Sometimes known as The Barnsley Nightingale for her sweet, soft vocals, Kate Rusby has been regarded as one of the best British folk artists for more than two decades and now she is coming to perform her latest album - which features her dog - at Watford Colosseum for the first time.

The 42-year-old says she has visited St Albans many times in the past so she is excited to see and perform in Watford. "I always do try to have a walk around every town we play in. I think it's important to get a feel for a place and I love exploring somewhere new.

"I just adore going down little snickets and discovering what's round the next corner. It's also nice to get a bit of exercise while on tour as obviously there's a lot of sitting in cars."

Kate, who has never been a stranger to touring and going to festivals, was born into a family of musicians - both her parents were folk artists. "I was surrounded by music. I think it's a given really that some of it has to sink in. I have seen it with my own children, they have had great rhythm from nine months and the ability to sing in tune since they began to talk.

"I fell in love with the music, with the flow of the songs and the stories of everyday lives, they were like mini films to me and still are. I asked my dad to teach me some guitar chords and I would sit for hours putting song after song to the chords, when they didn't fit I would make them up."

Family is important to the mother of two, who on her current album, Ghost, has both her daughters - Daisy and Phoebe, featured in the cover shots and even Doris the dog gets a credit. Juggling family life with a music career can be tough, but Kate, says she "bumbles" her way through it, "with precision planning of course.

"I luckily have my family living in the same village, so between them, school, nursery and a child minder, (who is my sister's sister-in-law) we have it covered. While they were both babies they just came with us on tour, when they're so young they are portable.

"There's no way I could have kept touring without my family though, as our work is so erratic compared to normal, I remember after having Daisy I rang a nanny agency to enquire if it would be a possibility for someone to help when we were working, I explained the hours and they just laughed at me.

"So it's definitely like organising the troops when we are touring," adds the Yorkshire songstress. "But of course I wouldn't have it any other way. My girls are brilliant fun. And, yes, Doris the dog is just fab.

"It's so funny watching the girls with her too, the three of them play together and Doris gets involved in the games and ends up dressed up in the Wendy house and things. She's very chilled out and is just pleased to be one of the gang."

Speaking about writing Ghost, Kate, who was nominated for the Mercury Prize, says: "I wrote the song Ghost for the ghost we have in our house. It's a very old house. After living there for a few months I saw it, a figure dressed in black standing next to me, then my husband Damien did a month later. My nephew also saw it while he was having a guitar lesson.

"My mum saw one of the ladies who grew up here and asked her about it when she saw her at church one Sunday. She said that her sister and mother saw/felt it but didn't like it, where as we like it being here.

"We have a piano in that room, so one night I decided that he deserved a song as he'd been there for so long. I sat at the piano for a few nights and wrote Ghost. I hope he likes it. We haven't seen him since but I hope he's still around."

Watford Colosseum, Rickmansworth Road, Watford, April 7, 7.30pm. Details: 01923 571 102, watfordcolosseum.co.uk