Mull Music Festival 2025
Taking place in 3 venues across Tobermory (Western Isles Hotel, The Tobermory Hotel & The Gallery), Mull Music Festival runs from Friday April 25th to Sunday April 27th. With a stunning lineup of trad musicians performing live sessions hosted by the bands each afternoon and evening across all three venues (and if we're lucky hosted outside, al fresco style), this year’s festival is guaranteed to be one to remember!
Book your table at the Western Isles Hotel Restaurant to enjoy the finest live trad music Scotland has to offer!
Venues
Mull Music Festival welcomes an array of trad music talent in 3 fantastic venues across Tobermory, including the Western Isles Hotel, The Tobermory Hotel & The Gallery.
The Western Isles Hotel
Enjoy stunning views over Tobermory Harbour or across the bay and out to the Sound of Mull from our conservatory restaurant and outdoor terrace at the Western Isles Hotel. Excellent food, friendly service and a great atmosphere, the Western Isles Hotel provides the perfect location to enjoy the finest live trad music Scotland has to offer!
The Tobermory Hotel
Situated on the colourful harbour of Tobermory, the boutique-style Tobermory Hotel offers quality service and a warm highland welcome. Enjoy world-class live music with a dram in front of open fires whilst watching the boats go back and forth, and discover the best of local produce and seafood in our stylish restaurant.
The Gallery
Our latest addition to the team is a stunning converted old church on Tobermory Main Street, The Gallery is a new pizza and pasta restaurant, bar and live music venue which has the best terrace in town, boasting 18 hours of direct sunshine during the summer months.
THE BANDS
ROSS AINSLIE & ALI HUTTON TRIO
Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton are internationally recognised multi-instrumentalists, composers and arrangers in the vibrant and ever evolving Scottish traditional music scene. With a long history of shared musical roots from their days with the Vale of Atholl pipe band, at the age of 12, they were mentored by one of the most innovative pipers in the last 30 years, the late great Gordon Duncan. Gordon sparked a deep passion in Ross and Ali for playing pipes with other instruments and they went on to be founding members of the musical powerhouse Treacherous Orchestra as well as playing with bands such as Old Blind Dogs, Salsa Celtica, Dougie Maclean, Shooglenifty, Zakir Hussain, The Levellers and Capercaillie. They bring together original compositions from their highly acclaimed albums, Symbiosis I, II and III, ranging from high octane jigs and reels to beautifully melodic slow airs. The music is a masterful blend of the old and the new, modern Scottish folk music at its mightiest!
Their individual and joint musical journeys have led them through a long list of high profile awards and nominations going back as far as 2005. In 2015 they saw prestigious acclaim in the Scots Trad Music Awards with Ali's nomination for Instrumentalist of the Year; Treacherous Orchestra's album 'Grind' (co-produced by Ali) awarded Album of the Year; Ross awarded Composer of the Year. In 2016 their first album 'Symbiosis' was shortlisted for Album of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards. They were winners of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Best Duo in 2017.
FALASGAIR
Falasgair are a traditional six-piece band at the forefront of Glasgow’s traditional music scene. Hailing from the Isle of Skye and the East Coast of Scotland their powerful fast-paced contemporary sound comprises of whistle and bagpipe duo Finn Macpherson and Dougal McKiggan, fiddler MacAuley Ross, guitarist Caetano Hayes Pelletti, pianist Ben Muir and bodhran player Eòghainn Beaton.
Falasgair blend traditionally written tunes with contemporary composers to further their distinct modern sound of traditional music. They are influenced by bands such as Rura, Daimh and Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton.
The band was formed in their time studying at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. After winning both The Danny Kyle stage at Celtic Connections and Seall’s Na Fhir Chlis competition Falasgair have gone onto a busy summer season in 2023 playing many gigs and music festivals such as Skyelive, Knockengorroch, Isle of Eigg, Birmingham Trad Fest, Celtic Connections, Edinburgh trad fest and further afield at Celtica Valle d’Aosta in Italy.
The band continue to create music and perform in Glasgow with a weekly residency in Nice N’ Sleazy’s and a recent near sold out show in King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut.
TARRAN
Tarran are an exhilarating contemporary folk group from Glasgow, with roots in both Ireland and New Zealand. The band consists of Sophie joint (Keys), Breanna Wilson (Fiddle), Malachy Arnold (Harp), and Rory Stark (Whistle/Bodhran). Using elements of funk, blues and contemporary rhythm, the band create a lively and innovative twist on traditional music. Tarran’s captivating performances have been brought to stages across Europe since 2019, notably Celtic Connections festival where they claimed the “Battle of the folk bands” award by hands up for trad. After the recent release of their EP, "Heartwood”, the band is thrilled to unveil fresh music to audiences worldwide.
