Transatlantic Sessions

A touring folk and roots project that brings together musicians from Scotland and North America. This concert is staged in Beacon Hall at Bristol Beacon.

Transatlantic Sessions is a music project built around the shared traditions of Scotland and North America. It brings together fiddle, guitar and song players from both sides of the Atlantic, drawing on Scottish and Celtic roots music and on the American and Canadian string band and folk styles that grew from the same sources. The project has been presented on television and radio, and its concerts are organised around the musicians who appear with it on each tour.

Its appeal lies in the crossover between traditions: the same tunes and song forms surface in different accents, so audiences hear how the music has travelled and changed. Listeners who know Scottish fiddle music, Appalachian old-time or Canadian folk will find familiar ground, while newcomers can hear a clear overview of how these styles connect.

Beacon Hall is the concert and performance venue within Bristol Beacon, in the centre of Bristol, and it hosts a broad range of music and theatre. The evening suits anyone with an interest in folk, roots and traditional music who wants to hear players from more than one tradition on the same bill.