Wishing everyone reading this a very happy, prosperous, peaceful and musical New Year. May 2024 bring you everything that you desire – . As has become traditional I present below my Top 10 SK highlights of 2023, which (tied with 2019!) has been my very best ever….2024, you have a lot to live up to.

1 – I started 2023 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and to tour in Argentina as a professional musician and to travel in this incredible country was the culmination of a lifetime’s dream – . The people here were so kind, and the shows fantastic, and it was a great privilege for me to be featured on Argentinian Television (watch here and see photo one below) and in the newspapers. Already working hard on a return tour as soon as is practicable.

2 – Performing my first ever concerts in beautiful Brazil, again a life-changing experience and one I very much hope I have the opportunity to repeat. Was great to make the printed press there too, which you can read here.

3 – My favourite English Tour to date, taking in disparate and fascinating locations such as the Isle of Wight, Margate, Barton upon Humber, Sheffield and King’s Lynn, England and the audiences had a hard act to follow after my South American sojourn but I’m happy to say they managed it with ease – !

4 – The release in Spring of the video for ‘Still So Far To Go’, filmed near San Juan, Argentina during my time there. Filmed by Victor Suizer of Suizer Imagen, it surpassed all of our expectations and if you haven’t seen it, please watch it here – and of course, please help me fulfil some New Year ambition and subscribe to the channel here if you haven’t already.

5 – Three long years after commencing the composition of the solo piece for classical guitar ‘Moonrise Over Mostar’, I Simon Kempston finally released my debut album for classical guitar of the same name, featuring 12 original compositions. You may purchase the album here, if you are interested – and I’m delighted to announce this journey is one I certainly intend to follow up in the future.

6 – Five long years have passed since I last performed in Finland and late July saw me return for a series of fantastic and well attended shows. Finland, I missed you, and the chance to travel and perform in Eastern Finland in the beautiful locations of Savonlinna and Koli has heightened my desire to return again much sooner.

7 – Another year, another triumph at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a highlight being the lunchtime show with Paul Tasker, Songs Without Words, which received five star reviews and award nominations (sadly on this occasion we didn’t win but it was great to receive some recognition for what we’re trying to do with the show). The collaboration is set for an even bigger and brighter 2024.

8 – My 8th tour of Canada, this time only in the East, in Ontario and Quebec, an area of this amazing country I’d only briefly been to before. I really enjoyed it, very different from Western Canada, but just as beautiful, it’s a country which never fails to inspire me. People of the West, fear not, I’m coming back this year – !

9 – To see in print my contribution to the new Blaze Foley book, compiled and edited my Kai and Carmen Nees and available (German only) here – It looks fantastic and is a worthy testament to one of my own songwriting inspirations.

10 – The best SK Autumn Tour yet – taking in Belgium, Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands, audiences were really appreciative and enthusiastic about the songs and the new instrumental music, whilst the press reviews were highly complimentary and it gave me a lot of confidence building into 2024 and the tours to come.

Once again I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to anyone who has hosted a concert and/or helped me on the road in any way, attended a concert, purchased an album, subscribed to my YouTube Channel or followed my Instagram Page, read my posts and website blogs and written supportive messages and comments. The support has been amazing, and I simply could not continue in this incredible yet insane life of a troubadour without you all.

2024, you have a lot to live up to….but for those of you asking, you shouldn’t have to wait too long to hear new album of songs, please don’t worry – !

Here’s hoping 2024 shall be a successful and prosperous year for us all – may you all be healthy, wealthy and wise in the year to come.

Sláinte

SK x

Belatedly celebrating another run (or should that be gallop) around the sun in my customary style, with a musical release and here it is – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRiUi8fxJyQ

If you’d like to make the birthday boy happy then please watch and like the video and, of course, please subscribe to the channel here if you haven’t already

And the only thing which makes me smile more than birthday cake for this Scottish troubadour is to receive an order for an album or two from my shop here. Go on, you know you want to!

It’s the last of the videos made with the talented Achim Sauer of 7V Studios featuring Bronwyn Claire Asha faithfully recreating Kirsty Miller’s beautiful fiddle line.

It’s hard to believe it has been 14 years since the release of ‘Carefree Prisoner’, my very first album, but the calendar doesn’t lie – looking back, it’s been a thrilling ride, and it feels at times as though it’s barely begun.

Looking forward ahead to the next year of adventure and fortune upon the musical road and hope to see as many of you as I can!

