Transatlantic Sessions

The 17th live edition of the Transatlantic Sessions once again highlights the format’s evergreen fruitfulness, with a fresh cross-generational array of Scottish, Irish and US special guests joining the regular all-star instrumental line-up.

A former child prodigy mentored by Alison Krauss, Tennessee native Sierra Hull is a three-time (and first-ever female) winner of the IBMA Mandolin Player of the Year Award, and a member of the supergroup First Ladies of Bluegrass. Her 2016 album Weighted Mind introduced her as a singer and songwriter of matching calibre, and she’s soon to release its follow-up. Having first wowed Americana fans in his mesmerising duo with Eli West, US singer and multi-instrumentalist Cahalen Morrison now features in the acclaimed Western swing/honky-tonk supergroup Western Centuries.

Transatlantic goes trans-Pacific with the appearance of Australian-born guitar deity Tommy Emmanuel (long based out of Nashville), whose dazzlingly multilayered fingerstyle prowess earned him the title of Certified Guitar Player from the late Chet Atkins, drawing masterfully from across the realms of folk , blues, bluegrass, jazz and rock.

From Ireland, Dervish’s dynamic frontwoman Cathy Jordan has previously explored transatlantic connections with Seamie O’Dowd and Rick Epping in side-project The Unwanted, as well as releasing an acclaimed solo album, All the Way Home, in 2012. Scottish ‘folk noir’ singer-songwriter Rachel Sermanni continued to build her increasingly stellar reputation with 2019’s third studio album As It Turns, inspired by both a sojourn at a Buddhist monastery and current social and political concerns.

Under the annual musical direction of Shetland fiddler Aly Bain and multi-Grammy-winning dobro maestro Jerry Douglas, the accompanying instrumental dream-team once again features Russ Barenberg, Phil Cunningham, John Doyle , Michael McGoldrick, John McCusker, Donald Shaw, Daniel Kimbro and James Mackintosh.