Cliffords and Paul Brady among first acts announced for Clonakilty Guitar Festival
Cliffords, left, and Paul Brady, right, are among the acts confirmed for the West Cork festival later this year
For one week in September, Clonakilty is set to transform into Guitartown — and the first acts taking part in the festival have been confirmed.
Marking its 22nd year, Clonakilty International Guitar Festival (CIGF) will welcome an eclectic mix of established favourites and emerging talents, including Paul Brady, John Spillane, and Cliffords, to West Cork from September 16-20.
Northern Irish singer-songwriter Paul Brady returns to the festival as a headliner, having graced the stage during the second-ever CIGF in 2006. He says he is “so looking forward to returning to the Clonakilty International Guitar Festival in September. One of the best guitar-centred celebratory events there is.”
Brady will perform at De Barra's with Bill Shanley on September 17.
Lorkin O’Reilly, who first performed at the festival as a solo act in 2018, is also back with his transatlantic roots and folk rock behemoth, DUG, to close the festival on Sunday, September 20 at De Barra's.
“I still remember playing Clonakilty International Guitar Festival in 2018. I sang to about 30 people in Con & Maura’s Bar and was absolutely bricking it,” O’Reilly says.
“Pretty sure it was my first ever festival slot, and it’s one of those gigs that’s stayed with me ever since. Fast forward eight years, and it’s a real privilege to be heading back with DUG as one of the festival headliners.”
Leah Song, the frontwoman of Rising Appalachia, will bring two headline performances to the festival, accompanied by multi-instrumentalist David Brown as well as a school visit as part of the Reverb program of community engagement.
Cork band Cliffords make their first visit to CIGF, providing a rare opportunity to see the up-and-coming group in an intimate setting at De Barra's on Friday, September 18.
Showman Artie Silver makes his musical resurrection at the festival and promises to tell his version of the events that led to a public fall from grace in the 1980s, from stumbling upon his wife’s affair with his then-business manager to personal and financial ruin.
CIGF will also welcome American storyteller and national guitar player Doc Maclean; Breda Cooney, the whistling balladeer, who aims to spark a whistling revival; Clonakilty’s own guitar laureate Bill Shanley; world-renowned luthier George Lowden; and the ever-popular John Spillane and the band of Wrens, a cornerstone of the International Guitar Festival since it first began.
During the festival, Clonakilty itself becomes the stage, where music emerges from every corner, every lane, every doorway. Audiences ill move from intimate acoustic performances to late-night sessions, from workshops to unforgettable headline shows as the town’s venues, streets, libraries, schools, and public spaces become part of a musical map.
- For more information on acts and tickets, see clonguitarfest.com
