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In a major coup for Glasgow, Celtic Connections hosts the celebrated US radio show Mountain Stage, presenting its first ever live broadcast beyond American shores. The programme’s founding philosophy that all music is related dovetails perfectly with the festival’s own ethos, a meeting of minds and sounds that will air coast-to-coast on 130 radio stations Stateside.

Topping the bill is legendary gospel diva Mavis Staples – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, winner of a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, named by Rolling Stone among its 100 Greatest Singers of All Time – whose remarkable 60-year career scaled new artistic heights with her stunning 2010 album You Are Not Alone, a collaboration with Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy.

Welding a vast range of musical experience to a deeply-shared common vision, the kaleidoscopic stringband sound of Joy Kills Sorrow does not so much shatter the boundaries of various styles as it disregards them entirely. The result is liberated and liberating music – something entirely unique fashioned from recognizable shards of bluegrass, jazz, indie rock, folk, R&B, and Celtic traditions.

Flying the home flag will be timeless Scottish troubadour Dougie MacLean, “Scotland’s pre-eminent singer-songwriter and a national musical treasure” (SingOut USA) who has developed a unique blend of lyrical, ‘roots based’ songwriting and instrumental composition. Internationally renowned for his song Caledonia, music for Last of the Mohicans and inspired performances, his songs have been covered by Paolo Nutini, Amy MacDonald, Ronan Keating, Mary Black, Frankie Miller, Cara Dillon, Kathy Mattea and many other top performers.

Dougie recently received two prestigious Tartan Clef Awards, a place in the Scottish Music Hall of Fame, an OBE in the New Year Honours list and was hailed by the Wall Street Journal as “A musical hero”.

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