Besides the remote mainland location, and the sense of common purpose amongst artists, the festival has several other unique characteristics which make it supremely artist-friendly. It is a grass-roots cultural event that focuses on artistic development. All organisers, graphic designers, web developers, local performers and sound crew give their time for free.All performing local musicians are given free entry to all events to encourage mutual support, collaboration and networking. A seminar programme allows locals to meet guest artists and learn about writing, performing and the industry, while open stage events provide a feeder to the more formal showcases. Each performer receives a unique artist pack with exclusive festival souvenirs including a CD of the best of the live performances from the previous year.
We are always looking for new talent to perform at the festival. If you are interested then drop us an email, preferably with a biography and a link to your music. We are always limited for space over the weekend, and slots are in high demand, but don't let that put you off sending us your details!
One constant of the Kintyre Songwriters Festival has been an appearance by The Gilchristians. The group consists of an ever-revolving lineup of musicians, people who either played with or had a strong connection with Kenneth Campbell Gilchrist. The band performs songs from Kenny's vast archive of original material, as well as the occasional cover version that Kenny was fond of performing.
The Kintyre Songwriters Festival is based in Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland. There are direct links from Glasgow via bus and also by plane, although we do encourage you to drive if you are able as the views through Kintyre are unmatched.
From Glasgow, head west on the A82 until you reach Tarbet. From there, take the A83. You will find Campbeltown at the end of the road, although you will get to appreciate some of the most magnificent scenery on the way
The idea for a festival to showcase the talent of local musicians in a relaxed, appreciative environment was the idea of Kenneth Campbell Gilchrist. Kenny was a popular singer/songwriter in Campbeltown and had been discussing the idea of organising a festival to encourage local talent with some like-minded people not long before he was involved in a tragic road accident.
Following his death in 2008, the same like-minded people set about to make this vision a reality - bring together the talent from Kintyre in a relaxed environment where they could perform their songs to a likeminded audience.
Tickets for the 2027 event have not been announced yet, but if you would like to reserve your tickets for the next event, then contact us and reserve your ticket
Kenneth Gilchrist may have had many plans and ambitions, but music was always one of the closest things to his heart. In this section we will explain how the festival came about, and also let you hear some of the music that has been inspirational to us all.
The idea for a songwriter's festival was originally conjured up by Kenneth Gilchrist and Ross MacInness, two Cambpeltown musicians and friends. The idea was to bring together the talent from Kintyre in a relaxed environment where they could perform their songs to a likeminded audience.
Unfortunately, Kenneth's death in early January 2008 meant that the planning of the festival had to be taken on by a group of friends and family who wished his festival to come to fruition. Which was going to be quite a commitment if we were going to stick with Kenny's original plan to have the event happen in May the same year.
It started with a crest...
One of the first things we did was did was organise the first "committee meeting" which consisted of everyone discussing how we could brand and organise a festival in such a short time. One thing that we all agreed on was that we needed to have a "crest" to signify the festival - this was in part due to the crest that Kenny had outside his flat and we thought we could create our own "festival crest" and use items that signified Kenny's loves and passions.
We even had a "competition" where everyone would bring along their own crest designs and the winner would be the one we picked. Let's just say, some of the entries were "interesting"...
The first Festival Committee meeting, 2008, discussing the crest.
Never thought it would come to this...
The winning design.
The first sketch of what would eventually become the final crest included a boat - this was Kenny's passion at the time; attempting to restore an old boat to a sea-worthy condition. Something that never actually happened, but it kept him busy with endless conversations about how we'd all be riding the high seas, drinking beer and travelling to island after island playing music.
We took that concept a bit further and created a colour version. What you see in the near-final version are the paps of Jura behind a series of standing stones, based on a photograph that we found of Kenny standing in front of an amazing sunset behind Jura. The guitar is based on Kenny's nylon string guitar, the aforementioned boat and - obviously - a pint of lager.
