When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.<\/i><\/p>\n Credit: Provided\/PR<\/p>\n Chris Brain is a folk singer from Leeds, whose latest album, New Light, and engaging live shows have been causing ripples throughout folk circles and beyond.<\/p>\n Chris\u2019s songs have a pastoral warmth to them that his understated yet precise fingerpicking accentuates.<\/p>\n \u201cAngi [by Davey Graham] was the first major fingerstyle song that I learned,\u201d he tells us. \u201cMy friend told me that if I go to a folk club I have to know how to play Angi. When I played it at a club, they said they haven\u2019t heard it in 10 years!\u201d<\/p>\n Chris is a technically accomplished guitar player with a fairly unassuming approach that belies the depth found in his range of styles.<\/p>\n \u201c[After Angi] I learned Fire and Rain by James Taylor,\u201d he continues. \u201cHe has this really open and non-structured fingerstyle that I love. And then I learned songs like Don\u2019t Think Twice, It\u2019s All Right by Bob Dylan, which is Travis picking. That felt like a culmination of a lot of things coming together, and I like the freedom of playing in all different styles with my right hand.<\/p>\n \u201cIt just started seeping in as I learned John Martyn, Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell songs, but I would say that Nick Drake is the main influence on my guitar playing.\u201d<\/p>\n As with many players who learn through listening, Chris felt his own style emerge over time.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me a long time to realise that simplicity is key,\u201d he admits. \u201cBecause you can do so much and the limits are endless, sometimes you have to rein it in. That happened with my voice, too; I used to sing in a completely different way, but when I started going to folk clubs, I realised that people sing in their accents.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I started singing in my accent and my talking voice. I can belt out folk tunes and get up in those registers, but I listened to people like Dylan and John Martyn and it\u2019s their character that is within their voice. Their speaking voice and singing voice are all one thing melded together. It feels really natural and they never do too much. That really spoke to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris spent his formative years practising his chops on the streets. \u201cI busked for about seven years, playing my favourite songs,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Covid hit I couldn\u2019t busk any more, so I recorded the songs; people listened and I got reviews and then it just shot off. I got on the [BBC Radio 2] Folk Show and played a gig where 40 people turned up. It was pretty crazy, but those years busking \u2013 I did it full-time \u2013 made me feel really comfortable and it just happened over a long period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n As much as Chris has come a long way since his days busking and now has three albums to his name, he is still careful to ensure that his sound is not too embellished.<\/p>\n \u201cI always say when I\u2019m recording that my voice and the guitar are the focal point,\u201d he says. \u201cWe\u2019ll add things, but nothing will take away from the melody. It\u2019s all written in this room on the guitar and I put words to it\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cBut sometimes,\u201d he says with a grin, \u201cyou add some strings and think that sounds pretty naughty, maybe I\u2019ll put a few more on there\u2026 A couple of songs [on New Light] have been built up a bit more, for radio and new ears, but my favourite tracks are the ones that are stripped back. I recorded some of this album in my shed at the allotment, so it\u2019s natural-sounding and I really wanted it to feel like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Perhaps unsurprisingly, Chris\u2019s choice of guitars is quite modest, with him favouring sturdy but humble Sigma 12-fret models.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I was drawn to [12-frets-to-the-body guitars] after seeing Bob Dylan playing one,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cMy 000[R-28VS] is very warm sounding, but the 00[R-28VS] feels very accurate. I\u2019ve taken the 000 around the world and it\u2019s pretty beaten up. I think a guitar that\u2019s played in is better-sounding. It needs to be a workhorse and like a tool, really.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Provided\/PR Chris Brain is a folk singer from Leeds, whose latest album, New Light, and engaging live shows have been causing ripples throughout folk circles and beyond. Chris\u2019s songs have a pastoral warmth to them that his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1971369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[29332,350756,350755,350757,350754],"class_list":["post-1971368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-bob-dylan","tag-chris-brain","tag-john-martyn","tag-joni-mitchell-songs","tag-nick-drake"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/How-seven-years-of-busking-and-Nick-Drakes-influence-were.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1971368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1971368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1971369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1971368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1971368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1971368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/span><\/div>\n
Style For Days<\/h2>\n
Walking the Talk<\/h2>\n
Laying the Groundwork<\/h2>\n
Keeping the Songs<\/h2>\n
12 Frets & The Truth: Chris has found his toolkit in two Sigma models<\/h2>\n