A look at upcoming Irish/Celtic-related music events in Greater Boston and somewhat beyond.

July’s big local happening is Summer BCMFest, which takes place July 6 in Harvard Square’s Club Passim, with both outdoor and indoor performances featuring the Clare Frasier Trio, Forsyth (also at Club Passim later this month; see below), Adam Hendy Band, Matt & Shannon Heaton, and Katie McNally & Neil Pearlman. More details here.

Two other upcoming festivals include Celtic performers: the New Bedford Roots & Branches Festival (July 18-19), with a kick-off contra dance, an open Irish session and appearances by The Moonbellies, the Haley School of Irish Dance and Mrs. Wilberforce; and the Lowell Folk Festival (July 25-27), featuring Solas.

•Also at Club Passim this month is Scottish Fish with two shows on July 2 – one of which has already sold out – that will serve as a send-off for their major European tour, in advance of their next album release. Fiddlers Ava Montesi, Julia Homa, Caroline Dressler and Maggie MacPhail, and cellist/pianist Giulia Haible began playing together before high school – and middle school, in one case – and the quintet (which passed the first-decade milestone in 2023) long ago came into its own as a fully-realized ensemble with its own artistic vision, presenting Scottish, Cape Breton, and other Celtic music, as well as their own work. The Scottish Fish story also is illustrative of the nurturing by the Boston-area traditional music community, all helping bring new generations of musicians to the fore, just as the Fish themselves are now doing. 

The trio Kalos returns to Club Passim on July 15 with its repertoire from, and inspired by, the Irish, Scottish, Scandinavian, and North American music traditions, with a focus on maritime-related songs and tunes. Ryan McKasson (fiddle), Jeremiah McLane (accordion), and Boston-area native Eric McDonald (guitar, mandolin, vocals) explore what they call the “dark edges” floating on the rims of tradition, as displayed on their 2023 release “Headland” (they’re at work on a new album). In addition to leading the band The McKassons, McKasson – the youngest ever to win the US National Scottish Fiddle Championship – has appeared on three albums by local fiddler Hanneke Cassel. He also has played in a duo with McDonald, a member of acclaimed bands Daymark and Cantrip who has performed with Katie McNally, The Outside Track and Andrea Beaton, among others. McLane explored several genres of music before immersing himself in Celtic and French traditions; he also co-founded the much-loved trio Nightingale, a force in New England folk music for a decade. 

Vocal harmony quartet Forsyth will be among the performers at Summer BCMFest [see above], but you can get a full evening’s worth of them on July 17 in Club Passim. Erin Hogan, Kate Knudsvig, Helen Kuhar, and Kat Wallace are all highly active in the area folk and traditional music scene, including – but certainly not limited to – the Irish/Celtic domain. Forsyth represents a fascinating union – or, as they put it, “a democratic collective” – of talents, interests and experiences: Wallace, for example, recently released an album of her Americana-styled songwriting but also can be found fiddling at Irish sessions, while Kuhar is an accomplished guitarist who regularly plays for contra dances; Knudsvig, who studied under renowned Irish fiddler Liz Knowles, has strong classical roots and explored jazz, bluegrass and alt-folk, and Hogan (who’s often teamed with local Celtic guitarist-vocalist Adam Hendey) is equally eclectic, with experience in early, sacred and devotional music. Forsyth’s focus is on their voices, whether solo, in unison or harmony, with little or no instrumental accompaniment, putting words and melodies squarely in the spotlight; they point to groups like Ye Vagabonds and Lankum as inspiration. They also are part of a recent surge of local interest in community singing, long a staple of Boston-area folk music.

•Singer-songwriter duo Trevor Sexton and Ger O’Donnell are back at Irish Cultural Centre of Greater Boston in Canton on July 22. The pair play traditional and original material, with compelling vocals and multi-instrumental accompaniment, as evidenced on their 2022 album, “The Alchemist’s Stone,” which in addition to their own compositions includes a cover of “Bright Blue Rose” by Cork’s Jimmy MacCarthy (author of “Ride On,” “Missing You” and “No Frontiers”) and renditions of traditional songs like “Dainty Davey,” “Black Is the Colour” and “The Parting Glass.” Sexton counts Bob Dylan, Bob Marley and Pete Seeger among his influences, and leans on a storyteller’s style in creating his songs. A music educator, arranger and composer, O’Donnell started out on classical flute and fife before finding his calling as a crafter of songs – his singles “Turquoise Ink” and “Talk About Heroes” both reached number 1 in the Irish charts. Sexton and O’Donnell were featured by TG4 in its broadcast of the 2023 Fleadh Cheoil and have appeared in concert with Cherish the Ladies.

•If you’re looking for entertainment in the outdoors, local duo Tim Keohane and Paul Kenneally perform on July 16 as part of the Arts at Endicott series in Dedham. Although they sport a diverse playlist – encompassing classic rock and country, among other things – at this event they’ll be focusing on their Irish repertoire. Keohane (guitar, vocals) has been involved in the Boston Irish music scene for four decades, and founded Tradition, another multi-genre band. Kenneally (flute, whistle, keyboards, sax, vocals) is another fixture in the area Irish landscape, notably as a member of the famed Noel Henry Irish Showband. The O’Shea Chaplin Academy of Irish Dance, one of the oldest and most accomplished Irish dance schools in Massachusetts, will start things off at 6:30 p.m. 

•The High Kings “Step It Out” world tour will touch down in southeastern Massachusetts this month at Cohasset’s South Shore Music Circus (July 5) and the Cape Cod Melody Tent in Barnstable (July 11). The quartet – co-founders Finbarr Clancy, Darren Holden, and Brian Dunphy, and most recent member Paul O’Brien – derives its sound from the classic Irish ballad style of the 1950s and ’60s popularized by such bands as the Clancy Brothers and The Dubliners. Over the course of their 17-year history, the High Kings have broadened their repertoire and style, culminating in “The Road Not Taken,” which featured collaborations with Irish artists such as The Script, Kodaline, Picture This, Ryan Sheridan, JC Stewart, and Wild Youth, and guest appearances by icons like Steve Perry (Journey) – on the single and associated video “The Streets of Kinsale” – and Sharon Corr (The Corrs). New metrics for success in the music business are continually emerging, and The High Kings have more than a few to boast about: Their remixes of “Chasing Rainbows” and “Step It Out Mary” both surpassed 2 million streams in record time, and in the process they’ve made a significant, and quantifiable, impression on the 18-to-25-year-old demographic.