www.tarranmusic.co.uk
www.facebook.com/TarranMusic
instagram.com/tarranmusic
THE TOM CAMPBELL TRIO
The Tom Campbell Trio is a collective of three Scottish musicians with Tom on Flute, Callum Convoy on Bodhran and Gillie O'Flaherty on Guitar. All three are immersed in the Glasgow traditional music scene. The trio’s sound comes from a blend of tastes, ideas and experiences formed from Scottish and Irish musical traditions. A lot of the band’s music is original, although inspired by trad. However, contemporary ideas are also included in the new compositions and arrangements.
www.tomcampbelltrio.com
www.facebook.com/TomCampbellTrio
www.instagram.com/tom_campbell_trio/
HEATHER CARTWRIGHT & DAN BROWN
Heather Cartwright is a guitarist and singer based in Glasgow's vibrant music scene: "Talent and years of dedication have created a guitarist of the first order" (The Quintessential Review). Her virtuosic fingerstyle and flat-picked guitar playing provides a vibrant backdrop to her self-penned songs and interpretations of traditional material. Her song writing draws upon old stories, her own life experiences growing up in the Lake District, and poetry, old and new. Heather is often seen performing with her duo partners Beth Malcolm and Sam Mabbett, and is about to release a self-titled EP. Joining her is multi-instrumentalist Dan Brown. Dan, originally from Kendal in the Lake District, moved to Glasgow in 2014 to study jazz piano at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. After graduating, he has played in a wide range of projects, including the Joshua Elcock Big Band, Corto.Alto, and Glassworks. During his time in Scotland, he also discovered a love for traditional music, which has influenced his own work as a solo artist. He has released two albums under his own name: Rewilding and Nomad.
www.instagram.com/heathercartwrightmusic/
www.facebook.com/HeatherCartwrightMusic
danbrown-music.com/
www.instagram.com/danbrown.music/
JACK BADCOCK
Singer and guitarist, Jack Badcock is a hugely experienced performer, having toured throughout Europe, North America, Asia and Australia, both as a solo act and as frontman and founding member of his multi-award winning, internationally renowned world-folk band 'Dallahan'. Raised in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland and later Yorkshire, England, before moving to Scotland as a teenager, Jack has a split national identity shared between the three countries. A previous finalist in the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year Award, his 2021 EP, The Driftwood Project was nominated for Original Work of the Year at the BBC Scots Music Awards. He was invited to write, arrange and perform the prestigious New Voices commission at Celtic Connections in 2022 and in Autumn 2023, went on tour throughout the UK as the support act for Eddi Reader.
In May 2024, Jack released his critically acclaimed debut album Cosmography. Described as “a glowing galaxy of songs” and affirming him as “a first class songwriter”, the album was nominated in the German Music Critic’s Choice Awards and also earned him a nomination for Composer of the Year in the Scots Trad Music Awards.
Jack is a singer whose solo material reveals an astute songcraft exploring enormously wide ranging subjects delivered with a musical sensitivity clearly influenced by American folk, funk and soul music as much as the traditional music of Britain and Ireland and all served with a healthy dose of storytelling and humour.
www.jackbadcock.com
www.facebook.com/JackBadcockMusic
www.instagram.com/JackBadcockMusic
BETH MALCOLM
Beth Malcolm is a singer-songwriter and keys player from Perth. Beth’s music is folk-inspired, and she sings traditional, modern and self-penned Scots songs. Beth was named BBC MG ALBA Scots Singer of the Year 2022. Beth had a ‘breakout’ moment when she won a coveted ‘Danny’ award at Celtic Connections 2019. This led to performing at the virtual Celtic Connections in 2020, alongside her folk heroes Ross Ainslie, Siobhan Miller, Talisk and Mànran. Attracting attention from international agents with her songwriting and modern arrangements of traditional song, Beth was invited to perform across Germany as part of a Young Trad ensemble.
Beth’s love of music is not confined to folk, and she has collaborated with a number of Scotland’s finest outfits including Fat-Suit, Adam Holmes and Lewis McLaughlin. In 2022, Beth featured on ‘Gaelictronica’ sensation Niteworks’ album with hit track ‘John Riley’. Well suited to Beth’s love for reimagining traditional song, she has performed with Niteworks at several shows including the Glasgow Royal Concert hall with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
Since being named BBC Scots Singer of the Year, Beth released her debut album ‘Kissed and Cried’ in Spring, 2023 which received a 5 star review from The Scostman: “Beth Malcolm brings passionate commitment to whatever she sings, her own compositions or otherwise… Judging by this debut, a glowing future beckons.” Beth’s second album ‘FOLKMOSIS’ is out now on Bandcamp.
www.bethmalcolm.com
www.instagram.com/bethmalc
www.facebook.com/BethMalcolmMusic
HECTOR MCFADYEN & FRIENDS
Hector needs no introduction to the Mull festival and has been a regular here for more years than he cares to remember! With over 30 years broadcasting for BBCs Take the Floor, he’s in high demand across the country. This year, he’s joined by some of Scotland’s best musicians, all of whom are successful in their own right. Joining him is Nicky McMichan, Willie Scott, Neil MacGregor, Colin Garvin and his son Craig McFadyen. Be sure to come in for a tune and listen to some of the best Scottish dance music around!