Love to you all, and thank you for your support, as always.

SK x

Something different my beloved readers, I am more than thrilled and overjoyed to see my contribution to the new Blaze Foley book in print – .

I would like to express a huge thank you to Kai and Carmen Nees for their tireless work in promoting and spreading the word about this largely unheralded songwriting genius.

To give some context, I was asked during the quiet (for touring musicians!) days of Covid if I would write some words about one of my favourite Blaze Foley records and the impact it has had on me. I considered it a real privilege to be asked and another just as great to have this rare opportunity to pay tribute to one of my own songwriting inspirations.

Please read more about the project here, this latest publication is for now only available in German, but it is intended to also publish it in English at a later date.

And if you’ve never heard Blaze Foley’s music, please take the chance to investigate it when you can, you will not be disappointed.

Love to you all.

SK x

Dear readers.

Greetings from the madness of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where I shall be presenting not one but two shows every Thursday to Monday – :-).

So, do you have your tickets yet?!

Please click here to buy tickets for the new song-based show ‘You Can’t Win Every Time‘ and if you’re on Facebook, feel free to dd yourself to the event here.

And for the instrumental duo guitar show ‘Songs Without Words’ with the wonderful Paul Tasker please buy tickets here.

Come to one, come to both, please spread the word, share far and wide and if you know anyone in Edinburgh this month, please send them along – .

Hope to see some of you soon.

SK x

At last, more than three years after I started composing the title piece during the first lockdown in Spring 2020, my debut album of classical guitar pieces is out and available to purchase here.

I’m beyond thrilled to be finally presenting the pieces live, and to have them become part of my upcoming performances, and hope you will enjoy hearing them as much as I have enjoyed creating them.

You can watch the video for the piece ‘Tblisi Nocturne’ here to give you an idea of what to expect across the whole album, which is a reflective and pensive record, a musical search into the depths of our very being. The distinguished writer and a personal close friend of mine, Josep Llobera Capllonch commented that this was very much a record for nighttime listening, and I would concur – the music definitely works best when listened to alone, at night.

Many thanks for reading, and I look forward to hopefully seeing you somewhere on the road, or in Edinburgh, in the next few months.

Love to you all.

SK x

As many of you reading this will know, romance has of course, always been an influence upon my music.

Please watch my new video here, filmed in 7V-Studio on my recent tour of Germany which showcases an example of exactly how – a performance of the piece ‘Till Death Do Us Part’, written for two close friends of mine on their wedding day, hailing from the ‘Onwards She Travels’ album.

This was recorded in early March on my last tour of Germany, but it feels timeous to release now with ‘Moonrise Over Mostar’, my debut album of classical guitar pieces, arriving shortly.

Please let me know what you think, and of course, like, share and subscribe to the channel here.

Love to you all, and thanks for reading, as always.

SK x

I am overjoyed, thrilled and delighted to announce the upcoming release of my debut album of original compositions for the classical guitar ‘Moonrise Over Mostar’. This is an album I feel impossibly close to, and I really can’t wait to share it with you, and of course to perform the music live.

You may recall the stunning video Martin Forry shot for one of the pieces ‘Tblisi Nocturne’, which was filmed in the beautiful environs of the old St Peter’s Seminary, near Cardross – please view it here. This piece will feature on the album alongside 11 other new and original compositions.

The album will be released on Friday the 23rd of June, but I will be taking and fulfilling pre-release orders before my European Tour starts on the 22nd. Please stay tuned here for more details.

I should mention I can be booked as a purely instrumental and/or classical guitar act for a house concert etc and would be delighted to have more opportunity to perform these pieces, and indeed the whole album in entirety, and give them the audience I feel they deserve. Please just contact me through the website or at simon@simonkempston.co.uk to arrange.

Thank you all for reading, can’t wait for you all to hear it.

Love to you all.

SK x

Thanks to Victor of Suizer Imagen and my wonderful host Maria, here is the official video for ‘Still So Far To Go’ – . The full story will follow later.

Please watch, like, share and subscribe to my YouTube Channel here

Hope you enjoy, and love to you all – .

SK x

It’s not every day your song is performed live on the Buenos Aires Underground – have a listen here to the talented Gonza Universo blasting out the riff to ‘Vulnerable Man’ from my 2016 album ‘Vanishing Act’.

