Open House Festival, Belfast, 24-8 September

We're in the thick of the festival season now, with Dunmore East just eleven days ago, Omagh beginning tomorrow, and the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival in Longford and the Open House Festival in Belfast, both in the final week of September. A vast range of talent in bluegrass-related and old-time-related music in all of them; full details on their websites.

The Johnny Keenan Festival does an outstanding job of combining Irish and American music; and since 2005 it has not been alone in this. The 4th Picnic Festival, to be held this weekend in the spectacular Citadel at Namur, Belgium, offers bluegrass on Saturday and Celtic music on Sunday. So if you have friends within reach of Namur, share the good news with them.