WITH a BBC Radio 2 lifetime achievement award under his belt, you might forgive Ralph McTell if he were to be resting on his laurels a little.

But that’s far from the case and is setting out on a full national tour and talks excitedly of the younger generation of folk performers who have injected some fire into the genre.

Over the last few years the likes of Kate Rusby, Jim Moray, Seth Lakeman and Katherine Tickle have perhaps against the odds, made traditional music that has engaged with the ipod era.

"I think it’s wonderful there are some great young artists out there," explained Ralph, sounding genuinely enthused

"Kids don’t want to be dictated to by the cynical music industry and are starting to play folk again It’s is a real challenge, it is an easy kind of music to play simply, but to play it well is very difficult. It’s music without ego.

"I love all the young people who are coming through, but I am particularly like Eliza Carthy. She’s a very talented girl."

Despite the accolades he has received including an Ivor Novellor for his most celebrated track, Streets of London, he has never hankered after the limelight.

Though he has enjoyed his own BBC Radio 2 programme and Alphabet Zoo children’s TV show in the early 1980s, chart domination has never figured in his masterplan.

"I just can’t stand all that, I hate it with a passion. I just want to play music which is what I love doing."

His own story began in Kent and born in the county just after the Second World War in Farnborough. But sadly he never got to know the area as his family moved when he was a toddler to the Croydon area.

He learned to play harmonica and some of his earliest influences were icons such as Woodie Guthrie, Elvis and Bob Dylan. He has chosen to revisit the music of his heroes in a new album of classic covers, Gates Of Eden.

This is being re-leased to co-incide with a UK tour and a comprehensive four disc retrospective of his career.

After gaining his first record deal in the late 1960s, he made a memorable appearance at the famed Isle of White Festival in 1970 that the great featured Jimi Hendrix, Joan Baez and Leonard Cohen.

"It was incredible as there were nearly 500,000 people there and it was like looking out into an ocean seeing them all.

There was so much going on behind the scenes – there were protests that were seen as a celebration of youth and politics coming together. Sadly I missed Jimi Hendrix as my manager was getting nervous about the situation there, so we caught the last ferry home!"

Thirty-five years on from this momentous show, at 61, he appears happily settled in Cornwall with his wife Nanna, though they maintains a home in the Croydon area. The couple have four children who have long-since left home.

Still gaining immense satisfaction from touring, it turns out that Kent holds quite a strong place in his heart.

"Kent is always a special place for me to play as the biggest number of fans seems to be round that way. It’s makes you feel like a star and it is great people appear to have such an affection for me there."

Ralph McTell plays the Gulbenkian Theatre on Friday, November 3. Tickets £16.50. Box office 01227 769075 and Saturday, November 4 at the EM Forster Theatre at Tonbridge School. Tickets 01732 361908.