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 Hardy has been hailed as a talent to watch since her 2007
debut album "Night Visiting", and in 2012 she won BBC Radio 2's
Folk Award for Best Original Song for "The Herring Girl."
Far from resting on her laurels, however, she is planning a tour
of her 30 favorite venues to mark her 30th birthday next year
and celebrate her work to date before beginning afresh.
"I've always been the youngest in all the things I've done," she
told Reuters by phone from a Stafford churchyard while on her
Christmas tour. "As a teenager I was the youngest in a band
called The Pack. My nickname was 'Baby Pack.'"
Turning 30 seemed like a good time to take stock with a tour
that would allow her to revisit old material, she said. "I'll
just pick some of my favorite songs and tie a ribbon round them.
Then I can look to what's coming next."
Her Folk Singer of the Year nomination comes on the back of her
well-received album "Battleplan" with her self-penned works
growing in confidence and emotional depth. And although Hardy
has no plans to release an album next year, she is already
relishing writing new material.
"I've been doing a lot of experimenting with different sounds
and different approaches to the way I make my music. It's lovely
just to have the freedom and time to develop."
Hardy works with a changing lineup of musicians to create a
different feel and tone for her arrangements, from the
stripped-back minimalism of some earlier work to recording and
performing with a full backing band, The Midnight Watch.
She is on tour with long-time collaborator Scottish guitarist
Anna Massie and Chris Sherburn on concertina.
In March, Hardy will join seven other musicians for the
Elizabethan Session, a joint commission between Folk by the Oak,
an annual music festival at Elizabeth I's childhood home
Hatfield House, and the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
"We'll have a 10-day period in a house together and write a
collaborative set of music," said Hardy. "I don't think we'll
come out of it with a set of madrigals. We'll probably have a
huge mix of different things."
The group won't get to stay at Hatfield House, but Hardy is
working on ways to get into the mood: "I really like cooking so
I will have a little delve into the history of Elizabethan food
and I have half a plan to spend 10 days cooking and baking.
Maybe I'll come out of it with a recipe book!"
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 Here's what else she had to say about the influences on her
song writing and how her work has evolved.
Q: You grew up in the village of Edale, Derbyshire. How
did that inform your song writing?
A: I'm from the Dark Peak in the Peak District. My second
record was called "In the Shadow of Mountains", which refers to the
location as I lived right underneath Kinder Scout. But it was also
about some of the shadows we live under in our lives. I'm very much
influenced by the hills and valleys around me and the skyline I
love, and that does come across very heavily in my earlier music.
Q: "Battleplan" is a mixture of traditional songs like
"Yellow Handkerchief" and your own compositions like "Maybe You
Might". How did you go about assembling the material for that?
A: I have a handbag full of notebooks and I write things down
as I go. Then when it comes to making the record I go through my
notebooks and find a theme that ties it together. It's very much
like jigsaw puzzles and Agatha Christie.
I try not to see a difference between my own material and the
traditional songs. All those songs have been written by somebody,
it's just they've had years to evolve and round off the sharp edges,
which is what makes them so strong.
Q: Are you drawing more on your own experience now?
A: I think in order to be an honest creator of anything you
have to put yourself out there. For years I'd taken personal lyrics
and found protagonists from a traditional story to hide myself
behind, but with "Battleplan" I didn't always do that. It's
important so that people can connect to your music and have a shared
experience.
(Reporting by Claire Milhench; editing
by Michael Roddy and Hugh Lawson)
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