Gaby McArdle and Pat McManus in Blake's of the Hollow, Enniskillen playing their excellent long running residency with Jim McGrath and others on 24 April 2026. Photo: marlbank
The town has a very strong music scene and the trad Irish side of the town’s interest in the music is celebrated this weekend with Tradfest in some fine pubs that support the music week in week out on most nights of the week.
Enniskillen, the people, little belovèd places, old streets somehow still familiar given the ravages of time and the vandalism of 1960s town planners who ripped the heart out of the town, little houses torn down and no more but still remembered by those who care enough to visit the vestiges of what once was, but the one constant the river Erne and the wider Lough, boreens and back roads of surrounding Fermanagh can never be completely erased. All have inspired some great songs down the centuries that still resound today. These include ‘Willie Rambler’ sung in a version included on The Blue Tar Road by Brendan Nugent, a popular singer locally who sits in during regular seisiúns.
‘Bold Doherty’ too sung in an incredible version by Sligo legends Dervish includes these lines. “When crossing the fields of me brave Enniskillen I went into an alehouse for to take a dram When I saw two tinkers dividin’ a saucepan Although they were arguing about the tin can One of them then made a blow at the other one He said “You young villain I will take your life” Saying “Your saucepans are leakin’ and won’t hold the water Since ‘ere the Bold Doherty spoke with your wife”
The witty and characterful Brendan Nugent has proved one of the most popular sitters-in on the local Skintown scene down the years.
Hear the very different, still and luminous, ‘Bold Doherty’ version by Gaby McArdle – paterfamilias of the whole scene and pivotal to its vigour and creativity. He appeared in Blake’s of the Hollow, opposite Charlie’s, another of the participating Tradfest hostelries, on Friday night and in the Crowe’s up the street on Saturday. On the evening of Bank Holiday Monday he’s at Magee’s on East Bridge Street. All pubs taking part are within a short walk of one another. All with the exception of Forthill Street’s the Old Oak are between the bridges [the island itself] but like all the rest not much of a stroll. Jules’ place, as most of us refer to the Oak, is easily located near the local Dunnes.
Looking out to the lough through the window this morning towards Devenish, the ancient, deeply spiritual symbol of the county – another Fermanagh inspired classic is ‘Lough Erne Shore’ that if you are lucky you will hear new interpretations of locally. Highlights of Saturday’s Crowe’s Nest gig were the Comhaltas dancers who made good use of the pub’s old wooden floorboards that sounded a treat, a version of Fairport Convention’s ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes’ sung by rising star Keshia [not sure of the spelling of Keshia’s first name – apols if awry] McNulty and Gaby’s stirring version of ‘The Lakes of Pontchartrain’ sung down the years in some incredible versions by notably Planxty, Paul Brady, Christy Moore and Brian Kennedy. There’s a new version by The Tumbling Paddies, Fermanagh’s biggest new generation trad-folk act who now tour all over. Before they were famous nationally they played in the Crowe’s. According to the invaluable Secondhandsongs website the song is “a 19th century ballad from the southern United States about a man who is given shelter by a Louisiana Creole woman. He falls in love with her and asks her to marry him, but she is already promised to a sailor and declines. The song is named for and set on the shores of the major estuarine waterbodies of the Pontchartrain Basin, just north of New Orleans.”Tradfest 2026 – Saturday evening in the Crowe’s Nest – l-r Keshia McNulty, Gaby McArdle, Pat McManus, Jim McGrath. Photo: marlbank
