August 2021

A far cry from the often politically charged tub-thumping anthems of his day job with Merry Hell, Neil McCartney’s “Memoirs From A Crooked Road” gently grows on you the more you hear it, laying down a carbon footprint that’s well worth walking in.

Belfast International Arts Festival returns from 6 October to 7 November with headliners Glen Hansard and The Great Irish Songbook, featuring legendary Irish folk group Dervish, alongside Brian Kennedy, Cara Dillon, Karen Matheson, Eddi Reader and Belfast’s own Open Arts Community Choir.

Adam Holmes has long been one of the country’s most talented and impressive vocalists, with Dreamweaver he takes that step further to being one of the finest songwriters in the UK today. Dreamweaver is a truly heart-warming listen and a formidably affecting and potent release.

Watch the full concert that Pentangle recorded for Belgian TV in 1972, prior to the release of Solomon’s Seal, featuring the original lineup of Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Jacqui McShee, Danny Thompson and Terry Cox.

Featuring: John Francis Flynn (our Artist of the Month), Martin A. Egan, The Spook of the Thirteenth Lock, The Deadlians, Stick in the Wheel, Dick Gaughan, Ye Vagabonds, Sweeny’s Men, The Eighteenth Day Of May, Landless and more.

Taking turns both tender and turbulent, John Francis Flynn’s “I Would Not Live Always” is bracing, unpredictable and without a doubt one of the most deeply affecting folk debuts of recent years.