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music · Friday 4 September 2026 · 8:00pm 
Muireann Bradley - Harvest Time Blues Late Night Stage
At Westenra Arms Hotel · The Diamond, Monaghan, Co. Monaghan
At Westenra Arms Hotel · The Diamond, Monaghan, Co. Monaghan
Muireann Bradley is one of the most talked-about young musicians to come out of Ireland in years - a fingerpicking blues and ragtime guitarist from Ballybofey, Co. Donegal who draws on country blues traditions from the 1920s and 1930s. She appeared on Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on BBC TV on New Year’s Eve 2023, aged 17, received a standing ovation, and has not slowed down since. She headlines the Late Night Stage at the Westenra Arms Hotel on Friday 4 September 2026 as part of the Harvest Time Blues Festival. If you have any interest in American roots music played with real feel and technical command, this is worth travelling for.
Muireann Bradley plays fingerpicking blues in the tradition of artists like Rev. Gary Davis and Mississippi John Hurt - intricate, rhythmic guitar work paired with a voice that carries the weight of songs decades older than she is. Her debut album, I Kept These Old Blues, reached the UK top ten after her Hootenanny appearance, and she has since toured Australia, the United States, and across Europe, performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC and the Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival.
The Late Night Stage at the Westenra Arms Hotel is an indoor, ticketed show lasting roughly one hour. The Westenra itself is a family-run hotel on The Diamond, the old market square at the centre of Monaghan town - it has been welcoming guests for close to 200 years and the Tavern Bar is a proper pub with no pretensions. The show takes place in the wider context of Harvest Time Blues Festival (3 to 7 September 2026), one of Ireland’s longest-running blues festivals, which also runs a free Blues Trail across Monaghan town pubs throughout the weekend. You could easily catch the free sessions in the afternoon and evening, then move on to the ticketed Late Night Stage.
Monaghan town sits near the border with Northern Ireland, about 130km north of Dublin via the N2/M2 and 80km south-west of Belfast on the A3. Bus Éireann runs regular services from Dublin Busáras to Monaghan town, and there are connections from Cavan, Armagh, and Enniskillen. The Westenra Arms Hotel is right on The Diamond in the town centre - you can walk from the bus stop in minutes. The hotel has its own complimentary car park, which is worth knowing if you are driving in from outside town.
The festival itself gives you reason enough to linger - the free Blues Trail means the whole town becomes part of the event across the weekend. There is more to see in Monaghan and across Co. Monaghan.
Heading to Westenra Arms Hotel in Monaghan? Monaghan has plenty more to see. Read the Monaghan area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.