James Yorkston

James Yorkston (born James Patrick Yorkston Wright; 21 December 1971) is a Scottish folk musician, singer-songwriter and author from the village of Kingsbarns, Fife. He has been releasing music since 2001. As well as recording as a solo artist, he has released music with his backing band the Athletes, as part of the Fence Collective, and as a member of the trio Yorkston/Thorne/Khan. He has also written fiction and non-fiction books.

Influences and early years

A native of Fife, James Yorkston was an integral early member of the Fence Collective, a collaborative group of musicians including King Creosote, The Aliens, KT Tunstall, The Beta Band and The Pictish Trail. Yorkston is primarily a singer-songwriter, although he also tackles a variety of traditional songs, learned from singers such as Anne Briggs, Dick Gaughan, Nic Jones, Martin Carthy, Lal Waterson, John Strachan and Adrian Crowley. His quoted main influences are Anne Briggs, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Michael Hurley, Can and the Malagasy D'Gary.

Yorkston started out as bassist for punk band Miraclehead, which morphed into the band Huckleberry, who recorded a number of independently released records. Yorkston's solo career began when John Peel played a demo of his "Moving Up Country, Roaring the Gospel", proclaiming it had the best song title of the year. This led to Bad Jazz Records releasing that track as Yorkston's debut 7" under the name "J. Wright Presents".

Signing to Domino Records and ''Moving Up Country''

By this time Yorkston had started to play solo gigs in Edinburgh, his debut supporting Bert Jansch in the Café Royal. Seeking more shows, Yorkston sent a copy of the single to John Martyn, asking him for a support slot on his forthcoming Edinburgh date, and Martyn responded by offering Yorkston all 31 dates on his tour. Subsequently, he signed to Domino Records, recording music with a number of friends and associates credited as The Athletes. His debut album '' Moving Up Country'', co-produced by Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, became Rough Trade Record Shops Album of the Year for 2002. In 2003 Yorkston played at the inaugural Green Man Festival.

''Just Beyond the River''

For Yorkston's second album, he asked Kieran Hebden of Four Tet on board as producer, and they made '' Just Beyond the River''. Released on vinyl, CD and as a limited edition 2-CD set with the otherwise unavailable EP ''Fearsome Fairytale Lovers'', the album was well received by the music press. Pete Paphides of ''The Times'' wrote, "Yorkston has reached a state of grace that writers can spend forever trying to attain: songs that sound not so much written as carefully retrieved from your own subconscious, played with an intuition bordering on telepathy. What more could you ask for?" while ''Pitchfork'' said, "Yorkston's record creates a bucolic, timeless world where magic remains a recent memory." Yorkston's fan base continued to grow and he was offered tours with Beth Orton, David Gray, Tindersticks, Turin Brakes, Lambchop and Kathryn Williams, as well as a slot on the Accelerator tour of Sweden.

''The Year of the Leopard'', ''Roaring the Gospel'' and further collaborations

The follow-up, ''The Year of the Leopard'' (2006), was produced by Rustin Man, who had recently worked with Beth Gibbons (lead singer with the band Portishead) on their '' Out of Season'' record. The album was again well received by the press. Drowned in Sound said, "Yorkston’s voice is red-wine warm and perfectly at ease with itself, filling each track to the brim with understated honesty", while Alexis Petridis, writing in ''The Guardian'', said, "this is music that slowly charms rather than immediately stuns you, taking time to work its way under your skin. Once there, however, its lovely, understated melodies, autumnal arrangements and warm, wry lyrics...are virtually impossible to shift." Later the same year, Yorkston was given the chance to play with Bert Jansch once more, this time in Paris. Yorkston also invited Martin Carthy to play and share a stage with him at London's Union Chapel on 24 May 2007.

Also in 2007, Domino Records released '' Roaring the Gospel'', a collection of EP tracks, overseas releases and new songs, which led the ''NME'' to observe that "Yorkston has talent as deep as a mine shaft", while the BBC
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