By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
Finger-style guitarist Kray Van Kirk receives rave reviews wherever he goes, whether it’s across the globe at Scotland’s prestigious Fringe Festival or right here at home.
“The Alaskan singer-songwriter, in his Edinburgh debut, was not the reason I arrived early, but was certainly why I stayed late,” said the Daily Fringe Review.
“I personally like his music an awful lot,” said Sitka folk and blues musician Ted Howard, one of the organizers of Van Kirk’s appearance here for a concert at the Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi at 7 p.m. Saturday. “He’s been working on his music since he left Sitka. I can’t wait to see how wonderful he is now.”
The concert is sponsored by Sitka Folk and the Greater Sitka Arts Council.
Local musician Jasmine Esmay, who sings and plays guitar, will be the opening act.
Van Kirk’s repertoire covers a lot of ground, but his general inspiration comes from mythology, landscape and love.
He provided a brief description of some of his work in a publicity release:
“‘Thunderbird’ resurrects the Phoenix in an empty desert diner somewhere in the American Southwest, ‘The Queen of Elfland’ plucks Thomas the Rymer from the English-Scottish border in 1250 and drops him, along with the Queen, into a subway car, ‘The Walls of Jerusalem’ follows a despairing prophet in her search for love in the absence of faith, and ‘The Midnight Commander’ is an insane old man who leads the city of New York to take up arms (and underwear) against hatred.”
Alaskan singer-songwriter Kray Van Kirk will perform in concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at Sheet’ka Kwaan Naa Kahidi. (Photo provided)
He has a new CD coming out, “The Midnight Commander.”
Van Kirk, who sings and plays a 12-string guitar, spent five years living in his van and playing music across the U.S., when he decided to try a career in science. But after a time, one reviewer said, “he realized that he wrote better songs than statistical models, and put aside his computer, picked up his guitar and set out again.”
Van Kirk lived in Sitka from 1994 to 2000, and currently resides in his hometown of Arcata, California, where he built a recording studio in the backyard of his house.
He told the Sentinel he came to Sitka originally to play a show for Ken Fate, who worked at community radio station KCAW-FM, and was offered a summer job at the Shee Atika Hotel, now the Westmark. He also worked for Prewitt’s tour company. After his daughter was born he got a second bachelor’s degree from Sheldon Jackson College. He moved to Juneau, where he earned a Ph.D. in quantitative fisheries population dynamics from the University of Alaska.
He was in the middle of his graduate studies at UAA when he played at the 2010 Fringe Festival in Scotland.
Esmay, also a singer-songwriter, is looking forward to her Sitka debut, and has planned about a half-hour worth of music to open the show. She thanked Howard for inviting her to take part.
A Sitka resident since October, Esmay has performed all over the U.S. while she worked as a traveling nurse.
She described her original music as a mix of folk and blues.
Originally from South Dakota, Esmay grew up listening to her mom, Carly Bak, perform her own original music. Bak is a renowned folk music artist in Florida, and still performs regularly.
“It’s my stress relief for life, writing music,” Esmay said. She described her music as a bit like her mom’s, centered on life experiences, such as growing up on a ranch, and “the struggles of women in our society,” among other topics.
Tickets are $20 and available at Old Harbor Books and the door.
For more information call Howard at 747-5482.
