With a storied career working with the likes of Eddie Reader, Julie Fowlis and Mark Knopfler, it was not surprising that the Scottish singer Kris Drever attracted a healthy audience at the Lichfield Guildhall.
With just a guitar, his road-worn voice, and a number of effects pedals and percussion sounds, his set encompassed delicate Celtic instrumentals, songs from throughout his career, and fiddle tunes adapted for guitar. It showed the influence of not just folk music, but also traces of indie, pop and rock styles as well.
The concert started with the upbeat jig of the instrumental Napolean Crossing the Alps, and a new song – Change – was a protest piece about the state of the world put to serious rhythm guitar and looped foot stomps.
The traditional Greenland Whale Fishery was given a slightly newer arrangement, but the spirit remained. Sanday was a soft and delicate ballad, and Where the World is Thin was a rousing closer to the first half.
The second set continued the tradition of the first, with virtuoso acoustic guitar and well-thought-out arrangements, a vocal style that went from a soft croon to full-on anger, and lyrics that were both poignant and pointed.
The fiddle tunes of The Unst Bridal March showed the breadth of Drever’s musical interest, while the Harvest Gypsies was rousing Appalachian bluegrass and another showcase for his deftness on the six strings.
The message song of If Wishes Were Horses closed the concert before a well-deserved encore of Robert Burns’s Freedom Cum Aye showed the acoustic grandeur of the Lichfield Guildhall to the best effect.
