IT’S clear fromthe moment I start chatting to Welsh singer/songwriter Cerys Matthews she’s extremely excited.

Her enthusiasm is still bubbling over fromher recent Cold Rolling/TIR tour in which Ballet Cymru choreographers Darius James andAmy Doughty took inspiration fromher album of Welsh folk music to produce a showof combined live music and dance.

“I’m such a huge fan of them nowI’m going to force them to make me their patron” laughs Cerys who is full of praise of the choreographers and dancers for bringing the vision of TIR so effortlessly to life on stage.

“It’s something that just touches people instantly and it’s bridging generations and centuries of art forms. I’m thrilled with it.

“The dancers are not like your usual troupe of identikit dancers. They are all different shapes and sizes and from all over the world, all different continents.

“They all come together with magical choreography and it’s not justmoving bodies, it really tells a story, a real gem.”

Cerys hopes to work with the Ballet Cymru team again in the future, however she is also about to hit the road with a very different tour. Cerys by Candlelight coincides with her newalbum Baby It’s Cold Outside, a project she has wanted to work on since recording a version of the classic song with Sir Tom Jones 14 years ago.

Cerys reveals her busy schedule of working on her BBC6 Music Show and solo career has delayed her putting the project together until now.

“I’ve had all these projects, all these documentaries, the clock seems to tick faster the older you get,” she says.

Cerys’s passion for world music has helped her create a Christmas albumwith highlights including a military snare drum on Little Drummer Boy and an Arabic oud instrument on We Three Kings. “I just love it,” she says.

“It’s a real singalong one. I had children in mind with the Baby It’s Cold Outside title. It is amagical time for children. I love the arrangements, it’s done really differently, more folk with an organic acoustic café.”

Cerys has gone for the approach of using real instrumentalists with her newalbum: “I like the sound of musicians,”

she says. “That doesn’t sound all that revolutionary but it is because most music you hear on the radio and television these days is put through a ton of machinery, it’s reworked rehashed re-edited and it’s not real. There’s enoughmagic in the songs to strip it all away.”

Fans of Cerys’s work can expect an equally honest approach to her performances on the forthcoming Cerys by Candlelight tour, which will feature a selection of her work from her Catatonia, solo years as well as traditional songs.

Cerys will also be reading stories that she says unite continents and centuries but are very much steeped in tradition.

These include traditional works by Dylan Thomas including AChild’s Christmas. “I’ll ask people to help me do the sound effects,” she says.

“It’s very informal , very off the cuff and it changes every night but it revels in the eclectic and the curious and it absolutely delves into some amazing literature and song.”

● Cerys visits the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff on December 7. Call 02920 391391 for details and The Arena, Abertillery, on December 14 visit thearenaabertillery.

bigcartel.com or call 01495 213 802 for details.