If a haunting song about Sir Titus Salt’s model village turns up on Seth Lakeman’s next album, you read about it here first.

The folk hero’s songwriting is generally inspired by his native West Country, but he’s keen to soak up stories of history and heritage around the country on his current tour. Earlier this summer he was in Saltaire, somewhere he was looking forward to visiting.

“I love that kind of place; somewhere with a story behind it. I wasn’t aware it was a World Heritage Site though – that’s incredible,” says Seth, when I tell him about the Victorian village.

So might he be inspired to write a song about Saltaire? “Who knows, I may just do that,” he says. “I’m very much rooted in the West Country, and to be honest when I’m on tour I have my head set in playing live, but places and people inspire me when I’m travelling. I try to get out and about when I can.”

With his rhythmic, urgent performances and engrossing song lyrics, reflecting the drama, tragedy and romance of ancient folk myths and historic events, Seth is credited with taking folk to a new, younger audience. It helps that the singer/songwriter is pleasing on the eye, in a rugged, windswept way. He’s quite a dreamboat, to coin a Jackie magazine kind of phrase. Just ask the legion of female fans who follow him around the country.

Seth, 32, began playing music with his parents and brothers, Sean and Sam. As the Lakeman Brothers, they released critically-acclaimed debut album Three Piece Suite in 1994, and joined Yorkshire folk singers Kate Rusby and Kathryn Roberts as a backing group on tour.

The five musicians morphed into the band Equation, releasing three albums. In 2001, Seth left Equation, joining brother Sam and Sam’s wife Cara Dillon for concerts and recordings.

The following year he released his first solo album, The Punch Bowl. Follow-up album Kitty Jay was inspired by folk tales from his beloved Dartmoor. The title track is Seth’s take on the story of an orphaned farm girl who, branded a prostitute after falling pregnant, killed herself. Jay’s Grave is a popular spot with visitors to Dartmoor and on moonlit nights a hooded figure is said to kneel beside the sad little mound, with its head in its hands.

Seth’s Kitty Jay was recorded in Seth’s brother’s kitchen for less than £300 and went on to be shortlisted for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. Seth became the critics’ darling and a fast-rising young star on the British folk scene, with a sell-out solo tour and a spell supporting folk rockers The Levellers, who took to closing their set with a ‘fiddle off ‘ between Seth and their own fiddler, Jon Sevink.

Seth’s Freedom Fields album followed, and in 2007 he won Singer of the Year and Best Album at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Support tours with Billy Bragg and Jools Holland brought his music to a wider audience, and he’s a regular on the festival circuit, playing everywhere from Glastonbury to the Cambridge Folk Festival.

He is currently working on his fourth album and has been showcasing new tracks on tour this summer.

To his credit, rather than dilute his music to make it more commercially appealing, he remains true to his folk roots. If anything, he has become more intense. Last year’s album, Poor Man’s Heaven, moves from an acoustic-based feel to a fuller, rockier sound, underpinned by emotive lyrics and passionate storytelling, with a strong coastal theme.

Poor Man’s Heaven – which includes the track Solomon Browne, a tribute to the men who lost their lives in the 1981 Cornish Penlee lifeboat disaster – rewrote the rules for what a folk album can achieve by entering the UK album charts at No 8. Seth’s full-on live performance also rewrites the rules – it’s an acoustic-based show, but it rocks!

“I usually start off with a vision, knowing what kind of sound I want, but recording is a pretty organic process and you don’t always know what you’ll end up with. I’m very influenced by the energy of Irish and Scottish folk,” says Seth. “As far as storytelling goes, I grew up with oral tales about places I knew. I fell in love with them, they fascinate me.

“I like a story to unfold through an album. It’s something Kate Bush has made a point of doing, beautifully.”

Here lies a dilemma. While the internet has brought artists like Seth to a whole new audience who may not otherwise have strayed into folk territory, he seems a little sad that the iPod Shuffle generation may not experience the joy of getting to know an entire album.

“I’m in two minds about it,” he sighs. “The internet has broadened our appeal, no doubt about that. It enables people to discover new music, that’s a good thing. Folk is the people’s music. But listening to random tracks isn’t the same as taking a journey through an album; that excitement of getting your hands on an album and playing it so much you know it inside out. Don’t you think it’s sad if kids don’t have that anymore?”

Internet aside, he puts his widespread appeal largely down to the music itself. He says folk can be about anything, from ancient tales of the sea to a young couple rowing outside a supermarket.

“Storytelling isn’t old-fashioned; if it has passion, a chorus and a hook, contemporary audiences embrace it,” he says. “Kids like the energy. We play rock festivals like V and we’re accepted there, which is great.

“I don’t think a lot of folkies are hugely into what we do, but any older folk audiences coming along appreciate where the music comes from.”