Findlay Napier at Roberton Village Hall

Event information

Tickets available here online, via the hall committee or on the door. Advance booking highly recommended!

ABOUT FINDLAY NAPIER

From the Main Stage of Cambridge Folk Festival with folk rock supergroup The Magpie Arc to an
intimate acoustic show in the back room of a pub Findlay Napier is widely regarded as one of the
finest performers on the UK music scene. This fact was further highlighted when Napier was the
first solo act ever to be nominated for Live Act of the Year at the Scot’s Trad Music awards in
2018. Tirelessly creative he has been touring and releasing music since the early naughties. First
with groundbreaking trad folk band Back of the Moon, then with Nu-Folk pioneers Findlay Napier
and the Bar Room Mountaineers and most recently as a solo act working under the guidance of
legendary songwriter Boo Hewerdine.

His breakthrough solo album VIP: Very Interesting Persons, produced by Boo Hewerdine, was
number 2 in The Telegraph’s top folk albums of 2014. He followed it with 2017’s Glasgow
described by The Scotsman as “a paean to his adopted home town” which led to a number of
high profile gigs including a five tours as the opening act for Eddi Reader. In 2021 he released It Is
What It Is a collaboration album in all but name with producer and multi-instrumentalist Angus
Lyon which Folk Radio UK called, ”A captivating, indispensable work; it is what it is and what it is,
is magnificent."

Described as a “miracle lyricist’ by the Sunday Herald and “an original and engaging treat” by The
Telegraph his skills as a songwriter and collaborator have led him to work on some surprising and
interesting projects. In 2017 he was invited to take part in Greg Russell’s ‘Shake the Chains’
project with Nancy Kerr and Hannah Martin where they toured, recorded and released a double
live album. After meeting award winning songwriter Megan Henwood at an EFDSS songwriting
retreat he formed the duo The Story Song Scientists writing songs about science releasing two
EPs and touring the UK. In late 2021 he joined folk rock supergroup The Magpie Arc with Martin
Simpson, Tom A Wright, Alex Hunter and Nancy Kerr performing on festival main stages and arts
centres across the UK. Their debut album Glamour in the Grey, featuring three of Napier’s original
songs including a co-write with Maz O’Conner was released in October 2022.

He is often commissioned to write songs including one for The 2014 Commonwealth Games in
glasgow, two songs for Morgan Fisher’s Miniatures 2020 and penning the anthem “Union Strong” for the 125th anniversary of the Scottish TUC. His most recent commission was for BBC Radio 2's "21st Century Folk" program. He was chosen alongside Kate Rusby, Richard Thompson, Chris While & Julie Matthews and Bill Ryder-Jones to compose a song celebrating 200 years of the railways. He performed his composition "Firecracker" live on The Jeremy Vine Show, BBC Radio 4's "Front Row" and the song was picked up played across the BBC's network. It led to many radio interviews and airplays.

As a teaching artist he regularly runs songwriting workshops. He set up Glasgow Songwriting
Festival in 2016 and consults on various other songwriting events and festivals around the UK. He
has hosted many songwriting retreats at Moniack Mhor (Scotland’s Creative Writing Centre)
alongside Boo Hewerdine, Karine Polwart and Bella Hardy and works with Vox Liminus and Feis
Rois delivering music and songwriting workshops in Scottish prisons.

Findlay lives on the Isle of Arran with his family. His next solo album Outsider was be released in
April 2025.

WHAT THE PRESS SAY

"... one of the finest songwriters and storytellers of the contemporary Scottish folk scene." Folk
Radio UK (Glasgow)
"Coming on like a Caledonian Loudon Wainwright ... A superbly crafted compilation of
Songs" Acoustic Magazine (Glasgow)
“★★★★★ #2 Twelve Best Folk Music Albums of 2015:  An inventive and engaging album...
Findlay Napier (the sweet voice behind the beard)... an original engaging treat." Martin Chilton, The
Telegraph (VIP)
"He's good and he's really funny too! He's got that classic brilliant banter with the audience as well.
Lovely to hear the storytelling in the songs as well as inbetween. A wonderful cacophony of bizarre
and brilliant tales of real people." Edith Bowman- BBC Quay Sessions