Ye Vagabonds

Sligo Live presents Ye Vagabonds, plus very special guest, Niamh Bury, in Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo on Saturday 1st November at 8pm. Tickets €32.50 plus fees.

Ye Vagabonds brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn grew up playing music together around their hometown of Carlow, a small town in the southeast of Ireland. After moving to Dublin in 2012, they quickly became a staple of the live music and session scene in Ireland, playing their own original songs as well as folk songs from Ireland, Scotland, England and America. They have played sold out headline shows in Ireland, France, Switzerland and the UK. They have made numerous television and live radio appearances in Ireland, and were also part of ‘Imagining Home’, a live broadcast concert in the National Concert Hall of Ireland, 2016, curated by Glen Hansard, Philip King and Gary Sheehan.

In 2019 they won the BBC Radio Two Folk Award for Best Traditional Track, and they swept the boards at the RTÉ Radio One Folk Awards where they won Best Traditional Track, Best Group, and Best Album. A long-awaited EP came out on January 22nd 2020 featuring two tracks, ‘I’m A Rover’ and ‘The Bothy Boys’, again released on Rough Trade Records imprint River Lea, and once again they swept the boards at the RTÉ Radio One Folk Awards where they now hold the record for most awarded artists, winning Best Traditional Track and Best Group.

Their new album Nine Waves was released on Rough Trade’s River Lea label on May 13th 2025. Nine Waves was recorded in the Dublin Mountains at Hellfire Studios, produced by John ‘Spud’ Murphy (whose previous work includes records by black midi, Lankum and caroline). The album features 11 tracks of both traditional and original songs and tunes. The brotherly harmonies and multi-instrumental abilities of Dairmuid and Brían Mac Gloinn were joined on ‘Nine Waves’ by Kate Ellis (cello) and Caimin Gilmore (double bass), both members of the Irish contemporary classical group Crash Ensemble, and Ryan Hargadon (Anna Mieke, Rachael Lavelle, Kojaque) on piano and saxophone. The record also features concertina from Cormac Begley and harmonium from regular touring member of Ye Vagabonds, Alain McFadden.

Niamh Bury is one of the most exciting new voices on the Irish folk scene. Her debut album, Yellow Roses, was released in March 2024 – quickly stirring hearts, receiving wide critical acclaim and earning #3 on Mojo’s Best Folk Albums of 2024 list. Niamh’s richly-textured folk sound and singular vocals has lead her to share the stage with acts Ye Vagabonds, Flyte, Maddison Cunningham, Dermot Kennedy and Martin Hayes.

Nominated for Best Emerging Artists at the 2024 RTE Folk Awards. Along with ØXN and Lemoncello, Niamh is one of the first new artists in almost two decades to be signed to Ireland’s most culturally important record label, Claddagh Records.