James Yorkston and The Athletes Biography

You are in : HOME : J : James Yorkston and The Athletes : Biography

Biography James Yorkston and The Athletes

James Yorkston and The Athletes


James Yorkston is a Scottish folk musician.

Born in an old pig sty and brought up in a nearby house in Kingsbarns, Fife in 1971, Yorkston lived in Edinburgh for many years, before returning to the East Neuk. He started out as bassist for punk band Huckleberry who recorded a number of independently released records. In 1996 he played his first acoustic concert as support for Bert Jansch following a recommendation by a friend. In 2000 he recorded a demo tape under the name J. Wright Presents which was played by John Peel and led to him securing a support slot with John Martyn. The same year he released his debut single Moving up Country on the independent label Bad Jazz.

Subsequently he signed to Domino Records, recording music with a number of friends and associates credited as The Athletes on his records. None of them, however, are actually athletes; indeed, the accordion player - the renowned Scottish musician Reuben Taylor - has been seen smoking a pipe. James Yorkston is an associate of the group of musicians working as the Fence Collective, having worked with members of the group both live and on record.

Yorkston is primarily a singer-songwriter, though the label irks him. "I despise the term," he once said. "It puts one in mind of Jack Vettriano." 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 & Adrian Crowley.

His two quoted main influences are Anne Briggs, and the Malagasy ex French international player D'Gary Chapman.

Yorkston is a vegan and reportedly turned down an offer of £10,000 to use his music in advert for Kerrygold butter James Yorkston 13/10/06 Twistedear.com accessed July 10, 2007.

Discography

Image:Moving up country.jpg|1. Moving Up Country - 2002, Domino RecordsImage:Just beyond the river.jpg|2. Just Beyond the River - 2004, Domino RecordsImage:Year of the leopard.jpg|3. The Year of the Leopard - 2006, Domino RecordsImage:Live at le poisson mouille.jpg|4. Live at Le Poisson Mouillé - 2006, Self released, concert only release.Image:Roaring the gospel.jpg|. 5. Roaring The gospel - 2007, Domino Records compilation of B-sides, etc.Image:Moving up country.jpg|. 6. Lang Cat, Crooked Cat, Spider Cat - 2007, Instrumental release for Fence Records.Image:Moving up country.jpg|. 7. 30 - 2004, Fence Records release - one 30 minute track

External links



References

1971 birthsLiving peopleBritish vegansYorkston, James and the AthletesScottish folk musicians



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James Yorkston and The Athletes
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License