Adam Holmes is a Scottish BBC award-winning singer-songwriter whose work has carved out a distinct and enduring place within the UK folk landscape.

Across eleven albums, including Heirs and Graces (2012), Brighter Still (2015), Midnight Milk (2017), Dreamweaver (2020), Hope Park (2022), The Voice of Scotland (2023), Songs For My Father (2024), Survival (2025), Small World (2025) and Songwriter (2025), alongside earlier independent releases, he has built a body of work that has cast an impressive shadow across the UK folk scene, earning multiple Scottish Album of the Year nominations and BBC Radio 2 Folk Award recognition.

His songs have been widely broadcast across BBC Radio 2, Radio 3, BBC Scotland and Virgin Radio, and featured on Edith Bowman’s Quay Sessions. His music has also appeared in television and film, including Outlander, Apple TV productions and Hallmark films.

In recent years, his work has reached a global audience, with one of his songs attracting hundreds of millions of streams and drawing in a new generation of listeners.

Raised in Portobello as the second youngest of eight children, Holmes grew up surrounded by music. The slow airs and church hymns of his childhood continue to shape his melodic sensibility, while early exposure to Edinburgh’s folk scene, including formative nights at Sandy Bell’s, grounded his instinct for learning and storytelling through song.

At 15, following the death of a close friend, he fell into a period of drugs and alcohol before finding a way forward through rap and hip hop production. Around the same time, he began writing songs on guitar. By 16, he had left school and was working on building sites, pursuing a potential apprenticeship as a joiner.

At 19, on the same day he was offered that apprenticeship, he received a call confirming his place in the semi-finals of the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year. He chose music and has followed that path ever since.

Over the years, Holmes has collaborated with and shared stages alongside artists including Martin Simpson, Karine Polwart, John Prine, Graham Coxon, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Anaïs Mitchell and Aidan Moffat. He has also appeared on bills with Laura Marling, Van Morrison, Richard Thompson, Jason Isbell, The Avett Brothers, Sturgill Simpson and CHVRCHES.

He lives in Edinburgh with his daughter, Rosa.