A NEW six-part radio documentary features Cawthorne folk singer Kate Rusby.

The 2006 Radio Ballads probes issues of our time through personal interviews and specially commissioned songs about human experiences.

Kate sings Wash Me Curtains, written by former steelworker Ray Hearne about the ever- present dirt in Sheffield's skies in the post-war years.

The series, which starts at 9pm on Radio 2 on Monday, February 27, explores subjects such as the decline of the steel industry, living with the HIV/Aids virus, shipbuilding, the conflict in Northern Ireland and the lives of travelling fairground men and women.

More than 40 men and women were interviewed for the series, with a songwriting team matching their stories using their words, dialect and slang.

Kate was named best live act in the BBC Radio 2 Awards last week.

The former Shelley High School pupil made her live solo debut at Holmfirth Folk Festival as a 15-year-old in the late 1980s.

Before that she had cut her teeth playing and singing in the family ceilidh band.

Her CDs are released on the family-run `cottage' label Pure Records, run by her sister, Emma, and parents Ann and Steve in Penistone. Brother Joe is the studio engineer.

Kate's husband, producer and fiddle player John McCusker, is a well-known figure on the folk scene in his own right.

For more information about the series visit bbc.co.uk/radio2