She writes and performs music with a strong folk and roots feel, her songs dealing with a variety of issues from alcoholism to genocide.

"[2] After this she spent six years working for the Scottish Women's Aid movement on issues such as domestic and child abuse and young people's rights and these experiences have influenced her songwriting.

There are exceptions to this: "Waterlily" — the tale of a man whose lover is killed during the war in Yugoslavia, based on the book Cold Night Lullaby by Colin Mackay — offers no such comfort.

But these stories of despair are balanced by others that describe the joy of a slower life ("Take Its Own Time"), of hope triumphing over cynicism ("Where the Smoke Blows") and the wonder of the universe ("Terminal Star").

As well as her solo work, Polwart spent much of 2006 collaborating with other artists on a variety of projects; Roddy Woomble, the lead singer of Idlewild, asked her to help co-write and provide backing vocals for his solo album, My Secret is My Silence, whilst Polwart provided several original songs for the BBC Radio 2 music/social documentary series The Radio Ballads.

Polwart also supported The Beautiful South on their tour and she guested with David Knopfler at The Globe Theatre for a charity benefit for Reprieve.

Toward the end of the year, she became one of the founder members of a genre-crossing musical collective called The Burns Unit, which has since performed at festivals.

The other members are Sushil K Dade, Emma Pollock, Chris Difford, Kenny Anderson, singer Kim Edgar, pianist Michael Johnston and rap artist MC Soom T. The collective issued its debut album, Side Show, in August 2010.

In 2007, Polwart playing once again at Celtic Connections both with her band and collaborating with other artists including Dick Gaughan and Roddy Woomble.

During this time she recorded two albums: Fairest Floo'er comprising mostly traditional songs, and This Earthly Spell, containing only original compositions.