Danny Kyle's Open Stage hosted by Gibb Todd

Opening Night showcasing Danny Kyle's Open Stage Winners 2007
Thu 17 January, 5pm
Free
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

Hosted by Danny Kyle's good friends Gibb Todd and Liz Clark, the Open Stage is a chance to see new musical talent as they try to win a coveted support slot at next year's festival - and all absolutely free! Featuring last year's winners: The Rooney Family, Lazy Boy Chair, TNT - The New Tradition, Harriet Earis, Ryan Young and Wingin' It.

In partnership with the Evening Times

Benbecula Night

Thu 17 January, 6pm
£10
City Halls, Recital Room

Traditional music students and tutors from Lews College Benbecula showcase the island's past and future musical heritage, with performances from Flying Fiddles, Iain MacDonald, Anna-Wendy Stevenson and Will Lamb.

Steve Earle with special guest Allison Moorer

Thu 17 January, 7:30pm
£22, £20
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium

Widely regarded as one of America's greatest living songwriters, Steve Earle recently celebrated his move from Nashville to New York with his latest studio release Washington Square Serenade.

A tribute partly to the city's 1960s folk-revival heyday, partly to its 21st-century melting-pot, and partly to Earle's wife, fellow singer-songwriter Allison Moorer, the album was produced by the Dust Brothers' John King, marrying Earle's bare-knuckle eloquence and sinewy lyricism with hip-hop and Latin sounds.

Moorer's career, after a childhood blighted by her parents' murder-suicide, charts a degree of triumph over adversity rare even in country music circles. It's only apt, therefore, that her most recent work, on 2004's The Duel and 2006's Getting Somewhere, has seen her transcend the genre from which she first emerged, setting her arresting smoky alto and increasingly assured songwriting amidst a potent blend of rock, blues, folk and classic pop.

Flook & friends with Damien Dempsey

Thu 17 January, 7:30pm £15 ABC

No strangers to Celtic Connections, the brilliant Anglo/Irish four-piece Flook pull out all the stops for this year's return visit, with the first ever performance of the Flook Big Band. Winners of the Best Group title at the 2006 Radio 2 Folk Awards, Flook are joined tonight by several of the guest musicians from their last two albums, Rubai and Haven. With some of the artists meeting for the first time onstage, a night of fresh inspiration and thrilling ensemble fireworks is guaranteed.

Merging the influences of traditional sean-nos singing with those of early heroes like Bob Marley and Elvis, the multi-award-winning Irish singer-songwriter Damien Dempsey counts stars like Christy Moore, Morrissey and Sinead O'Connor among his ever expanding fan-base. Subjects covered on his recent fifth album, To Hell or Barbados, range from today's Dublin drug scene to 17th-century Irish history, addressed with Dempsey's trademark blend of incisive observation, ebullient poetry and black-edged humour.

Luke Daniels & Donald Grant's Islands with The Shee

Thu 17 January, 8pm
£12.50
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Strathclyde Suite

The music and singing traditions of England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Mann are distinctive voices in the cultural tapestry of the islands of Britain. Drawing on oral traditions that are both historical and contemporary, this project explores the distinctive expressions and the shared sources of the cultural communities of these islands through artistic collaboration across different genres. Remembering the past, recognising the present, and sensing the future.

Radio Scotland's Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2006, Borders fiddler Shona Mooney appears tonight with her new six-woman band The Shee, comprising three lead vocalists with fiddles, flute, harp, mandolin and foot percussion, whose repertoire ranges from Gaelic songs to bluegrass tunes.

While & Matthews with Edwina Hayes

Thu 17 January, 8pm
£12.50
St Andrew's in the Square

The internationally acclaimed vocal/songwriting partnership of Chris While and Julie Matthews recently celebrated fourteen years as a duo with their latest CD, Stage 2. Up-and-coming Irish-born singer-songwriter Edwina Hayes opens the show.

Liam Clancy & members of Danu with Archie Fisher

Thu 17 January, 9pm
£16
Old Fruitmarket

As the youngest of the iconic Tipperary fraternity who took the world by storm in the 1950s and 60s, Liam Clancy was hailed by Bob Dylan as "the best ballad singer I ever heard in my life".

