On Friday I had the really great experience of being on BBC Radio Foyle on the Mark Patterson show, previewing the Derry concert with the excellent Paul Campbell, Kevin Brown and Ryan O’Doherty. You can listen back here on BBC Sounds – https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002442b, we’re all on from about 26:30 onwards, please enjoy at your leisure!
Last month I had the great fortune to be a guest on the wonderful Serbian radio station Radio Zajednice CK13 and you can listen back to the full interview which also features live performances directly from the studio here
And of course, you can listen back to my launching ‘My Dreams Are Theirs’ live on Celtic Music Radio, also featuring live performances and an interview here.
There you have it – three wonderful countries – Northern Ireland, Serbia and Scotland and three radio performances from your humble Scottish troubadour.
Another year around the sun or around the world completed…..here we go again!
The video for my new single ‘Don’t Let Her Hear You Say That’ is finally here.
Please watch, like and share, and let me know what you think, and if you haven’t already, please subscribe to the channel- https://www.youtube.com/@SimonKempstonMusic, it really helps me to keep making more content.
With huge thanks to Rachael Dudley for a most wonderful job on this, our third collaboration of Canadian videos, it definitely feels fantastic to have filmed one in one of my favourite cities, Vancouver.
Thrilled to announce that as of today, ‘My Dreams Are Theirs’ is album of the week on Celtic Music Radio! Thanks to all those who made this happen, really appreciated. Tune in on 95FM in the Glasgow area, DAB digital in Edinburgh or on Celtic Music Radio online around the world.
The Album of the Week program is on at midday today here but tracks from the album will be played every hour for the next week – .
Happy listening, folks…. do you have your copy yet – ?!
Finally, my dear friends and followers, my new album ‘My Dreams Are Theirs’, is available to purchase on this very website here.
I can’t express how delighted and excited I am to share with you all 11 brand new songs and 1 instrumental piece all penned by my own fair hand. Moreover, for the first time in my career, this record features myself performing every note on the album – vocals (lead & harmony), guitar, slide guitar, piano and harmonica.
The album is released as a CD only for now, complete with lyrics booklet in a lavish 6-panel sleeve, and all copies purchased from the website shop will be signed, and with a personalised message of your choosing as you wish, please just detail this at checkout.
I am extremely happy with how it looks, and am even more happy with how it sounds, which is, of course, the most important thing. I am excited to be touring the album in the autumn across Europe after a highly successful run of Songs Without Words, an instrumental guitar showcase with Paul Tasker at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Lastly, please subscribe to my YouTube channel if you haven’t already as the video for the lead single will be arriving shortly – :-).
Hope to hear from you soon and thanks as always for your support.
Delighted to announce I shall be appearing live on Celtic Music Radio this Friday 8pm Scottish Time on the Thank Folk It’s Friday show with Ross MacFadyen launching the new album ‘My Dreams Are Theirs’. This will include both me in conversation with Ross as well as live performances of some of the songs from the new album.
The details are here and you can tune in on 95FM in the Glasgow Area or on DAB Digital Radio or from around the world on https://www.celticmusicradio.net/
And if you’re curious about the album and can’t wait for me to tour in your location then please order your copy here, it’s a very good looking album with a lavish 6-panel sleeve and a full lyrics booklet with the artwork as always, by the fabulous Nexus 24.
Thanks, as always, for reading, can’t wait to share the new songs with you all.
Finally, at last, I bring news of my latest album to be released at the end of this very month, on the 30th of August. News of pre-orders and how to order to etc will follow soon.
I can’t express how delighted and excited I am to share with you all 12 brand new songs all penned and performed by my own fair hand, recorded and mastered by the legendary Ian McCalman.
The album will be released as a CD only for now, complete with lyrics booklet in a lavish 6-panel sleeve, please be sure to keep an eye on here and on social media for further announcements.
Love to you all, and thanks for being a part of my musical journey.
The long-awaited video for ‘Moonrise Over Mostar’ is finally here, please watch below –
Please watch, like, share and subscribe to the channel, it would be very much appreciated.
Filmed the morning after the night before a wonderful concert in Michael Batell’s atelier on a brand new creation of Michael’s, I’m delighted to now finally have a video for a piece which a lot of you have come to recognise as a highlight of my concerts.
Please do take the time also to explore the wonderful world of Michael Batell and his classical and flamenco guitars, you will not be disappointed.
Berlin is such an important and titanic city in the history of recorded music, not least to a few of my own leading inspirations, so I’m delighted to have a composition of mine performed live on video here.
Please watch, like, share and subscribe, it really helps to get the music out there.
Well dear people, the new album is nearly here, and the final arrangements have been made all the way from where I write in Red Deer, Alberta. This is an incredibly exciting time, and preparations are underway for an August release, please stay tuned, all announcements will be made here first!
Though please do follow me on Facebook here, Instagram here and of course subscribe to my YouTube channel here to also keep up to date with everything album related.
It’s not easy organising album production from the other side of the world, but I’m delighted say it has been done.
Now, for the rest of the Canadian Tour….if you’re reading this and are based in BC or Alberta and are nearby, please be sure to come to a show, all the dates are listed here
Looking forward to hopefully seeing you soon, and love to you all, as always.
A while since I last wrote, for I have been busy writing, recording and finalising arrangements for my next album, to be released later this year.
I’ve been hard at work in the studio, pushing myself in directions I haven’t previously done so and am really excited by what I’ve heard so far, and of course, I’m excited for you all to hear it – please keep in touch on here for news of the intended release dates.
The touring year is now well underway, from a wonderful foray up north to the Scottish Highlands, through to my best ever tour of Italy and my first Spanish/Catalonian concerts in 8 years. Next week sees me hitting the European mainland for the first time with the car, and my first German, Swiss and Austrian concerts of the year.
To all those reading for the first time, or to those who haven’t already, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel here (new video coming very soon!), follow me on Instagram here (do watch the piano reels!) and Facebook here.
Love to you all, and I hope to see some of you soon – thanks, as always, for checking in.
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.
.
?!
