•The annual winter BCMFest is the big happening this month (Jan. 15-18), with headliners Altan and Old Blind Dogs and numerous Boston-area performers, which you can read about here.   

•The Burren – which is marking its 30th anniversary  – will be among the venues for the aforementioned BCMFest, including two shows with Altan on Jan. 18, but has other things going on this month. One is a Revels Pub Sing on Jan. 28 led by the ever hale and hearty David Coffin, as part of the Brian O’Donovan Legacy Series in the Backroom. Burren event info available at burren.com/music.html.  

•In addition to BCMFest and The Burren, Altan is appearing at the Groton Hill Music Center on Jan. 16. Tickets at grotonhill.org/concerts/altan.

•Accordionist Diarmuid Ó Meachair, who will be among the performers at BCMFest – there’s a Q&A with him on the BCMFest Blog – will perform with fiddler Andrew Caden, pianist Matt Mulqueen, and uilleann piper Peadar Giles as part of the Live at the Druid series in The Lilypad at Inman Square on Jan. 16. Caden, a 2024 Boston College grad who became a mainstay of the local Irish scene during his years at the Heights, released the well-received album “Across the Atlantic: Irish Music on Fiddle and Flute,” with Conor McDonagh, last year. Mulqueen is from a Baltimore family with a strong Irish music background and has been influenced to a great extent by older recordings of traditional musicians. Galway-born Giles has drawn on the playing of renowned uilleann pipers like Willie Clancy, Tommy McCarthy, and Patsy Touhey, among others. Email druidconcerts@gmail.com. 

•The annual Frank Hartigan Memorial Scholarship Fund Benefit will take place Jan. 18 from 3-7 p.m. at the Hibernian Hall in Watertown (151 Watertown St.), with live music as well as ceili and other Irish dancing. Proceeds from the fund – named for the long-time member of Ceol Traidisuinta na hÉireann (a branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann’s Boston chapter) – go to young people studying traditional Irish music in the Boston area.  Not at all a bad way to ward off the January cold.