[2] Initially trying to emulate his heroes, Billy Bragg, Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Neil Young, Kate Bush, U2, he began to write his own songs and develop his own style.

[5] McRae's confessional, self-titled debut appeared in autumn 2001, during the height of the new acoustic movement and earned him comparisons to Nick Drake and Bob Dylan.

McRae's second album, Just Like Blood, was released in the UK in February 2003 produced by Ben Hillier, whose credits include Elbow, Martha Wainwright and Blur.

The tour also featured a variety of special guests, including Kathryn Williams, Justin Currie, Colin MacIntyre and Aqualung.

This time he was accompanied by Cary Brothers, Brian Wright, Catherine Feeny, Greg Laswell, Jim Bianco and Jason (or Dr.) Kanakis.

[7] Towards the end of 2010, McRae was involved in the Crossing Border festival in the Netherlands, playing with the Matangi Quartet who are based in that country.

2012 saw the arrival of his sixth studio album From the Lowlands, being the long-awaited second part of the Alphabet of Hurricanes, and Tom's first solo tour in France, the UK and Ireland which was met with sold-out venues.

On 7 September 2013, instrumental music composed by McRae was performed as part of a multimedia art installation of video-artist Klaus Verscheure "14 EMOTIONS/Allegoria Via Dolorosa" by the Belgian group Spectra Ensemble at the Transformator/Happening (festival of metamorphosis) in Zwevegem, Belgium.

In 2020, McRae collaborated with Welsh singer-songwriter Lowri Evans, under the name Evans-Mcrae, to create an album of original music entitled Only Skin.

Inspired by his love for French music and his European identity post-Brexit, McRae collaborates with artists like Keren Ann and Chien Noir.

The album explores themes of love, loss, and political and environmental issues, offering a mix of cinematic and intimate moments.

These songs as well as a plethora of back-catalogue classics are promised on this exhaustive, but intimate tour, playing many venues for the first time, often suggested by rural fans.

[10] As of July 2024, McRae branched out with a Podcast and Archive section called MacRaetheisms, a nod to previous fan-made definitions of all things McRae-ish.

In August 2005, McRae visited the country of Niger in Africa at the request of The Observer and wrote an article about the famine titled, "This is not just another act of God – this is ingrained poverty".

A real collaboration took place in which Tom McRae rewrote and reinterpreted part of the lyrics of his original piece, in order to bring them into resonance with the universe of FLOWER BY KENZO.