Mark the Hard Earth

Mark the Hard Earth by Kris Drever

At the 2008 Calgary Folk Festival I had the chance to spend a few minutes chatting with Kris Drever, who was appearing at the festival with his award-winning trio Lau. For those of you unfamiliar with Kris, he is an folk guitarist/singer from the Orkney Islands in northern Scotland. His debut album "Black Water" came out a couple of years ago and was helmed by one of my favourite producers John McCusker.

Anyway, Kris indulged me as I rattled on about various odd topics including my families roots in the highlands of Scotland and my affinity for the songs of Idlewild (whose lead singer Roddy Woomble is part of DMW - another of Kris' projects). I actually surprised how calm Kris was given that Lau's set had been cut short by a very close lightning strike that not only blew the PA system but managed to take several (large) branches of a nearby tree.

Fast-forward to late 2009 at Kris has recently completed his second solo album "Mark the Hard Earth", which is scheduled for released in 2010. The title-track was recently released as a free download in the UK and is presented here for your enjoyment.