Session Trail for 2024

Here is the full Session Trail – We hope you enjoy the weekend!!!

The Johnny Quinn Macs are coming!

We are proud to host The Johnny Quinn Macs, who play The Glengarriff Community Hall in the heart of Glengarriff Village on Friday 21st June 2024 from 20:00 – 22:30pm.

John McSherry, Brendán Quinn and Francis McIlduff are three phenomenal musicians who first got together as a trio at Belfast’s ‘Féile Trad Trail’ in August 2022 … it promises to be a great evenings entertainment.

Tickets are available for sale now at this link:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/jimdowlinguileannpipetradfestival

John McSherry
John has been a major figure in Irish music for over 20 years. He is a composer, producer, arranger, and established studio session musician of world renown, having recorded and performed with artists including Sinéad O’Connor, Rod Stewart, Nanci Griffith, Gary Kemp, The Corrs and Clannad. A founder member of top traditional bands Lunasa, Tamalin, Donal Lunny’s Coolfin, At First Light and Irish-American super-group the olllam, John has produced a string of critically acclaimed and innovative albums, both solo and collaborative.

Brendán Quinn
Brendán has toured the world as a singer-songwriter and traditional accompanist for many years. Hugely influenced by his love of Irish music and the Irish language, his ability to convey the stories of strangers and his own experiences through song has created his distinctive, captivating style.

Francis McIlduff
Francis, a member of the legendary McPeake musical family from Belfast, has been immersed in traditional Irish music from an early age. He debuted with the family band Clann McPeake in the 1980’s, and has gone on to play with leading outfits including Alias Ron Kavana, Afterhours, Sin É and more recently At First Light, the band in which Francies and John first created the “double pipes” sound that has become their trademark.

When the trio began playing together at Féile, the depth of their musical connection and rapport was instantly evident, so much so that they decided to record an album together. Wanting to keep their sound as authentic as possible, they opted to record in Redbox Studios, the working home of good friend and musical comrade, Dónal O’Connor. Playing live as a trio instead of multi-tracked separate takes, the album was recorded in sixteen hours and mixes traditional and modern tunes with Brendan’s contemporary songwriting. With “dualling” uilleann pipes, soaring whistles, interweaving harmonies, rock steady bodhran and guitar grooves, the tunes and songs are delivered with a confidence, energy and drive that only a live approach can create.

#irishtraditionalmusic #Ireland #uileannpipes #TradFest #tradmusic #irishtrad #musicevent #westcorkmusic #glengarriff #wildatlanticway

All set for the 2023 Session Trail

The Session Trail is an integral part of the festival and it’s back bigger and better than ever with a great line-up of festival veterans and newcomers … stroll around the village and take in the sounds!

The full list will be up here shortly …

Kevin Meehan and Tom Oakes to launch their albums on Garnish Island

On the Sunday, June 19th, Kevin Meehan and Tom Oakes will be launching their current albums and what better place to do it than on the beautiful Garnish Island.

Starting at 2pm Kevin, Tom and a host of friends will be playing on the island with both their albums on show. For Kevin the album is called “Spanish Point” and Tom’s current album is called “Water Street”.

So loads of great music and craic on the island!

So get that boat and get out there and give these two artists your support – it will be great!

Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny play The Eccles Hotel

3 On The Bund for Friday Night

Event Update 2022

The next Jim Dowling Uilleann Pipe and Trad Festival will take place from the 16th to the 19th of June 2022. The line-up is being finalised so keep an eye out an the website and social media for updates – it promises to be a great weekend!!