John Spillane with Special Guest Pauline Scanlon

As part of Féile Samhain by Keep Her Lit, the stunning St. Mary’s Church in Inistioge village will host our headline concert with Cork bard John Spillane and a very special guest performance from Kerry banríon Pauline Scanlon on Saturday November 1st.  This concert is in support of the Counter Attack campaign, which aims to raise awareness around heart health and heart attacks through music, and a donation from ticket sales will be made towards Croí Heart charity.

John Spillane is a musician, songwriter, performer, recording artist, storyteller, poet and dreamer. Rooted in people, place and story, his music transports the listener and his live performances captivate audiences around the world. As an artist his music appeals to listeners across many genres and generations. His vocal style has a unique almost sean-nós like quality and his performances shimmer with the magic realism that permeates many of his songs as he effortlessly flits between beautiful poetry tinged with melancholy to roguish, irreverent humour. John has the ability to charm, mesmerise and entertain in equal measure.

A native of Cork, the County he lovingly describes as “the centre of the universe” and a source of huge creative influence throughout his career. John’s music is inspired by and encapsulates Irish traditional music in its contemporary form – a reflection of Ireland today.
A two-time Meteor Award winner for Best Folk/Trad act John is one of the most accomplished songwriters in Ireland. With an extensive back catalogue beginning with the 1997 album The Wells of the World, his songs have been covered by Christy Moore, Sharon Shannon, Sean Keane and many others. Twelve albums later in April 2021, John released his first independent album in 20 years, 100 Snow White Horses.

John Spillane shared his most artistically ambitious work to date: Fíoruisce – The Legend of the Lough, on Friday 13th September 2024. The concept album, released on double CD and digital, features John alongside a stellar cast of collaborators: Ríoghnach Connolly, Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin, Niamh Farrell, Nell Ní Chróinín, and more and has gone on to be named as ‘Album of The Year’ at the RTE Folk Awards.

Her voice is a superb mix of china cup fragility and steely strength” (The Irish Times, 2010.)

It’s 2025, more than a decade later, and this contradiction is still true of Pauline Scanlon’s voice. In fact, the pairing of opposites seems a true fit for this West Kerry native. Her voice comes from an ancient place but is always fresh. She is uniquely Irish yet universally understood, apparently traditional yet subversive at every turn. Perhaps now, it is the steely strength that comes to the fore in both her activism and her determination to constantly evolve as an artist.

As a founding member of FairPlé, the role of women in the arts is central to her creative path and something she is very vocal about and dedicated to. Her new album, The Unquiet, which was released in March 2022, is a piece of art possessed of an old soul, but thoroughly modern and of its time. It is an album that will shift expectations and stand undefined by genre. What makes it so relevant is that it dares to reimagine what it is to be an Irish woman in the context of music and song.

While the word fragile may once have been used to describe her voice, fragile is something Scanlon herself is not. She is a stalwart of the Irish creative music scene, a singer’s singer, a fearless artist who has brought with her all of her experiences and collaborations along the road to her current destination, The Unquiet.

Where the road takes her next, she will tell us in her own way, and in her own time.

Rachel Grace has quietly established herself as one of Ireland’s most promising songwriters. Her music is a melting pot of soul and pop with a vocal style that captures the mood of generations past, echoing the soulful voices of artists like Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse and Eva Cassidy. Having been writing and performing in the music scene from the age of ten, the Ruby Sessions regular has played some of Ireland’s favourite venues and festivals and supported acts such as Gavin James, Emma Langford, Roisin O, Jack Lukeman, Ashley Campbell and Wallis Bird. Her long-awaited album, Never Grows Old, is set for release on February 6th 2026.

• Parking available in Inistioge Village and Inistioge GAA grounds - we encourage car pooling as much as possible.
• While the church will be heated, please dress accordingly for the time of year.
• Doors 7.30PM. Show starts 8PM