They join the previously announced line-up featuring Fairport Convention, Seth Lakeman, The Young’uns, Angeline Morrison, Shovel Dance Collective, Daudi Matsiko, Bella Hardy, Taff Rapids, Jenn Butterworth, McGoldrick, McCusker & Doyle, John Bramwell, Skinny Lister, Rachel Sermanni & Joshua Burnside, Rachael McShane & The Cartographers, Frankie Archer, Sheelanagig, Blair Dunlop, Katie Spencer, Emily Portman & Friends, David Eagle’s Pick and Mix, Fanny Lumsden, Lucy J Wright, Maz O’Connor and Hench Wenches.

Across three packed days, audiences will experience the very best in contemporary and traditional folk, roots and acoustic music from artists across the UK and beyond. Performances will unfold in some of Manchester’s most iconic spaces including Band on the Wall, Hallé St Peter’s, New Century Hall, The Stoller Hall, Night & Day and more.

The festival also plays a key role as host of English Folk Expo (EFEx), an international showcase of the most exciting artists from or based in England, which brings together over 170 music industry delegates with Manchester audiences. EFEx 2026 runs 18 to 21 March with delegate events Wednesday to Friday. In parallel, Manchester Folk Festival takes place between 19 to 21 March.

Festival Highlights

As anticipation builds for 2026’s yet-to-be-announced ceilidhs, the first Morris and session hosts are revealed today:

Following jam-packed sessions where musicians gather to play traditional tunes for themselves and their audience, Manchester Folk Festival is thrilled to welcome back several of this year’s session hosts for 2026.

Ever-popular session hosts Queer As Folk and the University of Manchester Folk and Ceilidh Society promise eclectic tunes and a lively, inclusive atmosphere. Paco González will present a fiddle-and-banjo-heavy Old Time & Bluegrass session, celebrating these rich traditions.

Couple Rosie Butler-Hall (Fiddle) & Ray Cunningham (Melodeon) are stalwarts on the UK sessions scene and have a passion for sharing music with old friends and new. Ray organises the ever popular Sheffield Sessions Festival and they hope to bring a bit of Sheffield magic over the hill to Manchester Folk Festival.

Scribblingtown’s session will run like a songwriter’s circle, with many of Manchester’s leading acoustic talents taking the floor throughout the night. The Gaslamp Singaround is a festival highlight for many and Manchester’s favourite unaccompanied singaround. Rooted in British traditional songs, the event is compered by Kit Knight and always attracts singers who are guaranteed to give lucky listeners goosebumps.

After rousing dances from Saddleworth Morris Men this spring, Saddleworth Women’s Morris & Clog will appear, following a Songlines feature on them this July that detailed how they are bringing new life to the North West Morris tradition. Manchester’s very own Roots Morris will once again treat onlookers to their progressive take on the Cotswolds Morris tradition.

With their mission of bringing rapper to Manchester and dancing in as many of the region’s wonderful boozers as possible, Medlock Rapper, the city’s finest sword dancers, promise to be another standout in next year’s dance programme. Further Morris, Ceilidhs and sessions will be announced this winter.

Newly Announced Artists

The fourth wave of Manchester Folk Festival’s lineup celebrates soul-stirring singer-songwriters, high-energy ensembles and standout international talent:

Having gained a reputation as one of Britain’s finest songwriters and one of the very few with the willingness and expertise to tackle politics and current affairs, David Ford will headline Hallé St Peter’s, performing everything from heavy-stomping folk-rock with raw-throated passion to delicate piano balladry. Special guest Matt Hegarty, aka Matthew and the Atlas, emerged from the late-00s folk-rock movement and has since released four albums spanning acoustic folk, dramatic electronica and urgent alt-rock.

Club Débris are a Quebec-inspired folk band, featuring fiddles, accordion, banjo, piano and a dazzling percussive dancer, who play high-energy French-Canadian trad music in brazenly major keys.

MOJO recently asked, “Is Joan Shelley America’s most consistently exceptional songwriter?” Now, with the release of her new record Real Warmth and her appearance at next year’s festival, British audiences can decide for themselves.

Mark Radcliffe has been on the national airwaves since the early nineties and currently hosts The Radio 2 Folk Show and weekend breakfast on 6Music with Stuart Maconie. Formerly the frontman of folk-rock bands The Family Mahone and Galleon Blast, he now performs as a duo with guitarist David Boardman, weaving thought-provoking originals with anecdotes from his long and storied career.

Festival wristband holders can enjoy exclusive shows across the three days, including Catalonia’s showcase performances featuring ALOSA, Ferran Orriols and El Pony Pisador. The first two offer sensitive, tradition-rooted sets, while El Pony Pisador delivers an energetic mix of Catalan songs, Celtic and Mediterranean tunes, yodelling and global polyphony.

Attendees can also look forward to Showcase Scotland Expo launching their Scotland Introducing programme, presenting three world-class artists on Saturday 21 March: multi-award-winning fiddle player Ryan Young, Scottish Indian singer-songwriter and harpist Chloe Matharu and the virtuosic contemporary ensemble Heron Valley.

Nick Harper, celebrated guitarist and songwriter, bridges 1960s folk revival with his own bold originality. His new album and tour, 58 Fordwych Rd., revisit songs and stories from his father Roy Harper’s Kilburn flat, once a gathering place for folk greats.

Following his band Stornoway’s staggering performance at Manchester Folk Festival 2025, Oli Steadman joins next year’s programme for a rare solo set of traditional folk arrangements from his 365 Days of Folk song catalogue, though he promises it’s not all 365 in one sitting.

Captivating singer-songwriters Izzie Yardley (England) and Noah Malcolm (Canada) will perform songs penned during their Music PEI x English Folk Expo Artist Exchange collaboration, giving attendees plenty to look forward to after Robbie Cavanagh and Lawrence Maxwell’s winning partnership earlier this year.

Elsewhere, Liam Fender opens for Sheelanagig with quietly hopeful, post-industrial romance songs blending Richard Hawley, Tom Waits and Neil Hannon with Newcastle grit. Ellie Gowers, “an all-singing, all-dancing folk polymath” (Tradfolk), supports Seth Lakeman with songs of absence, longing and emotional duality. “Emotionally transatlantic” Elanor Moss, with Lincolnshire and Baltimore roots, sets the scene for Shovel Dance Collective.

Second release festival wristbands, offering access to all festival shows, are now available. Wristband holders can curate their own festival experience, moving effortlessly between venues while enjoying a selection of over twenty artists each evening (T&Cs apply). 

These lowest-price festival wristbands are available until late winter, after which prices will increase. Perks for 2026 include access to exclusive concerts and an opening reception.

Visiting for just an evening or weekend? Individual concert tickets for headline shows are now on sale, so secure yours today. For the first time ever, Saturday day passes are also available. For £65 (plus booking fees), attendees can enjoy concerts, ceilidhs, David Eagle’s Pick and Mix and much more with the new Saturday day pass.