Tonight this legendary entertainer hosts a musical gathering of family and friends, along with members of the powerhouse Waterford band Danu. These Celtic Connections regulars have won numerous top awards, combining brilliantly no-holds-barred instrumental attack with the sublime singing of Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh.

Clancy's celebrated duo with his former bandmate Tommy Makem, from 1975 to 1988, was often accompanied on guitar by one Archie Fisher, who also produced several of their albums. Nowadays the longtime presenter of BBC Radio Scotland's Travelling Folk, Archie joins his old friend for an evening of songs, tunes and stories, no doubt including many a tribute to Makem, who died in 2007. The concert will air live as a special edition of Travelling Folk.

Celtic Connections Festival Club hosted by Gibb Todd

Opening Night
Thu 17 January, 10:30pm
£3.50
Central Hotel

Get ready for some late night music!

Our late night club ensures there is even more music to enjoy after all the gigs are over. Join local and international artists as they make special unbilled appearances or join in one of many sessions happening in the bars.

With food and drink in plentiful supply you can happily keep going into the early hours of the morning whilst witnessing some of the best musical collaborations of the festival.

Master of ceremonies, Gibb Todd returns to present each act on stage and Doris Rougvie hosts The House of Song in a peaceful oasis away from the main stage.

Danny Kyle's Open Stage hosted by Gibb Todd

Fri 18 January, 5pm
Free
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

Hosted by Danny Kyle's good friends Gibb Todd and Liz Clark, the Open Stage is a chance to see new musical talent as they try to win a coveted support slot at next year's festival - and all absolutely free!

In partnership with the Evening Times

The Cast with Theresa Kavanagh

Fri 18 January, 6pm
£10
City Halls, Recital Room

Popular Scottish duo The Cast, comprising Dave Francis (guitar) and Mairi Campbell (fiddle, viola, vocals) released their long-awaited third album, Greengold, in 2007. Support comes from the outstanding young Donegal fiddler Theresa Kavanagh.

Cherish the Ladies with Lazy Boy Chair

Fri 18 January, 7:30pm
£20, £18
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium

A riotous welcome is assured for the Irish-American supergroup Cherish the Ladies, a firm Celtic Connections favourite ever since the very first festival back in 1994. Originally formed over 20 years ago as a one-off celebration of female talent in Irish-American music, fronted then and now by the irrepressible flute/whistle virtuoso Joanie Madden, the band continue to go from strength to strength, alternating straight-no-chaser instrumentals with haunting song arrangements. Along with Madden, the Ladies currently comprise Mary Coogan (guitar), Mirella Murray (accordion), Roisin Dillon (fiddle), Kathleen Boyle (piano, harmony vocals) and Heidi Talbot (bodhran, lead vocals).

Bringing together eight of the best and busiest players on the Orkney music scene, Lazy Boy Chair won a Danny Kyle Award at Celtic Connections 2007, after inciting unprecedented dancefloor mayhem with their triumphant Open Stage performance. Wielding fiddles, accordion, guitar, banjo, bass, drums and percussion, Lazy Boy Chair are a stomping feelgood outfit packing both style and substance.

Friday Night Blues

Josh White, Jr. & Spencer Bohren
Fri 18 January, 7:30pm
£10
Central Hotel

US national treasure Josh White, Jr., the son of black music pioneer Josh White, continues to build on his father's vast cultural and humanitarian legacy, and has played the blues for presidents, royalty and even the Pope.

Born into a gospel-singing family, veteran folk/blues troubadour Spencer Bohren came of age during the 1960s folk boom, and has since won fans worldwide with his richly seasoned, grittily atmospheric songs and virtuoso guitar work.

The Burnsong Song House with Roddy Woomble & Norman Blake

Fri 18 January, 7:30pm
£12.50
Oran Mor

Featuring Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake, Idlewild's Roddy Woomble, Jo Mango, Nuala Kennedy, Louise Quinn, L-Marie and Found's Ziggy Campbell, tonight marks a second airing for the brand-new songs created during a week's residential hot-housing in autumn 2007, and premiered at Edinburgh's Queen's Hall in December.

Burnsong is an ongoing Scotland-wide project to promote original songwriting, in the spirit of Robert Burns, and runs a similar Songhouse project each year. With participants this time coming from the worlds of pop, rock, electronica and traditional folk, expect a splendidly diverse but consistently high-quality set-list.

