[2] She was a member of the Lost Words Spell Songs project[3] and is a co-founder of The Bit Collective, a group campaigning for equality in folk music.

[5][6] In 2005 Newton formed The Shee with friends Shona Mooney, Laura-Beth Salter, Amy Thatcher, Lillias Kinsman-Blake and Olivia Ross whom she had met while studying for the Folk and Traditional Music degree at Newcastle University.

fRoots magazine said it had an "air of bold friskiness and abundant energy" and called it "a very impressive debut indeed",[10] and Folkworld described it as "raw, vibrant and powerful".

The album contained five instrumentals composed by Newton and new arrangements of six other songs, with the original compositions being mentioned by reviewers as the most notable part.

The album was mostly original work with some traditional tunes, with praise directed to the arrangements and the range of musical influences on show.

In the album Newton wanted to look at the darker side of traditional folk tales and use them to explore feelings about life and death that are hard to express outside of music.

[26][27] In 2014 Newton took part in a week-long retreat at Hatfield House, along with Martin Simpson, Nancy Kerr, Jim Moray, Bella Hardy, John Smith and Hannah James as well as Emily Askew, a specialist in early music.

[31][32] With all four members being established artists on the Scottish and English folk scenes the group was described by the British Council as an "Anglo-Scots supergroup".

[39][40][41] To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Shee, with support from Celtic Connections, the band commissioned folk musicians Andy Cutting, Brian Finnegan, Karine Polwart, Martin Simpson, Kathryn Tickell and Chris Wood to write new works for them.

[44][45][46] In 2016 Newton joined Lori Watson, Britt Pernille Frøholm [nn] and Irene Tillung of Tindra [no] to release the album Ahoy Hoy under the name Boreas.

The album contained a mixture of original tunes and traditional works, with Dolly Parton's song Jolene also included as a nod towards Newton's love of Country and Western music.

The songs were written and performed by Newton, Kerry Andrew, Julie Fowlis, Kris Drever, Jim Molyneux, Beth Porter, Seckou Keita and Karine Polwart.

This included panel discussions, a music theatre piece about Margaret Barry, and performances by The Shee Big Band, Kathryn Tickell and the Darkening and others.

[64] Newton is one of the founder members of the Bit Collective, a group addressing issues relating to equality in the Scottish traditional arts scene.