artistic director for the past six years.

In amongst it all, however, is the passion, feeling and joy that has marked all of Kathryn’s work since she first emerged as a teenager. Few have done so much for the traditional music of this country, both in terms of performance and making a contribution to its future.

'Strange But True' is another chapter in this amazing story, one that demonstrates that if Kathryn Tickell is determined to do anything, it’s to keep moving forward. “I think it's important to understand that, just because I go and do some weird collaboration with someone, it doesn't mean that I've turned my back on traditional music forever”, she says, before laughing. “It just means that I did a weird collaboration!”

An ambassador for traditional music (she was among the first folk musicians to perform at the last night of the Proms), her most recent albums 'Ensemble Mystical' and 'Back to the Hills' showcased respectively her openness to intriguing new collaborations, and her deep roots in the traditional music of Northumbria.

Having appeared with many great musicians over the years, Kathryn marks a new chapter in her career with her 11th album, and the first recording of a line-up hailed by audiences as her best yet.

From the driving sounds of two fiddles, the wonderful blend of pipes and melodeon, or the excitement of the full band, with guitar and bass adding depth and rhythmic complexity, this is music that excites and engages all the way.

It has been over twenty years since Kathryn Tickell made her first appearance on the folk scene, introducing the Northumbrian pipes and the music of the region to a wider audience. Since then she has appeared in a variety of guises – as a solo performer, playing with musicians ranging from Sting to veteran fiddler Willie Taylor and with artists as diverse as Ensemble Mystical and the Gateshead Youth Orchestra.

One of her most enduring projects has been the Kathryn Tickell Band, which made its first appearance in 1990. With some of the country’s most talented young musicians having passed through its ranks, the 2007 incarnation of the band features Ian Stephenson (guitar and melodeon), Julian Sutton (melodeon and piano) and Peter Tickell (fiddle).

'Instrumental' is the first Kathryn Tickell Band album since 2004’s ‘Air Dancing’.

Here, is the sound of wild, bleak open spaces, of a steeped musical history and long nights spent with like minded souls. It is the sort of record that Kathryn Tickell has made her own - a joyous, inspired and memorable journey through the music that has become her life.