Bellowhead with Lisa Knapp

Fri 18 January, 7:30pm
£15
ABC

Not widely noted as a place of inspiration, the M25 was nonetheless where the Bellowhead concept was born, when English folk firebrands John Spiers and Jon Boden, whiling away a traffic jam back in 2004, hatched the notion of expanding their duo into a big band.

Less than four years later, Bellowhead have carried all before them, picking up three Radio 2 Folk Awards en route, and earning a live reputation as the most dynamic and innovative outfit to hit the English scene in decades.

'Wild, joyous, perverse, bold, crazed, full-blooded, intricate, fearless, funny, epic and mostly BIG', was fRoots verdict on their 2006 debut album Burlesque - all of which will doubtless apply to tonight's appearance by the full eleven-strong squad.

After coming to folk music via drum'n'bass and Jimi Hendrix, Tooting-born singer and fiddler Lisa Knapp has won a swathe of plaudits for her debut album Wild And Undaunted, blending timeless folk lyricism with arresting contemporary touches.

Daimh & Anxo Lorenzo with TNT

Fri 18 January, 7:30pm
£12.50
The Classic Grand

Aptly named with the Gaelic word for kinship, the Highland-based band Daimh includes members from Canada, the US, Ireland and Scotland. Long renowned for their thrillingly tight, fiery instrumental work, Daimh recently added Gaelic singer Calum Alex MacMillan to the line-up, with their third album Crossing Point revealing their equal facility for artfully sensitive ballad arrangements.

Tonight's pan-Celtic encounter also includes Galician piper Anxo Lorenzo, as renowned for his traditional scholarship as his fearlessly innovative musicianship, renewing Daimh's acquaintance after guesting on Crossing Point.

Opening the show with a flourish will be the 'bagpipe boy-band' TNT, aka The New Tradition, winners of a Danny Kyle Award in 2007.

Lewis & Harris Night

Fri 18 January, 8pm £12.50 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Strathclyde Suite

From the neighbouring Gaelic strongholds of Lewis and Harris, in the Western Isles, a nine-strong, cross-generational gathering of vocal and instrumental talent host a Hebridean ceilidh to remember. Four of the featured singers - Margaret Stewart, Christine Primrose, Donnie Murdo MacLeod and Jenna Cumming - are past Mod medallists.

Also on the bill is the all-girl quartet Teine, uniting three voices with piano, fiddle, whistle, clarsach and percussion; teenage accordion prodigy Iain Angus MacLeod, and singer-songwriter Iain Morrison, of Crash My Model Car fame. Special guests will be joining this evening's performance.

Classic Albums: Lauren MacColl "When Leaves Fall"

with Maeve Mackinnon "Don't Sing Lovesongs"
Fri 18 January, 8pm
£12.50
St Andrew's in the Square

An exciting Classic Album double-bill featuring two of Scotland's brightest young talents in a celebration of fiddle music and song, offering a fresh contemporary take on the rich traditions from which they draw. Both highly acclaimed debut albums prove the performers to be rich beyond their years.

Singer Maeve Mackinnon's album was said to be "one of the most absorbing albums to be released in Scotland in a long time" (Scotland on Sunday) and highly accomplished fiddler Lauren MacColl's "slow airs may well make you cry, her dance tune sets are invigorating" (The Herald).

Sponsored by Eskmills

Punch Brothers featuring Chris Thile with The Bills

Fri 18 January, 9:30pm £16 Old Fruitmarket

Widely rated as the outstanding mandolin player of his generation and a former member of the dazzling nu-bluegrass trio Nickel Creek, 26-year-old Chris Thile is also a superb singer and composer. His award-winning 2006 release, 'How to Grow A Woman From the Ground', introduced his current band, comprising Chris Eldridge (guitar/vocals), Greg Garrison (bass), Noam Pikelny (banjo) and Gabe Witcher (fiddle/vocals), with the first Punch Brothers album due in February 2008.

With a sound described by the Herald as 'the aural equivalent of multi-flavoured sherbet fireworks seducing your taste buds', and self-styled as 'global acoustic roots music', Canadian five-piece The Bills cook up influences drawn from their diverse backgrounds in folk, jazz, Americana, classical and world music. They'll be previewing tracks from their upcoming fourth album, the successor to 2004's acclaimed 'Let 'Em Run'.

