His friends knew it before he knew it. Kris Barclay was going to be a country music star. Barclay, hailing from Ajax, Ontario, got his first guitar for Christmas when he was 13 years old and would sing along with his favourite country songs when nobody was around. As he got older and a little more comfortable, he started bringing his guitar on his hockey team’s weekend road trips. It quickly became a team rule that Kris was prohibited from boarding the bus sans guitar. Eventually, his friends were trying to get Kris to perform at local bars, to which Kris promptly declined. One night, a bet was made and if he lost the best, he’d have to perform in public. As fate would have it, he lost that bet, got up on stage, and has never looked back. Kris has been performing for the better part of a decade, opening for internationally-renowned acts like Brett Kissel, The Reklaws, The Road Hammers, The Washboard Union, and Dean Brody, among others. At the 2018 Boots and Hearts Music Festival, fans voted Barclay into the Emerging Artist Showcase as a Wild Card contestant, allowing him to compete against six other artists in front of a jury of country music artists and industry executives. He went on to become the first ever fan voted Wild Card Entry Artist to win the showcase. As part of winning the showcase, Kris saw the release of his debut single “Loved You Like That” with Warner Music Canada and a Rising Star nomination at the CMA Ontario Awards. He has since followed that up with five more singles, like the ever-popular “More Than Whiskey” (April 2022) which has gained over 500,000 streams to date, ”One More Last Night” (August 2022), and “Songs About You” (June 2023). In 2022, Kris appeared on multiple dates as the direct support on Meghan Patrick’s “Wild As Me” tour. 2023 saw Kris performing at fairs and festivals such as The Boothill Jamboree and the Orono Fair, where he was direct support for Blue Rodeo, and so far in 2024, he joined his friend and co-writer Robyn Ottolini on her "All My Friends Are Hot" Tour among other show dates. As a performer and MC of The Havelock Jamboree, Kris had the opportunity to make an entrance at the festival sky diving with the Canadian Military SkyHawks, which he’ll never forget. “It really connected me to the military history in my family, and it was one of the coolest moments of my life landing in the middle of the crowd that I was about to perform for”. This moment inspired Kris to begin raising awareness and funds for mental health and PTSD in the Veteran and First Responder community. Partnering with Wounded Warriors Canada, Kris raised $4000 in 2020 for their programs. With over 3 Million streams to date, Kris looks forward to releasing new music, getting out on the road, and performing for music fans everywhere, saying, “Releasing this new music is such a great way to reach out and connect with people and the stories in the songs really help me do that. I can’t wait to be out on stage seeing people enjoying the music and singing along”. Something he never would have had the chance to do had he not lost that bet.