I saw Ms. Rusby on the telly a few months ago. Personally, I found her performance to be a bit bloodless - not much passion but a 'pretty', girly voice and a fancy backing group. I'm sure that this sort of thing has wide appeal but it's not really for me.
The thing that really got my goat, though, was an interview with Ms. Rusby during which she stated that as she couldn't read music she tended to make up the tunes to trad. words - what!!?? OK, so this might be alright occasionally but not as normal practice, surely? I happen to think that many of the tunes to our trad. songs are glorious and the words sung to a made up tune are a poor substitute. I can't read music either and I still find some tunes very difficult to learn - but I also believe that mastering them is something to aspire to.
Now I'm sure that someone will now accuse me of being a purist - well I am a purist and intensely proud of it! I don't like to see my beloved folk songs misinterpreted and diminished and am happy to say so - if you don't like it, sue me!