Ian Campbell

And over the course of his 40-plus years, the folk rock singer-songwriter has certainly developed some stories to share.

With the release of his debut album, Stories from an Old Set of Strings, Ian has put a handful of stories together from the past 20 or so years into a raw, stripped down, and expressive set of songs that he’s shared in the most authentic way he could – nothing more than his guitar and his voice.

“I wanted this record to have the feeling of sitting around a campfire with a friend talking about life,” Ian says. “These songs represent the course my life has taken since I originally started pursuing music as a career. What better way to provide a first exposure to them than to share them as simply as I could and let the stories speak for themselves?”

What does this record sound like? Well, take a base of Bruce Springsteen, sprinkle in some Ray LaMontagne and Nick Drake, and finally give it a twist of James Taylor, and you’ve got the recipe for what makes this record special.

Reflecting on the making of this record, Ian says: “I’m a big fan of artists like Jackson Browne, Nick Drake, and Bob Dylan – the guys that recorded with whatever they had wherever they were at the time,” says Campbell, “so I used that as inspiration and recorded the two guitar parts and the vocals in the little makeshift studio that I set up in my house. It’s raw, but it’s real, and it’s me.”

Stories from an Old Set of Strings was released in August of 2023, and followed up by his singles “Your Whole Life,” “Six Year Old in a Santa Hat,” and the full band version of “Easy to Fall For”.