Traditional Music Session at The Tower, Elphin

What to Expect

The Tower in Elphin holds a weekly traditional music session, one of the smaller-town gatherings listed on Roscommon County Council’s traditional music sessions page. These informal sessions bring together local musicians and singers for an evening of tunes in an unamplified, pub-session format, welcoming to visiting players and anyone who wants to sit in with a listen over a drink. Elphin is a quieter stop on the county’s trad map than Roscommon town or Boyle, so the session tends to have a close-knit, local feel rather than drawing large crowds.

Elphin is a small village with a strong sense of local identity, historically an ecclesiastical centre and still home to a windmill and heritage attractions that draw day visitors. A Tuesday night session here is a genuinely local affair rather than a tourist stop, so expect to hear the county’s mix of Galway, Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim musical influences played by people who live in the area, in a small room where a handful of musicians can fill the space with sound. It is the kind of session worth building an evening around rather than dropping into for ten minutes.

Good to Know

• Cadence: every Tuesday, 8pm, throughout the year.
• Venue and town: The Tower, Elphin, Co. Roscommon.
• Price: free to attend, no booking required.
• Confirm via the pub’s Facebook page before a long journey, since small-town sessions can occasionally be affected by holidays or events elsewhere in the pub.
• This entry is dated to the next Tuesday; the session repeats weekly on the same night.
• Combine with a daytime visit to Elphin’s windmill or the village’s other heritage sites if travelling from further afield.

Getting There

Elphin is on the N61 between Roscommon town and Boyle, roughly 15 minutes’ drive from either, with parking available around the village square.