On Sunday 28 September at 6.00pm, there is a special programme on the second Inverclyde Scottish Folk & Roots Festival which includes a chat with Inverclyde Folk & Roots festival organiser Neil Lochiel and playing tracks from artists playing the festival.

The second hour of the programme has interviews with Iain Anderson and singer, musician, writer and performance director Ian McCalman about the Far, Far From Ypres project.

The Inverclyde festival opens with a spectacular concert that received a standing ovation from the sell-out Glasgow Royal Concert Hall audience during Celtic Connections 2014.

“Far, Far From Ypres” is the story of an everyman Scot set in World War 1, brilliantly written and directed by Ian McCalman.

The Greenock show features a cast of 25 folksingers, with BBC Radio Scotland’s Iain Anderson’s wonderful narration linking songs and stories about Jimmy MacDonald, from “any village in Scotland”. This powerful show, telling of Jimmy’s recruitment, training, journey to the Somme, and return home, features songs of that era and contemporary songs about WW1.  Cameo roles by Davy Nicol and Gordon McKenzie give an Inverclyde dimension to the story.

The Inverclyde Folk & Roots Festival 2014 takes place at the Beacon Arts Centre, Custom House Quay, Greenock PA15 1EQ from Sunday 5 October 2014.  More information online here.

Festival Preview Programme with Ross Macfadyen, Sunday 28 September, 6.00-8.00pm.