Originally a session player in many bands, Tommy Emmanuel is an Australian guitarist. He has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. More than sixty years into his storied career as one of the modern era’s most accomplished and versatile guitarists, Tommy Emmanuel is still hungry for adventure.
Along with his brother Phil, Emmanuel performed live at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000. The event was televised to over 2 billion viewers worldwide.
It should come as little surprise that Emmanuel’s extraordinary new album, Living in the Light, is easily the most daring—and most rewarding—collection in the Grammy-winner’s remarkable catalog. Recorded and mixed in just four days with producer Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton, Phish), the album radiates the kind of raw, electrifying energy that can only come from an artist operating in complete and total surrender to the moment. Emmanuel captured most of the performances here in one or two takes, and the sense of joy and wonder in these sonic explorations is more than just palpable; it’s intoxicating. While many of the recordings are solo instrumentals, Emmanuel lends his voice to several of the album’s tracks, as well, grounding his dazzling, percussive fretwork with a poignant dose of warmth and vulnerability. The result is a record as exhilarating as it is intimate, a virtuosic blend of acoustic pop, jazz, classical, and roots music delivered by a master craftsman with a penchant for living on the edge.
From Glasgow & the Isle of Man, high-energy, celtic fusion band MEC LIR will make their Wickham Festival debut on Friday 31st July, 2026. Right from the launch at their debut gig at one of the largest Celtic music festivals anywhere in the world – Brittany’s famed Festival Interceltique de Lorient – the exhilarating, genre-busting Mec Lir have been frenzying festival audiences for over a decade, with 2026 being their 12th anniversary!
Mec Lir’s live shows are the stuff of legend – and not to be missed!
Well-known for their tight, lightning-fast playing and huge sound, fusing Celtic trad with unapologetically electro synths and drums – yet all the while with the fiddle melody at the forefront – the Isle of Man/Glasgow band have brought their infectiously joyous energy to stages in many corners of the folk sphere; from Cape Breton’s Celtic Colours to the Shetland Folk Festival, Denmark’s Tønder Festival to Schots Weekend (Belgium), England’s Cambridge Folk Festival, and sell-out, rapturous appearances at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections.
Fronted by virtuoso Manx fiddle player Tomas Callister (Ímar), along with fellow Manx musicians Adam Rhodes on bouzouki (Ímar) and David Kilgallon on keyboard (Neear Nesañ), joined by Glasgow’s own Paddy Callaghan on button accordion (BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2013) and expertly grounded by Scotland’s Greg Barry on drums (Elephant Sessions), the group’s second album, Livewire, met critical acclaim upon its 2020 release, and topped the iTunes World Music charts – a feverishly- anticipated follow-up to their groundbreaking debut, Not An EP (2014).
“Wonderful, absolutely wonderful.”
Bruce MacGregor, BBC Radio Scotland
“The energy these guys created with their mix of electric guitar, synthesizer, fiddles, drums and button accordion was different level”
The Irish Voice
“perhaps the most energetic album you’ll hear this year”
RnR Magazine
The Young’uns’ live shows are renowned roller coaster rides. With heart-on-the-sleeve storytelling, beautiful lyrics, warm harmonies and relentless repartee, Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle (the award-winning stand-up comedian) write and sing folk songs for today.
Born from empathy, crafted with care, fired by hope, and shared with joy, The Young’uns’ songs have been described as ‘a heartfelt secular hymnary for these troubled times and a rallying call for humanity’ (The Scotsman). They have led the band to three BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards (including Best Album in 2018 for Strangers) and the creation of the acclaimed international theatre show The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff (based upon their 2019 album of the same name).
Nearly twenty years after accidentally stumbling into the alien world of their local folk club as drunken teenagers, (and gaining their cureless name in the process) these three thirtysomething friends from Stockton and Hartlepool have never lost the joy of that first night of singing together. Whether performing at Glastonbury Festival, writing a song about pigs with a group of school children, or presenting a programme on Radio 4, Sean Cooney, Michael Hughes and David Eagle are just the same.
