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KERN TO STAR AT JOHNSTON WEEKEND

TICKETS are now available for an eagerly awaited festival weekend in Slane from Sept 1-3rd.

The seventh annual Johnston Folk Music Festival kicks off with an opening concert that will feature the distinctive sean-nós style voice of Galway native Sean Keane in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland, Slane on Friday, September 1st at 8pm. Described as the musical find of the 1990s, Sean Keane continues to delight audiences all over the world with live performances and recorded work.

Then on Saturday, September 2nd, the Village Inn is the setting for an evening of contemporary folk and traditional music featuring Co Louth group Kern. This trio of Brendan McCreanor, SJ McArdle and Barry Kiernan have performed at a host of festivals across Europe and they recently released their debut album False Deceiver.

Kern has featured on RTE Radio One Ceili House programme, Lyric FM, Radio na Gaeilge and the Pat Kenny show and they have recently returned from a very successful whistle-stop tour of Italy.

The closing festival concert will feature the legendary fiddle player John Sheahan from the famous Dubliners, also in St Patrick’s Church of Ireland, on Sunday evening. John was a key member of the group for almost 50 years and toured the world with the Dubliners, playing all the major concert halls and theatres.

John will be accompanied at the Slane concert by his good friend Michael Howard, himself a guitarist and composer and songwriter of high renown, with their best known piece the Marino Waltz.

The John Sheahan/Michael Howard collaboration goes back many years and has resulted in their critically acclaimed album In Our Own Time. The concert will be an evening of music, song, poetry and storytelling and is scheduled for a 7pm start.

Tickets for the festival can be purchased from the Hub office, Slane, 041-9824000.