UK Folk Festivals - Coming Soon

I suppose this counts as American folk music, sort of.
?
Friends of American Old-Time Music and Dance (FOAOTMAD for short!) was founded in 1993 with the aim of furthering the promotion and performance of traditional old-time music and dance in the UK. We organise regular music camps, residential workshops, dance parties and support for many other formal and informal old-time events. We have a proud history of encouraging and supporting the best artists from American, Canada, UK and Europe during their visits to the UK.

We have many performances from many acts in 16 venues, as well as storytelling, arts & crafts, talks, morris dancing, open mics and folk music sessions!

Except it will mainly be streaming, apart from workshops.

More info to follow, they say.

Not a festival but a harp weekend with workshops and sessions.

Dive into the fantastic world of folk harp playing. Harpists are welcome to join us for a weekend of harp workshops and sessions with tutors Steph West and Merit Zloch. This is our first weekend of what we hope will be an annual weekend dedicated to harp playing in a folk context.

Not fully updated yet.

Scoil Cheoil an Earraigh is a 5 day Traditional Music School paying particular attention to the music, style and of the Corca Dhuibhne peninsula in Co. Kerry, Ireland on the Wild Atlantic Way.

The Russell Memorial Weekend is a traditional festival held in Doolin on the the last full weekend in February each year. The festival began in 1995 as a remembrance ceremony to Micho Russell, the world-famous traditional musician, who died in 1994.
Concerts, workshops, sessions

2026 is the 76th Anniversary!

The country's longest continually running folk festival. We warmly welcome folkies from around the globe and we really hope you'll be there too! The Festival is particularly aimed at students, but it is open to everyone. Whatever style you go for, you're bound to find like-minded people waiting to meet you. Over the years we've enjoyed a wide range of dances and ceilidhs including Scottish Country, Highland, Morris, Rapper Sword, Irish, and Playford and many, many, more.

The day features afternoon and evening concerts, a lively ceilidh, dance displays, and sessions catering to a range of abilities.

A real ale bar and home-cooked food will be available throughout the event and the venue is dog friendly.?

All the performers at the Bursfest have kindley donated their perfomance free of charge in support of The Village Hall centinary fund . Half of the profits and donations on the day will go directly to this fund. This will help the Trustees to ensure the continued enjoyment and improvement of the hall into the next century. The other half of the profits will go to our nominated charity. Which this year is Shine.

Ireland's Biggest Community Festival.
Music, Comedy, Talks, Tours, Theatre, Debate, Family, Community and more.

Quite a variety of events, some of which will be popular with folk fans. You'll have to check the program to find them

This one is it's 25th birthday, so it could be special!

The Gathering Traditional Festival is one of most loved festivals amongst traditional enthusiasts and is ideal for everyone from the hard core fans to the culturally curious. From fireside sessions to heart-pounding ceilis,

The Gathering features concerts, ceilis, sessions and storytelling as well as set dancing, singing and instrument masterclasses

Inverness Music Festival is a competitive music festival open to all ages and abilities. Performers are adjudicated on their performance.

It takes place at Inverness Methodist Church.

So if you can play and want to show the world how help, enter the festival.

Now in its 3rd year.
The events take place inside the Regal Cinema.

Manchester will once again be staging Europe's biggest Irish Festival.

Over 100 venues! Claims to attract over 200,000 visitors - so it's popular.

Live Irish music, dance events, plus club and pub events. Europe's biggest Irish Festival over 10 days.

This is a big event!

A long running Festival of Music, Drama, Literature, Creative & Visual Arts in Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire.

Not a folk festival, it's a festival of Music, Drama, Literature, Creative and Visual Arts. But it includes Celtic instrument workshops and Scottish singers. So some of you may be interested.

Not a huge amount of info on line, so check with the organisers. Slight name change for this year. Now has Mini in its name.

A major country and western event in the UK, taking place in London, Glasgow and Belfast. The first event was in London, in 2013.

This is the Glasgow event. Loads of artists, and lots of ticket prices.

The artists move from one country to the other as well.

A major country and western event in the UK, taking place in London, Glasgow and Belfast. The first event was in London, in 2013.

This is the London event. Loads of artists, and lots of ticket prices.

A major country and western event in the UK, taking place in London, Glasgow and Belfast. The first event was in London, in 2013.

This is the Belfast event. Loads of artists, and lots of ticket prices.

The artists move from one country to the other as well, so everyone gets a chance to see some of them.

Site not fully updated on our last visit...

There's usually a lot going on at this event!
Take a good look at the site to see for your self.
Events include a festival village, pipe band extravaganza, concerts, ceilis & more. A family friendly celebration of St Patrick, and traditional music, song and dance.

Kilkenny Tradfest has been going from strength to strength over the last 9 years and 2026's festival promises to be an exciting and innovative festival, full to the brim with concerts, ceilis, sessions, Irish dance, pub gigs and much more!

The festival has grown to include six full days of concerts, gigs and sessions.

During the weekend some of Ireland's best musicians will also give masterclasses and workshops at the best city's historical locations such as Kilkenny Castle Tower and Rothe House.

They are even having a competition, sponsored by McNeela Instruments, to win a Bodhran.