We decided that the boat wouldn't make the cut - and let's be honest, it probably would never have been sea-worthy (or a least in a state that anyone would be happy to travel in it!) - so it was dropped from the final crest, which is below and what appeared on the very first poster. The colours chosen for each segment are based on the Gilchrist tartan.
Kintyre Songwriters Festival legacy
Aside from an annual event encouraging and promoting music, the festival has also created some long-standing legacies.
Kenneth Gilchrist Memorial Quaich
Part of the festival legacy is the presentation of an annual memorial quaiche at Campbeltown Grammar School for original folk song/song writing. The first presentation of the Kenneth Gilchrist Memorial Quaich
for Best Original Song in the Traditional Idiom went to winners Megan Durnan, Courtney Lang, Amy McIntyre and Abigail Muir, and was made by Ross McInnes on Tuesday, 16th December 2008.
The Gilchristians
As explained in more detail in another section of the website, musicians who played with Kenny over the years also perform at the festival under the name of "The Gilchristians", named in part after Kenny's debut CD. The ever-changing lineup of the Gilchristians perform songs written and performed by Kenny over the years.
We hope he would be proud of the event, and we hope that you will join us in celebrating his songs, love and laughter.
Gilchristianity EP
The Gilchristianity EP was the result of a very long writing process for Kenny, as the songs were performed live for many years but never managed to make it to recordings for several years after they were written.
Kenny played in many bands, most of which had a strong connection to each other, due to the locality of the musicians.
"Too Damn Loud" was the forerunner band that gigged regularly in Campbeletown, and was prone to playing very loud but also performed mainly original songs.
After deciding in a directional change, "Wroe's Virgins" came about with essentially the same lineup but a more "mellow" feel to the performances.
Blackheart, Sunday Song and Just Go Home were written not long after the end of Wroes Virgins , and they were initially performed by a new group Kenny had at the time based in Glasgow. The lineup of the band was Pete, Kenny and a Canadian lass called Krista, who played violin. If anyone recalls "Banana Brothers" in Glasgow, then you'll probably have met "juice monkey" Krista.
They had the band, but the band didn't have a name. And they also had a gig coming up, at the Mull of Kintyre Music Festival. It seemed like all the nights of practicing in Kenny's sister's garage (which, for some reason was infested with maggots!) was coming to fruition. All they had to think of was a name. So the weekend of the festival arrived, they were sitting in the White Hart having a beer or two, and Kenny went off to get some fags. Next thing, he came running in the door shouting "I've got the name!", and proceeded to do this "New Yoik" accent, saying "Shoeshineboy - 'cos we tell it like it is!". So that was it.
Unfortunately, the day of the gig, Krista got cold feet, having never performed in public before (never mind a sell-out Victoria Hall!) so it was left to the remaining members of "ShoeShineBoy" - Pete and Kenny - to get on stage - complete with "festival beards" and woolly jumpers (for some reason) and play.
The ShoeShineBoy songs matured like fine whisky through the years as Kenny performed in other bands in Campbeltown ("The Brunting Room", "The Kenny Gilchrist Band", "Tales From Space" and many more) until he decided it was time to get them recorded - with musicians he had been playing with for years together.
The recordings you hear below were recorded by the late Robert Black, who also features on keyboard. The fantastic guitar solo on Sunday Song is courtesy of Les Moffat, a guitar solo Kenny was very impressed with.
Here are five of the tracks from Kenny's debut EP, "Gilchristianity".
A Soft Litany
Blackheart
Just Go Home
Sunday Song
Winter Weather
Harbour Wall
When a fisherman dies, he can't face the prospect of leaving his love, so he waits in his boat by the quay until her time has come, and they can cross the waters to heaven together.
The following are Kenny's own words describing his, probably, most performed song.
The main idea for the story came to me the day of my gran's funeral in 2000. I thought I would wait until I came up with a suitable tune that fitted the subject. The lyric is actually about her and my grandfather (my mothers side of my family) from waterfoot. What is important about the song - for me - is the story of their love for one another and her sadness after his death. Writing the song from his angle on the boat was intended to illustrate his love for her and the lengths he would go to in denying his own happiness (not entering heaven for a very religious man is surely a great sacrifice).
