James Yorkston

Originally from Kingsbarns in the Scottish Fife, James Yorkston has developed since the early 2000s a folk writing style that is spare, narrative and receptive to British traditions. After starting out as a bassist in local bands that moved through punk and indie, Yorkston attracted attention with the song “Moving Up Country” and released the album Moving Up Country in 2002 on Domino, initially backed by his band The Athletes. His discography then traces a steady path between acoustic songwriting, restrained arrangements and interpretations of traditional material, notably Just Beyond the River (2004), The Year of the Leopard (2006), When the Haar Rolls In (2008), I Was a Cat from a Book (2012) and The Route to the Harmonium (2019). An active member of the scene associated with the Fence Collective, Yorkston has also pursued numerous collaborations, whether with The Big Eyes Family Players on Folk Songs (2009) or as part of the trio Yorkston/Thorne/Khan, where his Scottish folk dialogues with forms drawn from jazz and Hindustani classical music on Everything Sacred (2016), Neuk Wight Delhi All-Stars (2017) and Navarasa: Nine Emotions (2020). More recently, he recorded with The Second Hand Orchestra on The Wide, Wide River (2021) and with Nina Persson on The Great White Sea Eagle (2023) and Songs for Nina and Johanna (2025).