"Whilst at Exeter University I befriended a few people who had been there for some time, and knew about the different sessions/festivals etc. going on around Devon. So I began to go to regular singarounds which were unlike anything that I'd been to before. Most of the singarounds are completely unaccompanied and I was very struck by the way that words and narrative really came to life when they were sang in such a pure, and stark way. The singarounds were full of people who'd been singing all of their lives and were unaffected by what was going on in the commercial folk world, i.e. recordings of folk songs. To me, the song seemed completely personal to the singer, and unadulterated. I had never sang in public before, and I began to learn to sing, with the aim of making the words come to life. I also tried to teach myself to sing without any constraints so that I could take my time and breath a lot! This took me a long time, and I really looked forward to every singaround as a challenge. At first I found singing in public excruciating because I've always been very self conscious. But everyone was very encouraging and supportive.

In particular, the likes of Barry Lister, Tom Addison, Sean O'Shea and Dave Lowery (all in a group called 'The Claque') took me and my housemates Esther and Diggory under their wing, and took us to lots more singing/music sessions and taught us songs. Undoubtedly, its been the inspiring singers that I've met in Devon that made it impossible for me to consider going back to the West Midlands after I graduated in 2004."

"I've always loved the singing to Shirley Collins and Anne Briggs, as well as early June Tabor and Dick Gaughan. I'm particularly drawn to singers who have a certain quality about their voice which expresses things within itself, aside from the words. In real life, I've been very influenced by Barry Lister for this reason. I've always seen singing as an emotional tool: I think I enjoyed it so much at University as the process of singing is very calming/comforting and I've chosen versions of songs that have the most effective/satisfying tunes. I think I'm very picky about melodies."

The "Violet Hour" was produced in an incredibly short of space of time compared to Jackie's previous album, so I asked what was the magic this time around that allowed it all to go so smoothly?

"When I recorded my first album with Phil Beer, we didn't really know what would happen, and it was done as an experiment because Phil had some spare time in the Summer of 2005. Whilst some of the tracks could be recorded almost live, others included multi tracking myself several times, and neither of us really knew what we were doing and the best way to do it! Phil would often say 'I'm not really sure whats going on in your head yet!'. But this time round, I knew for 6 months before, that I'd be recording for 3 weeks in the Summer. So I made sure that I'd rehearsed thoroughly with all of the musicians and that I'd booked them in. I also decided to orchestrate most of the tracks so that everything was written down and arranged. On the last album I was always tempted to record all of the parts of the track myself, but this time I got a string trio where it was needed. Other than this, I drank lots of chilli & licquorice tea. Phil's studio is about 10 minutes from my house, and this time round I had a car!"

I had also heard that Jackie was still spending a lot of time tutoring students amongst playing festivals and gigs etc. So was there a revival in English folk going on? If there was she'd certianly be in a position to know about it.

"About 80% of the work I do is tutoring, and I'd definitely say that young people are becoming interesterd in Traditional Folk. At festivals, with the aid of organisations such as Shooting Roots, and workshops designed specifically for young people: there's now a place where they can go to meet fellow young people and play music together. I think that this is incredibly important, as asides from being able to learn new songs/tunes and play together, it gives them the friends and contacts to carry on going to festivals and events without feeling isolated and years younger than everyone else!

I had to ask, was it me or was there a growing and thriving folk community based around Jackie, every time I read something my reaction would be, blimey, another artist from Devon.

"Yes, there are a number of folk artists around Devon who all go to similar events who've known each other for years, and a lot of us work for the traditional music education organisation, 'Wren Music', such as Nick Wyke and Becky Driscoll, Rosa Rebecka, James Dumbelton, Gris Sanderson, Jim Causley and Matt Norman who are also my housemates. Some folk artists have migrated to Devon as its such a strong area for traditional music. Everyone seems to help each other out with musical favours! Likewise artists like the Claque and Show of Hands regularly put in appearances at all sorts of sessions/singarounds/parties. I met Phil purely by chance, as someone passed on my number to him, because they thought that I should record a demo. "

I noticed on the sleeve notes that Jackie played a Shruti which I'd also seen her playing in a press photo. I asked how she ended up playng one and whether there were other unusual instruments she'd like to play.

"A couple of years ago I went to a gig with my brother in Bristol and saw an artist singing, with only an Indian Harmonium as accompaniment. I found the effect very haunting and strikingly different to anything that I'd heard before. So I began playing the Shruti (partly because it was cheaper/lighter than an indian harmonium), because it added an extra edge to unaccompanied singing. I'd love to explore the usage of well known instruments a bit more: when I can, I'd love to get hold of an Icelandic dulcimer...I was planning to play some gems horns on the 'Hampton Lullaby' track and some appalachian dulcimer but realised that it wasn't financially viable! In my live sets, my accompanist James Dumbelton does some overtone singing which I'd love to use a bit more. "

So with the festival season upon us what were Jackie's plans?

"I'm involved in a Mick Ryan play called 'The Navvy's Wife' which has its debut at Topsham Folk Club on May 4th, + performance at Chippenham Folk Festival on May 25th. The play is about the lives of the Navvies across the centuries and includes Mick Ryan, Paul Downes, Roger Watson, Heather Bradford, Judy Dunlop and Tom Fairbairn. There's plans in store to record an album later in the year and do further performances.

I'm also really enjoying playing and singing for 'Morris Offspring' alongside Saul Rose, John Dipper, James Delarre and Matthew Keegan Phipps. There's plans for a tour in October.