Harbour Wall
You can find all of these tracks and more on the album "A Campbeltown Man", which is still on sale at the festival.
For all those involved in the festival, past and present, "Eternally entwined are we".
The Festival takes place over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the festival weekend. The Friday and Saturday nights are ticketed events, and the Sunday is free for all to attend.
The Friday and Satuday events are held in the Town Hall in Campbeltown in the evening, and the Sunday events take place in The Commercial Inn nearby. During the day, you will find live open-stage events that are free for all to attend.
Timings Doors open for the Friday and Saturday events around 7PM, so make sure you get to the venue in time to catch all the artists. On Sunday, the event typically starts a bit later.
The Gilchristians, live at The Commercial Inn
Angelfishing
Merchandise You will also find a wide range of merchandise for sale over the weekend, should you wish to collect some memories from the festival. We have CD's of performances from previous years, along with specially curated one-off branded items, including official Kintyre Songwriters Festival t-shirts.
Thanks The Festival thanks our sponsors, past and present, as well as all the volunteers over the years for helping keep the event running.
Getting to Campbeltown is just one magical part of the festival experience. When we say the views as you travel are unmatched, we're not lying.
Sitting at the end of the Kintyre Peninsula, Campbeltown was once the hub of the whisky industry, and is in recent years starting to regain that legendary status.
The quickest way to Campbeltown is by plane. Flights from Glasgow to Campbeltown are operated by Loganair.
You can also book a bus direct (the 926) from Glasgow via Citylink, in conjunction with West Coast Motors.
If you want to drive, then why not use the Google directions to plan your journey: Google Directions (we'll leave it to you if you want to use the ferry or stay on the mainland).
The Gilchristians were officially named at a Mull of Kintyre Music Festival event, back in 2009. A group of the musicians that played at the end of the inaugural Kintyre Songwriters Festival were asked to play some of Kenny's songs at the MOK festival, and moments before heading on to the stage the announcer turned round to the waiting musicians and asked "what am I supposed to introduce you as?". Given that Kenny's last recorded work was "Gilchristianity", we quickly decided that we'd be "The Gichristians". And the band was born.
The Gilchristians have performed in numerous events - here are some images, click on the image to view more.
It tends to be that no two performances by The Gilchristians are ever the same, not least due to the revolving lineup of the band. This is mainly due to whoever can make it to the festival to be part of the band, and also in part due to the songs that are performed.
Legendary The Gilchristians aim to keep the music of Kenny alive and also bring it to a new audience. Songs such as "Green Man" that were never recorded or released have been given a new lease of life when performed live, and it's likely that you'll find the whole audience on their feet at the end of the night when the band close the event.
Below are some videos of The Gilchristians in various forms over the years, from our current venue in The Commercial Inn, to the original festival event space that took place in The White Hart Hotel.
The Kintyre Songwriters Festival haa always invited guest artists from outside of Kintyre to perform at the festival. This was the original vision of the festival, where local artists would have the opportunity to play with other artists outside of Kintyre to foster a common ground and connectivity with music.
Below are the posters from previous years, and the list of non-Kintyre based artists that have performed at each year of the festival.
2026
Pippa Blundell, Lacuna
2025
Theo Bleak, Fellow Man, Kris Drever, Stacey Joy
2024
Alex Amor, Quiet Houses, Frank So, Alice Faye, Grayling
2023
Luke la Volpe, Duncan McCrone & Cy Jack, Katy Hury, Rosie H Sullivan, Skint Knees
2022
Jill Jackson, The Jellymans's Daughter, Nova, Kitta
2019
Adam Holmes and the Embers, Malka, Cara Rose, Chris Helme, Dumb Instrument, Djana Gabrielle
If you would like to attend, or submit an application to perform at the next festival, send us an email or get in touch via Facebook. If you are an artist wishing to play, please include a biography, some images and a link to your music.
KINTYRE SONGWRITERS FESTIVAL
