Trad Trail at Celtic Connections 2020
Our Trad Trail tours return for Celtic Connections in 2020.
From Friday 17th January, our two hour, folk-themed walking tours will run every weekend of the festival.
They are one of our most successful tours and tickets tend to sell out. If you want to make sure you can come on tour on a date that suits you then it might be an idea to buy now. The tours also make great Christmas presents for the folkie in your life.
What can guests look forward to?
Matt McGinn and Hamish Imlach – two larger than life characters from Glasgow’s folk scene in the Sixties.
Walking some of Glasgow’s oldest streets, our expert guides share tales of the songwriters and storytellers who have shaped the city’s vibrant folk culture.
From Burns to the bards of the shipyards, unusual rider requests, skirls and skirmishes, the two-hour tour traces the story of Glasgow’s folk and roots scene including legendary sessions in longstanding bars to today’s Celtic Connections headliners.
There may even be a short burst of singing. The video shows our guide Fiona explaining the Jeely Piece song to guests.
No-one expects to top up their tan in January in Glasgow so the tours have been designed to take in plenty of indoor stops.
We begin at the Scottish Music Centre on Candleriggs. A resource for both the public and professional musicians, the SMC is a treasure trove and home to a huge archive of Scottish music material.
Welcome dram from Tomatin
The brilliant team there have collated some Scottish music artefacts relating to Celtic Connections, and we’ll tell the tales behind them, along with a welcome dram from our sponsors, Tomatin, before setting out on tour.
In between tales of Humblebums, outlaw bikers and illegal stills we’ll show you the brilliant newsletters from the Scotia Folk Club in the 70s, brought along by a guest, Joan Brown, on our very first tour. Joan very kindly loaned them to us to allow us to scan them.
Each Trad Trail tour will finish in a cosy bar where your guide will bring an end to the stories and guests can buy a cup of coffee. Or something stronger.
So wrap up warm and join us, we’d love to see you.
The Scotia Folk newsletter – brought to one of our tours by Joan Brown.