My Scotland – KT Tunstall

By KT Tunstall -

International women's day

Scottish singer-songwriter, KT Tunstall, tells us why Scotland has always inspired her music…

Scotland just has the most incredible landscape. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always really liked that you see the North Sea and you see the cliffs and you see these huge beaches. It’s just completely unique scenery and the other thing about living up north, of course, is the sky at night.

There’s very little light pollution, so you’ve just got this amazing view of the stars. We grew up lying on the grass in the garden just watching shooting stars. My dad was a physicist, so he got us really interested in star gazing which is partly why the first record is called Eye to the Telescope. He’d sort of instilled a wonder at the stars as well as the landscape.

I think it’s just a great relief feeling tiny. You’re just like, “Whoa. Nothing I do really matters.” It really puts everything into perspective. I’ve always struggled with living in the city because I just find that your mind can become quite scrambled. I’ve always been used open space and landscape as a kind of leveller to get some clarity on my thinking and you know I just feel so surrounded by people and buildings and so I go, “Oh my god. I need to get into nature,” so I think growing up in Scotland is where that came from, for sure.

Shetland

Scalloway, Shetland, Scotland. Memorial to those lost on WW2 “Shetland Bus” operations to occupied Norway. Pic credit: Les Sinclair, Shutterstock

The Highlands and Islands tour took me to Lewis, Orkney and Shetland. I just can’t get enough of that part of Scotland. The people, culture and food are amazing. The islands are very different in personality and character, which is fascinating.

My favourite set of islands are Shetland. It’s a tiny little dot on the map and Scotland is amazing in general, I think.

One of my favourite statues in the world actually is in Shetland and it’s a beautiful statue of a Norwegian fishing boat. It’s a tribute to Norwegian fishermen and Scottish fishermen that were bringing Norwegian refugees to Shetland during WWII while the Nazis were occupying Sweden. It’s gorgeous to me.

It’s also really inspiring that Shetland is economically really robust. I just think it’s really impressive working in a place like Shetland and being able to thrive so well.

St Andrews and the surrounding fishing villages

Crail harbour in a sunny summer morning, small fishermen village in Fife. Pic credit: Stefano_Valeri, shutterstock

You know there were just so many cool hangout places in St Andrews and then when I got older there were some really great pubs. St Andrews was an idyllic place to grow up in. There are five beaches in that tiny town – including the Chariots of Fire beach.

It’s kind of in a bubble because it doesn’t even have a train station, so you’re sort of hidden away on the east coast of Fife. You’ve got those beautiful surrounding fishing villages, like Anstruther, Pittenweem, Crail and Elie. I loved the Elie Chain Walk!

There are still people I know in St Andrews but I don’t get there that often. I actually did a Tedx talk at the Byre Theatre. St Andrews had a Tedx event and that was amazing. My talk was about confidence in performing and getting good at what you’re passionate about. I was onstage at the Byre Theatre and that was the very first stage I ever performed on when I was eight, so it was really special.