Born in a caravan in Wallasey, Merseyside to a mother from a travelling background and a working-class father, Kate’s early life was characterised by movement. After living nomadically as her father renovated homes, the family eventually settled on a small farm in the Yorkshire Dales near Wensleydale, practising self-sufficiency and raising rare breed sheep.
Kate’s musical journey began when a singing teacher from Opera North discovered her talent during a school performance. Though grateful for this classical training, her true musical awakening occurred during her time as a political activist at Greenham Common, where communal singing formed an integral part of daily life, with folk songs regularly adapted for demonstrations.
In Sheffield during the miners’ strike aftermath, Kate co-founded the Sheffield Socialist Choir under Emer Mckay’s direction. She immersed herself in folk music, creating mixtapes of Dick Gaughan, Planxty and De Danaan from Sheffield’s music library, while discovering authentic voices through Topic Records’ ‘Voice of the People’ series. The local Irish Centre became a vital hub for her musical development through classes and supportive sessions.
Though her family wasn’t overtly musical, Kate treasures the nursery and dandling rhymes her mother sang. Her musical education was unexpectedly enriched through her father’s purchases of folk albums from farm clearances, which she studied devotedly.
Kate has witnessed significant changes in the Scottish traditional music scene throughout her career. She recalls how the folk sessions she first attended embraced a more purist approach, which she valued for its role in preserving authentic traditions as songs passed directly from singer to singer. With her parallel experience in the early 1980s rave culture, Kate particularly connected with Martyn Bennett’s pioneering fusion albums that blended traditional elements with contemporary dance beats. She saw how this innovation breathed fresh life into folk traditions and helped draw younger generations into the musical heritage she cherishes.
Her significant contribution to Scottish traditional music comes through her teaching work with Fèis Rois, contributing to their traditional music programme across all 120 primary schools in Dumfries and Galloway. Teaching in both Gaelic and Scots, she has inspired countless young people to pursue music while instilling pride in children for whom Scots is their native language.
Kate values the strong community spirit within Scotland’s musical world, appreciating how the songs connect deeply with the people and landscape. Recently, she has developed ‘Galloway Sangstream’, a song and spoken word cycle combining traditional arrangements with new compositions, celebrating the often-overlooked musical heritage of Dumfries and Galloway.
As a single mother of four children, Kate balances her creative work with family responsibilities, composing and arranging folk songs for community choirs. A late learner of Gaelic, she has begun composing in the language and hopes to deepen her knowledge of Gaelic language and music.
Kate’s induction into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame recognises her tireless work in nurturing traditional music at the community level, particularly her dedication to passing these traditions to new generations while juggling teaching, performing, and family commitments.