Celtic Connections Festival Ceilidhs

Fri 18 January, 10pm
£8
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

Get your dancing shoes on! Enjoy the perfect post-concert fling or pre-festival warm up, with The Sensational Jimi Shandrix Experience led by Sandy Brechin.

Celtic Connections Festival Club hosted by Gibb Todd

Fri 18 January, 10:30pm
£7.50
Central Hotel

Get ready for some late night music!

Our late night club ensures there is even more music to enjoy after all the gigs are over. Join local and international artists as they make special unbilled appearances or join in one of many sessions happening in the bars.

With food and drink in plentiful supply you can happily keep going into the early hours of the morning whilst witnessing some of the best musical collaborations of the festival.

Master of ceremonies, Gibb Todd returns to present each act on stage and Doris Rougvie hosts The House of Song in a peaceful oasis away from the main stage.

Public Workshops

Kids Percussion Workshop for Wee Ones

Sat 19 January, 11am
£4
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

Big Groove will lead a workshop for children aged 4-6 years. This is a terrific introduction to wee ones to enjoy their natural sense of rhythm. All children must be accompanied by an adult and all drums are provided.

come&try Whistle

Sat 19 January, 11am
£6
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Buchanan Suite

Here's an opportunity to learn the very basics of this user friendly instrument-portable, versatile with a really sweet sound- just like the tutor, Hamish Napier. Whistles in the key of D are provided but if you have your own, bring it along.

come&try Bodhran

Sat 19 January, 11am
£6
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Lomond Foyer

The come&try bodhran workshops at Celtic Connections are responsible for the terrific popularity of this fine instrument in sessions all over Scotland. Have you ever had a notion to get stuck in to a session? Well here's your chance. Drums are provided so all you need is a sense of rhythm. Andy May will take you through the basics of the instrument and who knows-you could change your life!

come&try Fiddle

Sat 19 January, 11am
£6
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Clyde Foyer

Try your hand at one of the favourite instruments of all time. Two of Glasgow Fiddle Workshop's experienced tutors, Louise Hunter and Lynsey Tait will take you through the basics of this fine instrument. Fiddles are supplied.

Public Workshops

Kids Percussion Workshop

Sat 19 January, 12pm
£4
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

This workshop is for children aged 7-10 years and Big Groove will lead them through simple and fun rhythms with samba instruments. Children must be accompanied by an adult and numbers are strictly limited.

Celtic Connections Festival Orchestra with special guests

Sat 19 January, 12:30pm
£12.50
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Main Auditorium

Diversity is the watchword for the debut performance by this large-scale ensemble of Scottish folk and classical talent, directed by Glasgow-based composer Mark Sheridan. Tributes to musical greats and absent friends form one strand within the programme, among them violinist Greg Lawson's arrangements of tracks from Martin Bennett's classic Grit album, settings of Burns songs by Kevin McCrae, featuring Eddi Reader and orchestrated tunes with Ireland's accordion genius Sharon Shannon, and a piece inspired by the 18th-century Irish harper O'Carolan, with Rachel Hair on harp and Jarlath Henderson on uilleann pipes.

Other items include excerpts from two earlier orchestral excursions at Celtic Connections, Brian McNeill's song cycle Osprey and Sheridan's own Curve of the Earth. With the string section alone comprising such well-kent faces as Alistair McCulloch, Jenna and Bethany Reid, Lori Watson, Sarah Naylor, Ruaridh Campbell, Anna Massie, Duncan Lyall and Seylan Baxter, this promises to be a thrilling afternoon's music.

Public Workshops

Percussion Workshop

Sat 19 January, 1:30pm
£6
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Exhibition Hall

Big Groove will continue their day of percussion with a workshop aimed at adults and older children to explore the fascinating rhythms of samba. This is guaranteed to be a fun packed workshop to get your juices flowing!

Public Workshops

Beginner Whistle

Sat 19 January, 1:30pm
£6
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Buchanan Suite

Now if you have just started learning the whistle and want to learn a little more, this is the workshop for you. Hamish Napier will take you through the fundamentals of the instrument concentrating on simple melodic Scottish tunes.