TRADITIONAL music icons Steeleye Span may have moved into the slow lane signposted 'folklore' -- but former lead singer Maddy Prior is still very much on the road in the real world.

And the prove her point she will bring her new show Maddy Prior's Girls to Accrington Town Hall next Sunday.

The folk star whose career stretches across 35 years said from her home in Scottish Borders: "I still do four tours a year, lasting about a month at a time.

"So I'm actually at home for about eight months a year, and that's when the time seems to fly. It's the weeks on tour that go slowly. It must be something to do with all those hours in dreary hotel rooms.

"Charlie Watts -- the Rolling Stones drummer -- once said touring was 10 per cent performing and 90 per cent waiting around. I think he was right."

What tears Maddy away from her idyllic rural base near Carlisle is a continuing commitment to reinvigorate traditional music: to come up with something new to surprise the fans.

At Accrington, for instance, the woman recognised as the authentic voice of English folk music, both as interpreter and writer, will be joined by her daughter Rose Kemp and singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Abbie Lathe.

At 17, Rose is already a blossoming performer with a personalised sultry style. The family dynasty look to be in safe hands.

Meanwhile, the trio have brought out an album, Bib and Tuck, which has been gathering critical acclaim.

Maddy herself was born in Blackpool 55 years ago, but moved with her family to St Albans in Hertfordshire when she was 11.

An important member of that family was father Allan Prior, long acclaimed for his radio and television plays and novels -- and perhaps most famous as the creator of the early 60s TV hit Z Cars.

"It was definitely a house where the creative juices flowed," Maddy recalled. "But back in those days I think it was also true that because I was a girl I was expected to marry and settle for domestic bliss, so the pressure wasn't put on me to get a proper job. It meant I could try different things."

The singing started early -- at a talent competition at a children's matinee at the long-gone Dominion Cinema near the seafront in Bispham. "I was eight, and I sang a song called the The Tennessee Wigwalk, which no-one seems to remember any more for some reason! I used to do all the actions," she said.

Later, she was the resident singer in a local folk club while she was still at school -- and soon there followed the hazy, crazy 60s days with Steeleye Span.

Does she remember it as an exciting time? "It was certainly very exciting, but looking back I think it was more hysterical. They were great days," she said.

Back in 1976 she recorded Too Old To Rock 'n' Roll, Too Young To Die with Jethro Tull. "There's still a big audience out there for all of us 50-somethings," she said. We're not too old at all."

Maddy Prior and the Girls, Accrington Town Hall, Sunday, November10. Tickets £12/£11. Box office 01254 380293.