Session Trail

The Session Trail will feature guest-led sessions and singarounds onboard the Lady of Avenel tall ship, in the Queens Hotel, The Harbour Bar, The Westcliffe Hotel, The Royal Hotel & The Vaults As always, there will be lots of other music in the town as well, in particular you might find lots of country, americana and bluegrass at Flynn’s Boatyard. The Wee School Art Space in the Old Invergarven School is available till 5:00pm on Saturday and Sunday for quiet tunes in an alcohol-free environment.

Saturday night session at the 49th Girvan Folk Festival
The left hand side of the Saturday night session at the 49th Festival in 2024.

Friday 2nd May

Saturday 3rd May

  • Scottish tunes in The Royal with the Kirkpatrick & Pennycook families, 2:00pm
  • Tunes & songs in The Vaults from 2:00pm hosts TBC
  • Tunes on board Lady of Avenel with Sessions and Sail from 2:30pm
  • Ballads & songs on the Lady of Avenel from 5:30pm following the Bobby Robb concert — no bar BYOB
  • Songs & tunes with Steven Clark & Susie Kelly in the Catholic Hall from 10:30pm

Sunday 4th May

A session in the Queens Hotel
Benny McHugh, Dougie Pincock, Jimmy McGuire & friends in the Queens at the umpteenth Festival in nineteen canteen

What tunes are played at Girvan?

We’re sometimes asked for a list of tunes that are played at the Girvan sessions.

The problem is, there is no typical Girvan session. One session might be wall-to-wall jigs and reels from the Irish tradition while another is non-stop West Highland 2/4 marches.

However, as folk keep asking we’ve decided we could start making up a list of tunes that would fit well in most of the sessions, so here goes…

Hoddom Castle

A criminally underplayed classic from South West Scotland.

sheet music for Hoddam Castle


Eilidh Shaw & Russell Hunter play Hoddom Castle

Union Street Session

A great session reel from the Cape Breton tradition from fiddler, tunesmith, publisher and retired lightousekeeper Paul Cranford.

Learn Union Street Session on the North Atlantic Tune List.


Sean Smyth plays Union Street Session with Carlos Sweeney McCartin