He may be almost 60, but the incredible Sting Band's Robin Williamson is still going strong, he tells Barry Nelson.

IT seems appropriate that no less a figure than the Archbishop of Canterbury recently declared his admiration for the work of prolific musician Robin Williamson.

Williamson, one half of the song-writing team behind the legendary Incredible String Band, has been interested in spiritual questions since 1960s band classics such as The Half Remarkable Question and Kooeeoaddi There.

Recently, he has been touring churches in his adopted homeland of Wales, and southern England with his Asian wife Bina, performing what he calls "a multi-faith, sacred style of story-telling".

So who better to play a String Band song on Radio 4's Desert Island Discs than the head of the Anglican church, Rowan Williams, who also described Williamson as "superb."

Talking to Robin Williamson from his Cardiff home you might expect that he would be impressed by this, but he is so focused on his current musical projects that he confesses he doesn't even know which track the Archbishop played.

Williamson, who is returning to Durham Town Hall on Friday, December 12 to play what seems to have become an annual solo event, is pleased that people still bang on and get misty-eyed about a band which broke up in the early 1970s but he has his eyes set firmly towards the future.

He also seems to rule out any plans to repeat last year's national tour by the reformed String Band, which included a well-received but patchy performance at Newcastle's Tyne Opera House last year.

"I am doing two things at the moment, the solo show in Durham is just me but I am also doing a whole series of stories and songs with my wife Bina in churches in Wales and southern England," says Williamson, whose soft Scottish accent seemed to have always been toned down in the early String Band days.

"On the Spirit of Life tour, I do a lot of different instruments - Japanese, Indian and Arabic flutes, harp, bagpipes and Hardanger fiddle." He says he has always been interested in experimenting. "I use some of these instruments in my solo shows, although you are limited as to what one person can do."

The former elfin-faced hippy, who is about to celebrate his 60th birthday, now looks more like Gandalf than a young Elrond but still has the same enthusiasms as in his youth. "In the early days, in the 60s, I was interested in the places where different cultures coincided in one sort of world music. In fact, the term global village was first coined at a String Band gig by a New York journalist," says Williamson, warming to his task.

"I was - and still am - interested in having a go at all sorts of instruments. In the 70s and 80s I was trying to get into more Celtic style songwriting and also into storytelling. At the present time, there are elements of all that still going on."

Even when he was at school, Williamson says he was always interested in what he calls "real" music. "I was always trying to find music that I thought was authentic rather than necessarily popular," he says.

He can't predict what he will playing in Durham - he prefers to improvise a song list on the hoof. "I don't generally make a set list and if I do, I don't usually stick to it," he chuckles.

Williamson enjoys playing in the North-East and will be returning early next year with ex-Pentangle guitarist and fellow 60s legend John Renbourn, but where he would really like to play echoes his spiritual interests. "It would be nice to do a gig on Holy Island, at Lindisfarne. I would love to but I have no idea how you go about doing it," he says.

Anyone out there who can help?

* Robin Williamson plays Durham Town Hall on Friday, December 12 at 8pm. Tickets are available from Durham Tourist Information on 0191- 3843720.