DROGHEDA

SONGWRITING

FESTIVAL

26-27 September 2026

@ The Barbican

William St., Moneymore, Drogheda

2026 Details TBA

the third annual

Two days of inspiration, collaboration and creation for songwriters of all levels!

Two days of workshops!

  • Each workshop focuses on a different aspect of the craft

  • Run by experienced mentors

  • Provides new inspiration and ideas for your songwriting

Spaces provided for songwriting!

  • collaborate & network with other participants

  • create something new and exciting

  • participants will be encouraged to perform their days’ creations at the evening’s gala concert!

so, what will my participation at the festival look like?

  • TBD

Songwriting Mentors

  • Maria McCormack is a singer-songwriter from County Donegal. She has released two acclaimed albums, I Choose to Love (2019) and Matters of the Heart (2023), both of which received national and international radio airplay. Known for her honest storytelling and distinctive voice, Maria writes across folk, country, and contemporary genres. She is a core member of the Wild Atlantic Women collective and the founder and host of the Go West Songwriting Retreat - Donegal.

  • Artist, mother, sister + community-builder, Áine Tyrrell is grounded in song, story, and shared responsibility, creating music as both medicine + resistance, weaving culture, community, and social change into a living practice. A thought provoking, fearless multi-instrumentalist songwriter, she defies labels + blends genres. At the heart of it all is her unmistakable voice, electric and intimate, stirring memory + reckoning while inviting us to rise, belong + build something braver for those who come after.

  • Lauded by industry giants like Paul Williams (writer for The Carpenters/Barbra Streisand) Graham Nash (The Hollies/Crosby, Stills and Nash) Enya & more, Gavin’s unique blend of soft jazz and contemporary Folk music has charmed audiences right across the world.

  • David Hope is an independent Irish singer-songwriter who has spent more than two decades on the road, quietly building a reputation as one of Ireland’s most compelling modern troubadours. Armed with a road-worn acoustic guitar, a weather-beaten voice and a sharp, self-aware wit, he has toured relentlessly across Ireland, the UK and mainland Europe, earning his stripes in pubs, theatres and arts venues alike. Rooted in rural County Clare, his songs carry the grain of lived experience and the restless instinct of an artist who has always done things his own way.

  • Critically acclaimed songwriter SJ McArdle will present a workshop themed around Story Songs, exploring the art of creating new songs from old stories with an engaging and emotional perspective. Particular emphasis is placed on sense language, arresting lyrics and sympathetic melody and chord writing.

    SJ is a songwriter, musician and curator, critically-acclaimed at home and abroad. He is known for his PORT project and its accompanying RTE Radio 1 Album Of The Week Old Ghosts In The Water, his previous work in award-winning folk band Kern and his career as a singer-songwriter in Nashville and Germany, which produced 2014’s critically-acclaimed Blood and Bones album. SJ’s songs and performances have been featured in radio, film and television and he has toured and recorded extensively in Ireland, Europe and North America.

2026 Workshop Schedule
2026 Workshop Schedule

  • Dublin Songwriter and Skerries native Keith Burke has released three original albums. "The Dancer who Stole your Shoes" in 2004, "No One Wants to Move" in 2008 and “These Boys” in 2016.

    Keith has played concerts in (and been invited back to) Pittsburgh USA, Cairo Egypt and Beirut Lebanon. He has played televised concerts in Italy, dates in the 2005 Guinness Cork Jazz festival and received the Hotpress "Pick of the fortnight". His music has been played on national Irish radio on RTE 1, Radio Na Gaeltachta and NewsTalk, as well as many regional radio stations. He was selected as the late Tony Fenton’s “daily download”. A song of his was used for the credits on a TV show on Setanta Sports. The late great saxophonist John Earle plays on several of his recordings. He’s played support to Irish bands Bagatelle and Aslan and in Bavaria, Germany, touring band “Mac C&C Celtic Four” regularly close their energetic live shows with Keith’s song “Love and Romans”.

    Keith has written, arranged and with the help of producer Anthony Gibney, recorded his new album in Audioland Studios in Lexlip. Singles “I’ll begin this letter” and “Before you go” were well received and played on national and regional radio stations in Ireland and the UK. His latest single “That’s where the bees loved to go” was released on 12th April 2024.

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