Music

The Green Loy

Vincent Woods & special guests

25 July 2026

90 mins

Call it art, call it folklore, but it’s a momentary fulfilment of what it is to be human. — Henry Glassie

To celebrate The Green Loy exhibition, a special concert will take place on Saturday 25 July featuring storytelling, music, song, dance. and spoken word. Our guests for the evening will include singer and storyteller Alan Woods from Mohill, storyteller Eithne Ní Ghallchobair from Donegal, acclaimed Leitrim singer Fionnuala Maxwell, Kilkenny-Leitrim uilleann piper and composer John Tuohy, and local dancers.

The Green Loy is grounded in the life and traditions of Leitrim and the north-west featuring artists and makers from the region and paying tribute to the renowned American folklorist, Henry Glassie. The exhibition is curated by writer and broadcaster Vincent Woods, ceramic artist Katy West, and dancer and community artist Edwina Guckian. You can find out more about The Green Loy exhibition and events here.

For further information and access requests, please contact Events Manager Jane Carmody at jane.carmody@leitrimcoco.ie.

Alan Woods

Alan Woods is a singer and music researcher from Mohill, Co. Leitrim. He works for the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA) and is an organiser of the singing collective The Night Before Larry Got Stretched, which has been active in
organising and promoting traditional singing in Dublin since 2012.

Alan has a particular interest in the song, music and dance of his native Leitrim and
also its neighbouring regions. His song repertoire features many songs from his
family tradition. His grandfather, Michael Moran, and his great-grandfather, Thomas
Moran, were both recorded singing by song/music collectors such as Tom Munnelly,
Ciarán MacMathúna, and Séamus Ennis.

Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair

Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair is from south-west Donegal. She is a writer and a storyteller, and has won many awards in both literary genres. She has published five books: Anathomia Gydo (2004), Súil (2018), Múscail, a Ghiorria (2020), An Craiceann agus a Luach (2021) and Caithréim agus Tóir (2024). She has had short stories published in Irish Pages and Comhar. Eithne’s interests focus on medieval Irish literature and folklore. She takes part in storytelling events throughout Europe.

Fionnuala Maxwell

Fionnuala Maxwell is a traditional singer, researcher, educator, and community arts practitioner from south Leitrim. Drawing on a rich local tradition of song, folklore, and storytelling, she has performed and taught throughout Ireland and abroad.

Fionnuala is the producer and presenter of the Memory Meitheals podcast series and has led a range of heritage projects exploring Leitrim's musical, cultural, and social history. Through her work with schools, communities, and heritage organisations, she is passionate about keeping local traditions alive and sharing them with new generations.

John Tuohy

John Tuohy is from a family of piping enthusiasts and has been playing the uilleann pipes for the past 18 years, both as a solo musician and in various groups. From Kilkenny, John was taught predominantly by the great Waterford piper, Tommy Kearney but received many lessons from Joe Doyle, Nollaig MacCárthaigh, Pat Mitchell, and Mick O’Brien, amongst others.

John has been a regular participant at the Willie Clancy Summer School and the many piping tionóls over the past 25 years. His father organises the annual Tionól Tommy Kearney piping weekend in Kilkenny every November. In 2008, John worked at Na Píobairí Uilleann, an experience that fostered his love of uilleann pipe-making, which is a hobby that he enjoys immensely. He has a particular interest in the work of the classic makers from the 1800s such as Coyne, Kenna, and Egan.

The Green Loy

Vincent Woods & special guests

Call it art, call it folklore, but it’s a momentary fulfilment of what it is to be human. — Henry Glassie

Alan Woods

Eithne Ní Ghallchobhair

Fionnuala Maxwell

John Tuohy

The Green Loy

Celebrating Folk Art

Bring and Tell

Community event for The Green Loy

Henry Glassie: Field Work

Documentary by Pat Collins