To travel across the world and explore the roads less travelled takes lots of wide sighted courage. To do it as a solo musician and search for the venues less played is inspired.

Singer guitarist Simon Kempston comes from Dundee, Scotland. Not many a person in Westport, Ontario know his music here but he is sure of himself and his craft in that he views touring as a chance to learn the cultures of where he travels, not just to play gigs. Come and share in cultural collusion as he plays The Cove on Thursday, November 6, 2025 from 5-8 pm. Details and reservations here: web link

Seamus Cowan: Welcome back to Canada! I know you’ve been here before but just out of curiosity, what brought you back? The politics are still kind of tight here and I know lyrically you find inspiration in your writing there.

Simon Kempston: Since my first tour of Canada all the way back in 2014, I've always felt a deep connection here to both the people and the land. It is without doubt one of my favourite countries to tour and whether I'm here in Eastern Canada or out West, it is always a highlight of the touring calendar. I'm very excited to be bringing the new songs and album to audiences here in Ontario and Quebec to what shall mostly be new venues and audiences to me.

The political situation is delicate here, as it is back in Scotland. This knife edge we appear to be living on in much of the Western world always finds its way into the songs, and to be on the ground experiencing it first hand provides inspiration for new work, of course.

Q: It seems that when you tour, you tour hard and you prefer to land on spots off the map. You’re adventurous! What’s the most enjoyable aspect of your musical and traveling relationship? I’m sure you have seen some eye opening things out there.

Simon: Travelling to new places and meeting new people is an endless source of inspiration to me, and the road less travelled sparks the imagination in a way it never could do at home. Picking up the guitar out here is a completely different feeling to picking one up back home, and my hands and voice find themselves behaving differently. The key, (no pun intended!) is to try and capture that essence and put it down onto paper.

Q: I love hearing about your extensive catalogue and how you’ve delved into a few genre types of music like folk, blues and instrumentally, classical. Has your musical focus shifted along the way or do you just have fun exploring the sonics and styles?

Simon: I would say the background elements you cite above are and have always been there, but the sounds and style I create are constantly evolving. They take on board new influences and new music, pushing deeper into areas where the muse will take me. The writing side of the songs is in some ways the same but the literary inspiration can come from anywhere: books, poetry, the printed press (yes, I still read newspapers, somebody has to!)

Q: Fingerstyle guitar is one of the styles of your accompaniment in the classical vein, of which you have released a few instrumental records. What artists have inspired your sound along that process?

Simon: Too many to mention, but on the classical side, perhaps Segovia most of all, and Julian Bream. I grew up with them both. They were ever present figures in my childhood. In fingerstyle guitar more generally, (to give you a few of the more important ones though it's impossible to include them all), Mark Knopfer, Bert Jansch, John Martyn, Richard Thompson, Steve Hackett and Steve Howe.

Q: Alan Morrison, for the Sunday Herald, described you as “One of Scotland’s very best singer-songwriters”; and Tom Robinson on BBC Radio 6, described you with a “beautifully authentic guitar style and heartfelt vocal.” Accolades aside, these recognitions must make you feel as though you’re touching listeners in a very positive way?

Simon: The accolades are great, of course, and they bring attention to the music, so I always appreciate them. But I think the most important thing is connecting with live audiences in a performance setting - that shared experience of an evening between the performer and the audience are the moments I live for. And when the audience responds well and willingly joins you on the journey, it is the greatest and most rewarding feeling of all. Posted: Nov 3, 2025