Photo Credit: Douglas Robertson.
Kirsten Adamson & Friends' Peace In Our Time Blasts Into iTunes Top 10.
Peace In Our Time was written by Kirsten Adamson’s late father Stuart Adamson (Big Country, The Skids), and originally released in 1989 on Big Country’s 3rd album. This new version features his daughter Kirsten on lead vocals, with some of the UK's finest folk and Americana singers on backing vocals - Karen Matheson (Capercaillie), Dean Owens, Jill Jackson, Dave Burn, Lisa Rigby, Dan Raza, Emily Smith, Paul Gilbody and Jason McNiff.
Released on what would have been Stuart Adamson’s 64th birthday, Monday, 11th April.
The video puts children in the spotlight, as they mime the words; filmed with the children of friends who responded to Kirsten’s appeal for people to take part.
Poignant and pointed, Peace in Our Time delivers a simple, heartfelt message with Kirsten’s crystal clear vocals as its heart and soul.
Kisrsten said, “Half of Ukraine's children have now fled the country, more than 5 million Syrian children are in need of humanitarian assistance and more than 12 million children in Yemen are in danger from war, disease and hunger. Around the world millions of children are suffering through acts of evil.
Feeling helpless and overcome with sadness, especially as I watched my own young son, I wanted to raise money to help these children in any way I could. I put a call for action on my social media pages for people to help out and take part in the video, and was overwhelmed by the response
I have chosen to support War Child charity with this release, donating all profits to their emergency appeal. They are currently working directly with children who are living through terrifying conflicts, offering them safe spaces and delivering life-changing services and support. War Child provide emergency care and the support they need to overcome the emotional and physical toll of conflict, as well as access to services to catch up on lost education that will help to transform their futures for the better. Please help us spread this much needed message of peace”.
“A very Sixties feel protest song, naïve, but I did it anyway” Stuart Adamson
(Melody Maker interview, March 26, 1990)
On its first day of release, Peace In Our Time blasted into the iTunes top 10 chart, at no 6
Singer-songwriter Kirsten Adamson summons the same heart-stopping purity as Sandy Denny, by way of Emmylou Harris and Kate Bush. Transcendence runs in the family. Her father was Stuart Adamson (Skids, Big Country) and she spent summers with him, soaking up the atmosphere in Nashville. She was the vocalist and keyboard player for indie-folkers Aberfeldy, before fronting country rockers The Gillyflowers and more recently half of alt-country duo The Marriage.
Her second solo album, Landing Place (produced by Dean Owens), is scheduled for autumn 2022 release.
Kirsten Adamson comes from an historical musical background in Scotland. Born in 1985 in the town of Dunfermline, Fife, to Alexandra and Stuart Adamson.
Alexandra, a champion highland dancer, inspired her to take part in dance classes and singing lessons from a young age. She attended the Allana Brown School of Dance from age three and took voice lessons with classical teacher Robin Gordon from age seven. Both teachers nurtured her talents and by age ten Kirsten was cast in the leading role of 'Annie' in what would be the first of many musical theatre performances.
Kirsten's father Stuart (songwriter and performer in bands The Skids, Big Country and The Raphaels) was a huge inspiration to her throughout her childhood. He encouraged her to write her own music in her early teens and introduced her to country music when he relocated to Nashville in 1998. Kirsten would spend her summers in Tennessee and it was there where she realized her voice naturally suited a country style.
Kirsten continued to gain experience through her teenage years performing with various musical theatre companies in Fife, teaching herself guitar and studying tap and jazz dance.
Kirsten’s first professional session came at age 13 when she was invited to perform backing vocals on Big Country’s last album ‘Driving To Damascus’. It was released in 1999 as both a standard edition and a limited edition digi-pack, and with bonus tracks in 2002. In the U.S., it was released under a different name, John Wayne's Dream.
Kirsten performed with musical theatre companies for most of her teens embracing lead female roles of Eliza in ‘My fair Lady’, Sally, ‘Me and My Girl’ and dancing in ‘West Side Story’ and ‘Oliver’. Her most recent musical theatre casting was the part of Adelaide Adams in Guys And Dolls which ran at the Kings Theatre, Edinburgh in 2018.
Kirsten taught herself to play guitar at age 17 and began writing her own material at the same time. As she crafted her songs she would record them on a Tascam Portastudio 4 track cassette recorder. These recordings were eventually made digital and became the first tracks she self-released on Myspace in 2005.
In 2006 Kirsten met Dave Burn during a recording session with her brother’s band AHAB in London. She would go on to write the majority of her original material with him.
At age 21 Kirsten moved to Edinburgh where she formed her first band The Gillyflowers, a dynamic 7 piece country/rock outfit. They gathered momentum gigging in 2008, receiving many 5 star reviews for their live performances. They also released two physical EPs entitled ‘Queen Of Hearts’ and ‘No Dancing’ but disbanded in 2013 before a full album was ever released.
Kirsten continued to write solo and collaborated with Dave Burn through 2012-2014 and by the start of 2015 she had composed a full pop/rock album. She went on to release the eponymously titled, crowdfunded album in November 2015 which was well received. She then toured the U.K in 2016.
Approaching the end of 2016 she began to work more frequently with Dave Burn. Dave had booked Kirsten to sing session vocals on his solo Americana-Country album, ‘Arizona’ and Kirsten was delighted to dive back into a genre close to her heart. It was during these recordings that Kirsten and Dave went on to create Americana duo, 'The Marriage'.
In 2018 The Marriage released the single 'Live, Love, Cry' which was warmly received by the BBC and many regional radio stations. They will release their first full album ‘Imagining Sunsets’ on October 2nd 2020.
When lockdown affected the U.K. in March of 2020 Kirsten started performing solo shows online from her garden summerhouse. These shows gained traction rapidly and she was soon performing to thousands of viewers around the world.
‘Let Me Live’, which was released later that year, was written on the 30th of April and played to her online listeners soon after. Requests for the song to be played numerous times led to the full production and subsequent release.
Website: www.kirstenadamson.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/kirstenadamsonmusic
Instagram: www.instagram.com/kirstenadamsonmusic
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