Kray Van Kirk

A fine finger-style guitarist with a precise baritone, Kray Van Kirk has a Ph.D. from the University of Alaska, but he set science aside to write songs, tell stories and summon heroes. Within those songs and stories are echoes he hopes audiences will hear and realize that THEY are the summoned heroes. With the release of his 6th CD, Empire  (March 1, 2026), he turns to the issues of justice, fury, and renewal. “We are driven by myth and the seasons of the heart,” he says. “There is a reason for hero stories, hidden in plain sight and cloaked in the everyday. The dragons look different, the monsters wear suits, the quest hides behind the mundane and appears utterly futile, but the work is the same. Everyone, of every identity and history, is called to this work towards a common humanity free from Empire.”