Great winter warmers lined up for Ballincollig Music Festival
TOP IRISH AND INTERNATIONAL ACTS SET TO PLAY 10TH FESTIVAL OUTING
WITH the long, dark winter nights now well and truly upon us, news that the annual Ballincollig Winter Music Festival is set to make a welcome return in January will surely warm the hearts of Cork music fans.
Now in its tenth year, the festival has earned a well-deserved reputation for attracting an exciting and eclectic mix of new and established Irish and international acts to the intimate festival hub at the White Horse.
Organisers have pulled out all the stops to put together a packed programme of gigs over the five days of the festival, with nightly gigs ‘Upstairs’ at the White Horse and a raft of events at other venues around the town.
For this very special 10th-anniversary edition of the festival, a number of previous headliners will also make return appearances during the festival, including Tim O’Brien, Donal Lunney and The Voice Squad.
Others will be making their débuts at the 2019 festival, not least Jerry Douglas of the famed Alison Krauss and Union Station.
The White Horse programme will kick-off on Wednesday, January 23, with an evening in the company of American country soul outfits The Delines.
Led by vocalist Amy Boone and featuring members of Richmond Fontaine, including acclaimed songwriter Willy Vlautin, the band has sold out tours across the US, Europe and Australia in the past year.
The following night, Dublin singer/songwriter Cathy Davey will take to the stage of the venue, performing songs from her fifth and latest album ‘Live at Dublin Unitarian Church’ and well-known favourites including ‘Sing for your Supper’, ‘Little Red’ and ‘Moving’.
On the same night, the White Horse Guitar Club will play what is guaranteed to be a sellout show at the Cork Opera House with some yet to be announced special guests.
Friday night’s concert at the White Horse will be a celebration of 10 years of the festival with a star-studded line-up featuring Andy Irvine; Donal Lunny and Paddy Glackin; and Lisa O’Neill. The gig will take the form of a ‘song cycle’, with many other names to be added to the bill over the coming weeks.
On Saturday, 14-time Grammy award-winning dobro player Jerry Douglas will play the White Horse with support from Cork’s own Greenshine. Described by the New York Times as being ‘ the dobro’s matchless contemporary master’, Douglas has performed on more than 1,500 albums by artist’s including Garth Brooks, Paul Simon, Elvis Costello and Ray Charles, among others.
The White Horse festival programme will draw to a close on Saturday with a double-header featuring The Voice Squad and Grammy-winning US country and bluegrass singer/musician Tim O’Brien with Jan Fabricius.
Festival organiser Joe Carey urged people not to delay booking tickets for the White Horse gigs as they are all expected to sell out well in advance.
“This year we will also have the new addition of a Community Events programme, details of which will be announced over the coming weeks,” he said.
For more information and to book tickets for the festival gigs, visit www.wintermusicfestival. ie or www.whitehorse.ie. A limited number of tickets will also be available from The White Horse bar.