Full lineup for Shannonside Winter Music Weekend (16-19 Jan.) online now

The 15th Shannonside Winter Music Weekend Festival (16-19 January 2014) will feature at least seventy acoustic music events at over fifteen venues in Sixmilebridge and Bunratty, Co. Clare. The Festival's stated mission - 'to present a diverse range of acoustic music in small venues' - looks like being well fulfilled this year.

The full lineup is shown in the image above and in greater detail here, where there are also links to artists' websites and you can watch performance videos. Every act looks rewarding for practically anyone; for BIB readers the likely priorities will be the splendid High Plains Tradition from Colorado; Martin Gilmore (USA), son of guitarist Steve of the HPT; and Tim Rogers & the Clew Bay Critters.

Update 19 Nov.: Thanks to Ray O'Brien for setting us right about our original last paragraph - due to work commitments, Mark Leslie will not be able to come to Ireland for this trip with HPT, and so (as in 2012) the HPT banjo player will be Ron Lynam, a pillar of Colorado bluegrass for over thirty years. The Winter Music Weekend website, however, carries a video (also on YouTube) of the band performing 'Rain, please go away' with Mark on banjo, which is well worth seeing and hearing.