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Celtic Folk Rock - what's that?

Wikipedia (shortened)

Anglo-Celtic folk rock

This variant of folk rock culminated in British folk rock in the late 1960s. Based on North American folk rock, it was above all the style-defining band Fairport Convention, among others, who consciously incorporated elements of British folk into their music. Shortly afterwards, the originally more traditional folk group Steeleye Span began to increasingly incorporate elements of rock music into their songs and achieved similar results. After the mixture of Irish folk and rock had achieved a certain fame in this way, bands from Ireland such as Horslips also turned to this type of music. This move towards rock music itself inspired several new styles, including English folk rock.

Also worth mentioning is the Celtic Rock movement, which adapted stylistic elements from the folk music of Ireland, Scotland, Cornwall and Brittany. In addition to the Irish band Clannad, the Breton harpist and singer Alan Stivell, who popularised the style beyond the borders of France and is often referred to as the ‘father of Celtic rock’, was influential for this variant. At least in the first half of the 1970s, Celtic rock was very close to its roots in folk music, the songs clearly referred to traditional Celtic fiddle and harp melodies and even vocal styles, but they did not dispense with guitar amplifiers and drums.

fiddlestix! plays John Gaudie

fiddlestix! plays Hal & Tow

fiddlestix! plays Belfast Mill