Arts / Drever to return with band for special Mareel gig
AWARD-winning Scottish folk singer-songwriter Kris Drever is returning to the isles with his full band in tow for a special concert at Mareel later this month.
Drever, a multiple award-winning artist both under his own name and with his band Lau, is touring in support of a career-spanning Best Of anthology that came out earlier this year.
The show will feature material from his debut album Black Water through to 2020’s Where the World is Thin and beyond.
Described as a “new standard bearer” of the folk revival by Q Magazine, the Orcadian has played and recorded with artists including Mark Knopfler, Joan as Police Woman, Tim O’Brien, Anais Mitchell, Sarah Jarosz and Eddi Reader.
He will be joined on percussion, guitar and backing vocals by Admiral Fallow frontman Louis Abbott, along with double bassist Euan Burton and harmony singer Rachel Lightbody, for the concert on Saturday 30 September.
“It feels great bringing music to Shetland,” Drever said. “It’s an effort getting there, of course, but the rewards are worth it – there’s so much musical knowledge in the audience, so many excellent writers and players around, it makes it so easy to share ideas and feelings when you know you’re understood.
“The players in this version of my band are uncommonly gifted, some of the best musicians and artists that I’ve ever met, they’re virtuosos but they’re also always about the music first. It’s a great privilege to bring them up with me. We’re really looking forward to it.”
Neil Riddell of local promoters Ragged Wood said while Drever has been a regular performer in Shetland over the years, this is only the second time he has brought a full ensemble of backing musicians north.
“We were lucky enough to see Kris and his terrific band performing a sellout show at Glasgow Concert Hall as part of Celtic Connections in January, and with Mareel’s auditorium being such a beautiful room to hear music in, we expect this gig to be even better.”
Support will come from a new name on the Shetland music scene, Magic Money Tree Band. They feature Robert Balfour (guitar/vocals), Chris Thomson (vocals/piano) and Chris Cope (bass), who were part of Trookers.
The group describe themselves as “weaving together singer-songwriter sensibility and folk musings – with plenty of melody and harmony” and performed live at Shetland Folk Festival and the Tall Ships in Lerwick earlier this year.
Tickets to see the Kris Drever Band, with support from Magic Money Tree Band, are available through the Shetland Arts Box Office.
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