Songs are wonderful beings, once they are finished and sent out into the world they can take on a life of their own. For this particular song, which has become a live favourite of mine for my audiences the world over, I’ve also had the good fortune to have the song sung by three incredible and fantastic vocalists:

Ekaterina Chemisova, in this wonderful version by her fantastic Novosibirsk based-band the Street Fiddlers you can watch here

Brownyn Claire Asha, as performed recently on our three European Tours together.

Caro Curci, a beautiful and original talent, who sang the song with me in a recent concert in Buenos Aires alongside the aforementioned Gonza Universo on some blistering blues harp.

And all of this, whilst not forgetting that the video for the song on YouTube, which you can watch here, was filmed by the talented Milos Itic in Nis, Serbia, the only Scottish-Serbian music video collaboration in existence…..for now!

It is safe to say that ‘Vulnerable Man’ is a song that has travelled the world, with and without me, very much the quintessential songwriter’s dream.

Here’s to many more tunes with Gonza Universo on the Buenos Aires Underground (Subte) – :-).

And if you’ve read this far and aren’t yet following me on Instagram, please do so – just click here and hit follow.

SK x

A belated Happy New Year to you all.

May 2023 bring you all that you wish for, my beloved friends and followers.

I have to say 2022 was definitely one of my best yet, and an incredible return to the world of live music after the Covid-induced droughts of the years before…..my best yet? I’m not sure, I’ve a soft spot for 2019 as everyone reading this knows but it’s up there for sure.

Without further ado, and I know how you’ve all been waiting here with baited breath, here are my Top 10 SK highlights for 2022:

1 – Returning to Sweden for the first time since 2011, and only my second time as a professional musician for a wonderful tour, stacked full of laughter and adventure. I’m definitely not going to leave it 11 years until the next time.

2 – My first ever tour of the unique country of Italy, having only played a handful of shows there before, I certainly relished the downtime in this inspiring place, not to mention the wonderful audience.

3 – My best ever tour of Canada….and that’s saying something! Five provinces, two new to me, and experiences the length and breadth of this magnificent country that have provided me with the inspiration to create again and again.

4 – A welcome return to the Edinburgh Fringe after a four-year absence with my own solo show (which received a lovely review you can read here) and the launch of a lunchtime instrumental guitar show Songs Without Words with the wonderfully talented Paul Tasker (a Fringe musical highlight according to Edinburgh Live . Stay tuned for further possibilities for this show for 2023 please.

5 – The release of the video for ‘Impunity’, filmed on a glorious evening in Nanoose Bay with two fantastic collaborators Rachael Dudley & Bronwyn Claire Asha, the end result was even better than I’d hoped for. Have a gander here, and please don’t forget to subscribe to the channel .

6 – After three long years in the making, finally releasing my best album yet ‘You Can’t Win Every Time’. Thanks to all those who made such vital contributions, in no particular order – Ian McCalman, Peter Haigh, Graeme Hogge, Bob Miller, Kirsty Miller, Rebbe Rebbestad, Rory MacDonald & Neil D Mart. Loving the audience reactions to the new songs and album so far, and thanks so much for all your support.

7 – The critical response to ‘You Can’t Win Every Time’ here in Scotland has been really heartening to see. In addition to radio play on BBC Radio Stations across the UK, both the Scotsman and the Herald wrote some very kind words about the album.

8 – The ‘You Can’t Win Every Time’ tour with Bronwyn Claire Asha in September/October 2022. After only meeting at the end of June (see numbers 3 and 5 above!) Bronwyn arrived in Edinburgh in August and with limited time to rehearse we put together a show based around the new album. It was a blast with so many great experiences, taking in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.

9 – My 12th annual Autumn European Tour in late October through early December. This time taking in Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic (my first shows there in seven years!), Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium with the first half of the tour solo, and the second half again with Bronwyn.

10 – Finishing the year on a high with this great feature article about the song ‘A Tale Of Two Unions’ in The National which you can read here.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to anyone who has hosted a concert and/or helped me on the road in any way, attended a concert, purchased an album, subscribed to my YouTube Channel or Instagram Page, read my posts and website blogs and written supportive messages and comments. Once again the support has been amazing, and I simply could not continue in this incredible yet insane life of a troubadour without you all.

I can confirm 2023 is set to commence with an almighty bang – stay tuned!! And expect new music later in the year, along with new collaborations and development of existing ones – .

Here’s hoping 2023 shall be a successful and prosperous year for us all – may you all be healthy, wealthy and wise in the year to come.

Sláinte

SK x

Happy New Year! SK x