Receiving the baton from previous festival directors John Cleere and Tom Stapleton, Garret Kehoe’s line-up for the 28th Kilkenny Roots Festival was an extremely well-selected roster of acts, both relatively new and emerging, and household names. Texan legendary songwriter Rodney Crowell’s exclusive Irish show at The Set Theatre on Saturday afternoon was a close-to-two-hour trawl through his phenomenal back catalogue, performed to an adoring audience. Accompanied by two outstanding musicians, Eamon McLaughlin on fiddle, who had performed with Emmylou Harris in Dublin last January, and Catherine Marx on piano, his set kicked off with Ain’t No Money and finished with Pancho & Lefty, eighteen songs later. The previous evening at the same location, The Big Star Quintet had power-popped their way through a rousing eighteen-set. Comprising original band member Joey Stephens, Mike Mills (R.E.M), Chris Stamey (The dB’s), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), and Jon Auer (the Posies), and with three electric guitars and four vocalists, they recreated the original band’s material with reverence, creating a joyful experience that they appeared to treasure as much as the full house. Closing the festival on Monday evening, The Long Ryders can also be described as elderly gentlemen, having formed the band over four and a half decades ago. Sid Griffin, Stephen McCarthy, Greg Sowders and Murray Hammond (of the Texan band Old 97s), replacing the deceased Tom Stephens, they ripped through a set of old favourites and selections from their recently released album, HIGH NOON HYMNS, closing with their anthem Looking For Lewis And Clark.
If those three acts represented the ‘older brigade,’ two bands, both coincidentally from Philadelphia, were torchbearers for the newer breed of collectives blending country and indie with a little grunge on the side. Six-piece Florry, fronted by the force of nature and wildly exuberant Francie Medosch, was like a runaway train as they ripped through a set mainly taken from the album SOUNDS LIKE .FLORRY closing with an incendiary take on First It Was a Movie, Then It Was A Book. Slightly less raucous but equally impressive were their city mates, Friendship. A four-piece band fronted by Dan Wriggens, their folk-indie sound ebbed and flowed through a set that drew heavily from their 2025 album CAVEMAN WAKES UP.
A more relaxed event featured Uncut magazine founder Allan Jones, by now a regular festival attendee. He was in conversation with Belfast-born music journalist Stuart Bailie. Bailie’s latest book, The Song Is Nearly Over, shares his thoughts and insights from forty years in the music industry.
A pointer towards the festival’s varied lineup, pedal steel pioneer Joe Harvey-Whyte and psychedelic guitarist Bobby Lee’s fifty-minute instrumental set was a cosmic, reverb-heavy and swirling delight. Pedal steel was indeed prominent over the weekend. Nashville-based via London, Spencer Cullum is a ‘go-to’ player in Nashville and dipped into selections from his COIN COLLECTION album trilogy during his show. Our own maestro, David Murphy, played pedal steel on most of the set, allowing Cullum to concentrate on vocals and acoustic guitar while delivering some traditional folk songs with his own distinctive twist. His bandmate, Annie Williams, also took centre stage with a couple of her own impressive songs.
Chris Eckman performed twice at the festival as his initially announced show sold out. Accompanied by Alistair McNeill, who produced his last two solo albums, THE LAND WE KNEW THE BEST, and WHERE THE SPIRIT RESTS, and with David Murphy joining on pedal steel, the former member of Seattle band The Walkabouts delivered a spellbinding set, including selections from those albums, encored with a powerful rendition of Drinking In America.
Greazy Alice, recently signed to Loose Music, is the brainchild of New Orleans-based Alex Pianovich, and influences from his adopted home city manifested in their set, which drifts seamlessly from honky tonk to blues. A highlight was the vocal fusion of Pianovich and band member Jo Morris. California-born voice actress and singer-songwriter Grey DeLisle performed four times over the weekend on the Smithwick’s Music Trail, which featured over fifty free gigs. With her band, The Blue Ribbon Boys, DeLisle charmed audiences with extended country sets delivered with class and wit and some dexterous Telecaster twang.
Willi Carlisle won a slew of new fans with his always politically charged and hilarious stream of consciousness between-song patter, his insightful socially aware songs and his instrumental wizardry on banjo, bones, squeeze box and fiddle. Mayo’s folktronica legend Seamus Fogarty debuted his latest album SHIPS for a wildly enthusiastic room of fans in Billy Byrne’s new music space, followed by DJ Edel’s disco. Another highlight was the 2-hour visit to Nick Harper’s childhood home at 58 FORDWYCH RD, where he grew up with his father, Roy Harper, and the inspiration for Nick's latest album. He regaled us with anecdotes from his father and his own memory and played songs from seminal folk artists Davey Graham, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Paul Simon, Jackson C. Frank, Marc Bolan, David Bowie and Sandy Denny.
The Equatorial Group played four shows over two days, and drew on material from across their four albums, with their superb harmonies, strong melodies and impressive performance dynamic. Their music is a joy to experience in a live setting with their rhythmic subtleties augmented by engaging guitar, keyboard, and pedal steel colourings. Ben Reel made his customary appearance at the festival and is always great to see in a live setting. His blend of Rock and Roots music is taken from across his wide catalogue of albums and influences. A very accomplished artist and performer.
With close to eighty acts performing, it was not possible to see as many as we would have liked, but the ones referenced above made the weekend a memorable experience. Here’s looking forward to Kilkenny Roots 2027.
Review and photography by the Lonesome Highway Team