BC Camplight and Karine Polwart at Dunbar Music Festival

More than 40 free gigs and ticketed concerts will take place in 17 venues over three days later this month.

The festival, one of the longest-running music festivals in Scotland, has unveiled its largest collection of events.

Performances from September 27 to 29 will take place in venues ranging from the Monk’s Retreat at Belhaven Brewery’s award-winning visitor centre to the Harbour Chapel.

With a wide range of musical styles on offer, organisers are expecting to welcome an influx of visitors to the town.

Karine Polwart will be heading to Dunbar Music Festival (Image: Judith Burrows)

Neil Allison, chair of Dunbar Music Festival, was counting down the days to the festival getting under way.

He said: “We’re really proud of the programme our committee of volunteers has brought together this year.

“We are really passionate about creating opportunities to enjoy live music – either as fans or performers – and we’ve worked really hard to make this accessible to the whole community.

“Music is literally going to be ringing out across every part of our beautiful town for the whole of the festival weekend and we encourage everyone to come along and enjoy it.”

The tradition of mixing well-known musicians with local talent grows this year, with three specially curated concerts on offer.

Tickets for the Friday-evening concert in Dunbar Parish Church Hall, headlined by the acclaimed Scottish folk singer-songwriter Karine Polwart, sold out in under a week.

Karine will be performing with jazz/folk pianist Dave Milligan and supported by local act Morven and the McArdles.

A father-daughter double bill of Alex and Martha Cornish takes place in the Harbour Chapel the following afternoon from 2pm to 5.30pm.

Multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter and Dunbar resident Alex has featured extensively on the BBC Radio 2 singles playlist and performed a number of sessions for Radio 2, 6 Music, Radio 1 and BBC Radio Scotland, as well as providing the soundtrack for a number of TV programmes.

His daughter Martha is carving out her own musical persona and has become a popular fixture of Dunbar Music Festival for the last two years.

Completing the trio of concerts is a hotly anticipated solo performance of BC Camplight, the moniker of maverick songsmith and pianist Brian Christinzio, on the Saturday in Dunbar Parish Church Hall.  

Fresh from performing at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall following a stint at Glastonbury, the Philadelphian-turned-Mancunian will be supported by Michael McGovern.

The youth band showcase supported by East Lothian Youth Music Forum, which was introduced for the first time last year, is back by popular demand on the Saturday from 11am until 3pm.

Bands from five of the county’s secondary schools will take to the stage.

A new addition to the programme is the introduction of a buskers’ takeover of Dunbar High Street between 11am and 4pm.

Meanwhile, a special musical party in the park will take place in Lauderdale Park.

Youth choir Dunbar Voices, who performed as part of the Edinburgh International Festival last month, will open for Shunpike Social Club on the Saturday afternoon, a Brazilian and Cuban big band collective of 30-odd brass, reeds and rhythm players, while Sunday afternoon sees the return of 2023 favourite The Banjo Lounge Four.

The family-friendly programme extends into the evening for the first time, with the introduction of a festival ceilidh on the Saturday in West Barns Bowling Club.

It will be led by fiery Scots folk trio SKELPT, who recently performed at the Sparkling Arts Festival.

Neil added: “We are really grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for their support in funding the community ceilidh.

“Dunbar Grammar School’s Christmas ceilidh became an internet sensation a couple of years ago and we’re really hoping that we’ll have a great turnout for a fabulous night of dancing.”

More information on the 2024 festival programme can be found at dunbarmusicfestival.co.uk