TRANSATLANTIC SESSIONS RETURNS FOR 2026
World-class musicians weave Celtic and Americana in the ultimate collaboration
Special guests include Kathy Mattea, Darrell Scott, Karine Polwart and Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, alongside stellar house band
Transatlantic Sessions returns for 2026, continuing to explore and celebrate the rich musical traditions that connect Scotland, Ireland and the US. With its roots as an award-winning TV series and an annual focal point of Celtic Connections, the exclusive line-up combines guest singers and a stellar house band, inviting them to interweave original material with age-old tunes and songs as they explore shared roots and find new common ground between today’s finest Celtic and Americana musicians. “The ultimate back-porch session”.
Dates are:
31-Jan Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
01-Feb Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
02-Feb Edinburgh Usher Hall
3-Feb Manchester Aviva Studios
4-Feb Gateshead The Glasshouse
05-Feb Birmingham Symphony Hall
06-Feb London Royal Festival Hall
7-Feb Brighton Dome
08-Feb Oxford New Theatre
“A phenomenal group of musicians. . . The synchronicity and tightness of the band was incredible. . . an evening of spectacular traditional music-making from both sides of the great ocean.” (The Arts Desk)
Featured vocalists include Grammy-winning Country, Bluegrass, and Folk music star Kathy Mattea, hailed by The Washington Post as “one of Nashville’s finest song interpreters.” Darrell Scott, Nashville’s finest multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter and recent Lifetime Achievement Award inductee at the Americana Music Association’s Awards 2025; Scotland’s own extraordinary folk singer Karine Polwart, fast becoming a national treasure with her recent body of work that includes Looking for the Thread, her 2025 collaborative album with Grammy Award winning US artist, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Julie Fowlis; massed participative choir initiatives, and Spell Songs, a multi-artist lyrical, musical and artistic response to environmental loss. Joining them, from West Kerry in Ireland is the spellbinding voice of multi-award-winning singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, described by The Irish Times as “One of the earthiest and most distinctive voices, not just in traditional circles, but anywhere”.
The show’s seasoned house band, guided as ever by Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, features renowned Celtic and Americana roots musicians John Doyle, Michael McGoldrick, Tatiana Hargreaves & Allison de Groot, John McCusker, Donald Shaw, James Mackintosh and Daniel Kimbro.