“One of the finest songwriters and storytellers of the contemporary Scottish folk scene" – Folk Radio UK
From the main stage of Cambridge Folk Festival with folk rock supergroup The Magpie Arc, to an intimate acoustic show, 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 Scots Trad Music Awards in 2018.
Tirelessly creative he has been touring and releasing music since the early naughties. First with ground-breaking 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 hometown” which led to a number of high profile gigs including a couple of seasons as opening act on Eddi Reader’s UK tour. 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.”
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 more recently penning an anthem for the 125th anniversary of the Scottish TUC.
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.
His next solo album An Extensive List of Lost Things will be released in early 2024 accompanied by a UK and Canadian tour.
Running : approximately 110 minutes including interval.
Recommended age : 12+
“Think campfires and tradition, past voices being handed down, characters that spring up from the soil of childhood and a curiosity-bone last seen holding up a t-rex. All human life is here, given a beating heart via Napier’s warm handshake of a voice and memorable melodies.”
Paul Woodgate – No Depression
“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 in between. A wonderful cacophony of bizarre and brilliant tales of real people.”
Edith Bowman – BBC Quay Sessions
“brave creative and a smashing listen”
Maverick Magazine
“An insurgent talent and a wonderful singer. Napier proves he has a songwriting talent to match.”
The Morning Star
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Videos filmed live at Captureworks, Glasgow for Showcase Scotland Expo’s Global Music Match 2021.