Well, here it is- summer at last. And it is going to be a busy one for me, starting with a performance in the UK’s most mainland location – Knoydart; followed by performances in Keswick, the Rowchester Music Festival, the Maryport Blues Festival, Chesham, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Cropredy Festival and DylanFest. [...]

This is just a short note to say I’ll be performing live on BBC Radio on the Sue Marchant show tomorrow night from 1900. I think I’ll be on from around 1915ish, the show goes out live on the following stations in the East of England:
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire; BBC Radio Norfolk; BBC Radio Three [...]

April has been incredibly hectic and enjoyable, and has seen me grace stages in Edinburgh, Glasgow (twice), Perth, Dundee, Glossop, Birmingham, Newcastle (twice), Livingston, Belfast (twice), Sligo & Derry.
Everyone I have met wherever I have been has been really welcoming, but I have to save a special mention for the people of Northern Ireland/Eire – [...]

Introducing ‘The Loss of an Unknown’, a series of guitar instrumentals steeped in the traditions of the classical and instrumental folk acoustic guitar styles, with which I grew up. I composed the pieces during the course of 2009, grabbing moments here and there in amongst the hectic recording, rehearsing and performing schedule we had [...]

Well, January is now over and it has been a great month, with excellent gigs in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dunfermline, Aberdeen and Inverness – we met a lot of wonderful people and are very grateful to all those who came along to our performances.
We are delighted that ‘Carefree Prisoner’ is continuing to pick up good reviews [...]

Happy New Year to you all! Hoping 2010 will be even more musically inspiring.
Well, so far, we’ve been really pleased with how the album has been received and long may this continue. Since I last posted, the album has received further airplay on BBC Radio Scotland (the Iain Anderson Show & Travelling Folk) [...]

Simon Kempston – Carefree Prisoner (Self-Portrait Records)
There’s a lightness of touch to this vocal delivery that instantly brings Nick Drake to mind – but that’s where any easy comparisons begin and end. This collection of 12 songs penned by the classically trained Dundonian – delicately beautiful melodies, strikingly politicised lyrics – is transformed by [...]

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