Karen, without a doubt, is one of the finest singers Scotland has ever produced. We all recall her stunning rendition of ‘Ae fond kiss’ stole the show at the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth games in Glasgow, to a televised audience of over a billion people. Karen’s band, Capercaillie, have sold over a million albums and almost singlehandedly transformed the image and the sound of traditional Scottish music. 

As a solo performer, Karen has been involved in various projects of collaboration worldwide including the award winning BBC series Transatlantic Sessions, where over the last decade she has filmed tracks with artists like James Taylor, Emmylou Harris, The McGarrigle Sisters, Nanci Griffith, and a host of respected Scottish musicians.

She has released four acclaimed solo albums. 2015’s Urram, is a musical love letter to her families' Hebridean roots, with a collection of timeless Gaelic songs that evoke the character and atmosphere of Island life, through work songs, love songs, lullabies, mouth music and evocative poems to the surroundings. For The Dreaming Sea (1996) & Time to Fall (2002) many of the songs were written by acclaimed singer-songwriter James Grant (a good friend of The Woodside!) and feature James on guitars along with the Scottish Ensemble on strings. On Downriver (2004) she worked with Ireland’s legendary producer Donal Lunny to create an award winning acoustic album, which provided the perfect platform for her mesmerizing vocals.

 “Karen Matheson has a throat that is surely touched by God’’.  Sean Connery.