The folk star who can't say no

Published on Monday 15 January 2007 00:08

WITH six gigs at Celtic Connections, it's going to be a busy month for Kris Drever.

On Thursday the 28-year-old singer-guitarist plays Glasgow Royal Concert Hall's Orkney Night, with fellow islanders the Wrigley Sisters and Saltfishforty. Then there are shows with his two bands - acclaimed fiddle-led eight-piece Session A9 and hot new property Lau. Both perform at next week's Showcase Scotland concert, in addition to their headline slots. He'll also appear with Irish banjo ace Eamonn Coyne, launching their new CD Honk Toot Suite. In the midst of all this comes the premiere of his as yet untitled New Voices commission.

The day after the festival finishes, he'll be down in London for the Radio 2 Folk Awards, in which he's been nominated twice for his debut solo album, Black Water. The same trip will also take in gigs in London and Birmingham, and a live Radio 2 session with Whispering Bob Harris. "It's partly to do with my chronic inability to say no," jokes Drever, "but it's also that I've put in a good eight years' hard graft since I moved to Edinburgh, so it's kind of a cumulative thing as well. It does feel like a lot of things are coming together."

Drever's musical pedigree stretches back a good bit further. The son of ex-Wolfstone vocalist Ivan Drever, he cut his teeth on the local Orkney scene, where, as an adolescent heavy metal fan, "I spent a lot of time ruining other people's sessions at the Folk Festival, playing all the wrong chords." Moving to the mainland at 17, he switched for a time to the double bass, which suited his physique and filled the diary more quickly.

"There were already loads of guitarists around, so I just got more gigs playing bass."

Once established in the midst of Edinburgh's booming 1990s session scene, however, he reverted to his original instrument, capitalising on the fertile cross-genre pollination taking place among the city's musicians to forge his own distinctive style, blending folk, jazz, rock and American influences. From these informal roots grew his first group, Fine Friday - named for a weekly session in famed folk howff Sandy Bell's - with flute/whistle player Nuala Kennedy and fiddler Anna-Wendy Stevenson, which also introduced him as a compelling interpreter of traditional and contemporary songs. They recorded two acclaimed albums and toured extensively before disbanding in 2004.

By this time, Drever was increasingly in demand as a session player, his past live and studio credits including work with Cathy Ryan, ex-lead singer of Irish-American supergroup Cherish the Ladies, and acclaimed fiddler John McCusker. Session A9, led by Capercaillie's Charlie McKerron, formed in 2004, and the following year Drever co-founded Lau with fiddler Aidan O'Rourke and accordionist Martin Green, the trio having since taken the UK festival circuit by storm; both outfits have new albums coming out this year. Also in 2005, he was signed by new indie label Reveal Records, recording Black Water last summer. And, just to while away any remaining idle hours, he is currently a member of Kate Rusby's live band, and will be off on tour next month with Eddi Reader, as both support act and accompanist.

It's this exposure, Drever reckons, that lies behind Black Water's success. Its UK-wide reception has been exceptional for a first release, even if it does feature guest contributions from the likes of Rusby, Reader, McCusker and Idlewild vocalist Roddy Woomble. "Working with Kate has certainly helped raise my profile. Plus, the label has done a great job of promoting it, which always makes a huge difference."

As for the future, Drever isn't planning any new projects, but hopes to maintain his current impressive portfolio. "I think the most important thing for any musician is to keep striving to do better," he says. "That's why I like taking on different things, it helps me stretch myself, and also helps keep the existing things fresh." Doesn't it ever get confusing, though, switching between all these different line-ups? "I don't find that, no. I do put a lot of time into learning the various sets, and then they become like separate files in my head: I just need to make sure and pull up the right one when I arrive for the soundcheck."

• Black Water is released on 5 February on Reveal records. For more information visit www.krisdrever.com