Clonakilty plays host to star-studded international guitar event

A West Cork town is set to be invaded by guitar lovers when it hosts a star-studded festival featuring some of the greatest foot-stompin’, fingerpicking, head-banging, eye-catching exponents of the art.

They will be heading to the 11th Clonakilty International Guitar Festival, which runs September 17-20.

The event will feature a number of top class acts including Tennessee native Valerie June, who has been dazzling audiences worldwide since the release of her debut album, Pushin‘ Against A Stone.

With performances on Later..., Leno, and Letterman along with rave reviews everywhere from The New York Times to Rolling Stone, her inaugural performance at the guitar festival — her only Irish show this year — is bound to draw a huge audience.

She’s joined on the bill by Canadian rock royalty Joel Plaskett whose new album is The Park Avenue Sobriety Test, and Australian powerhouse Mama Kin.

Also playing is Highland troubadour Rachel Sermanni; composer and finger-style guitarist Richard Gilewitz; and Nashville native Casey Black.

Songwriter and visual artist Jeffrey Lewis will appear alongside with Grammy winner Peter Stampfel.

Add in locally-born Bill Shanley, feral rock upstarts The Minutes; and award-winning Canadian songwriter Mo Kenney, playing from her critically acclaimed second album In My Dreams, and the town will be rocking.

In addition there’s also Iraqi oud player (and sometime heavy metal drummer) Khyam Allami; the Octopus Project; and the Irish/Togolese act the Rusangano Family, described as the most exciting hip-hop act in Ireland today.

It’s a fitting line-up for the town that the Hendrix Experience’s Noel Redding chose to call home for 27 years.

The festival is seen, to an extent, as the legacy of his impact on his adopted home. The weekend event was founded by many of the musicians and music lovers directly influenced by Redding — including renowned producer John Fitzgerald who began his career in the music industry at the age of 15, playing in Redding’s local band.

In addition to concerts, the festival presents a programme of workshops, masterclasses, and seminars from some of the world’s best performers and experts, giving a glimpse of the methods and techniques which make them so successful.

The festival is run by a not-for-profit voluntary organisation of music lovers who strive to make the festival accessible to all, with the most of the festival events free.