If you’re not subscribing to our monthly supporters newsletter you’ll be missing out on our exclusive supporters playlist of the best new Americana we’ve heard over the last month which this month includes new tracks by Bill Callahan, Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Jesse Welles and Joan Baez, Eric Bibb and Joe Pernice among others – as always we trawl through the best Americana we’ve heard recently so you don’t have to. But we are also starting the year with a great supporters only giveaway this month where you can win a pair of tickets to see Transatlantic Sessions or BEATrio live.
BEATrio – the new project from banjo great Béla Fleck, renowned harpist Edmar Castañeda, and groundbreaking drummer Antonio Sánchez – will play a much-anticipated show on January 31st in Glasgow’s Pavillion Theatre, during the famed Celtic Connections Festival which is part of a 10 date European tour. The trio’s eponymous debut album, released in May 2025 via Béla Fleck Productions / Thirty Tigers has earned a 2026 Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category. Formed in 2024, BEATrio found its sound during a special twelve-show run at the Blue Note Jazz Club in Greenwich Village, where the band fearlessly explored new, original music, most of it collaboratively written. “Each night felt like an adventure,” says Castañeda, “and it was special to see the audience experience the music’s evolution.” Or as Fleck puts it, “We were hanging on for dear life. Things were going right, things were going wrong — everything was happening. This project kind of reminds me of the early days of the Flecktones, when audiences would go, ‘How is this supposed to work?’ After playing a duo concert with Edmar, it became clear that we needed to write together, in order to accommodate the needs of harp and banjo. This is our first attempt—sometimes you get lucky, before you think too much about it!” Tickets are on sale now for both the UK and European dates here.
Transatlantic Sessions in the meantime returns for 2026, continuing to explore and celebrate the rich musical traditions that connect Scotland, Ireland and the US. With its roots as an award-winning TV series and an annual focal point of Celtic Connections, the exclusive line-up combines guest singers and a stellar house band, inviting them to interweave original material with age-old tunes and songs as they explore shared roots and find new common ground between today’s finest Celtic and Americana musicians.
Featured vocalists include Grammy-winning Country, Bluegrass, and Folk music star Kathy Mattea, hailed by The Washington Post as “one of Nashville’s finest song interpreters.” Darrell Scott, Nashville’s finest multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter and recent Lifetime Achievement Award inductee at the Americana Music Association’s Awards 2025; Scotland’s own extraordinary folk singer Karine Polwart, fast becoming a national treasure with her recent body of work that includes Looking for the Thread, her 2025 collaborative album with Grammy Award winning US artist, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Julie Fowlis; massed participative choir initiatives, and Spell Songs, a multi-artist lyrical, musical and artistic response to environmental loss. Joining them, from West Kerry in Ireland is the spellbinding voice of multi-award-winning singer Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh, described by The Irish Times as “One of the earthiest and most distinctive voices, not just in traditional circles, but anywhere”.
The show’s seasoned house band, guided as ever by Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas, features renowned Celtic and Americana roots musicians John Doyle, Michael McGoldrick, Tatiana Hargreaves & Allison de Groot, John McCusker, Donald Shaw, James Mackintosh and Daniel Kimbro. Here all the dates – tickets are available via the website here.
31-Jan Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
01-Feb Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
02-Feb Edinburgh Usher Hall
03-Feb Manchester Aviva Studios
04-Feb Gateshead The Glasshouse
05-Feb Birmingham Symphony Hall
06-Feb London Royal Festival Hall
07-Feb Brighton Dome
08-Feb Oxford New Theatre
You can become an AUK supporter for as little as £2.99 a month for which princely sum you will receive a monthly exclusive supporters playlist along with being entered into our monthly prize draw. We all give our time freely to bring this site to you each day so thanks for your support if you can help out.
