Kris Drever

Born in Kirkwall, in Orkney, Kris Drever has established himself on the Scottish folk scene since the early 2000s as a singer, guitarist and songwriter, with a playing style that blends British tradition, contemporary inflections and touches of rock, country and jazz. Based in Edinburgh since adolescence, he trained in local sessions before multiplying collaborations in Scottish and British folk, notably with Kate Rusby, John McCusker, Eddi Reader or Julie Fowlis. Kris Drever first took part in Fine Friday, then co-founded in 2005 the trio Lau with Aidan O’Rourke and Martin Green, a formation that pushed acoustic folk toward a more open writing, between chamber arrangements, rhythmic intensity and a sense of improvisation. In parallel, Kris Drever developed a solo career begun with Black Water in 2006, followed by Mark the Hard Earth in 2010, If Wishes Were Horses in 2016, Hill and Shore in 2019 and Where the World Is Thin in 2020. He also records with Éamonn Coyne and takes part in the joint project with Roddy Woomble and John McCusker around Before the Ruin in 2008. Kris Drever’s calm, sober voice sits within writing attentive to narratives, while his guitar accompaniment favors pulse, nuance and melodic clarity.