Showing their roots and hoping to branch out, folk music artists have been gathering in Dundalk, Co Louth, this week at a music industry conference.
This is the second year of "Your Roots Are Showing", bringing together experienced and emerging folk musicians, with industry insiders and talent bookers from home and abroad.
Event organiser Brendan McCreanor says it helps musicians to drum up some work.
"It's so important. It gives people a chance to get in front of managers, agents, DJs, and people who can make things happen in this industry," he said.
Mr McCreanor, a traditional Irish musician himself, said that he and his partner wanted to bring talent buyers here, as it was so expensive for Irish artists to travel to places like the US to similar events.
"It's amazing. You can see a lot of the chats happening," he said.
"We had a 'gig fair', like speed dating, but there's also conversations going on in the lobby, in the bar, the collaborations with other artists."
Jacquelyn Marushka has 30 years experience in entertainment in public relations and travelled here for this event.
She is based in Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music and has worked with some of the industry's biggest names, including Charles Esten from the hit TV show "Nashville".
"I love discovering new artists, seeing thing grow and develop.
"There is so much talent here", she said, of the Irish artists she has been watching this week. She said the US market is "an open book" for Irish musicians.
But she had to come to Ireland to meet a group who live and gig in her own city of Nashville - Kenny Sharp and Brown Liquor Music.
The group is hoping to "take the show on the road", and so also travelled to "Your Roots Are Showing", in the hopes of getting a touring agent.
Kenny Sharp said the style was "anything from Memphis to Nashville, blues, rock and roll, a little bit of country" and "anything that's a good whiskey song".
Among the Irish artists trying to impress were Fiárock, a young folk group based in Ireland and abroad who formed online during the pandemic.
Nicolle Fig, who hails from Mexico, took up the bodhrán after coming to Ireland to study. She joined up with Cork concertina player Clíona Halley, Tipperary's Darragh Carey Kennedy on banjo, and Texas-based keyboard player Evan Powell.
Cork's "The White Horse Guitar Club" are already reaping the benefits from the event.
Joe Philpott describes the group as "11 men, 11 guitars, 11 voices. Folk with Irish heart, rowdy, raucous and joyful".
He could not get into too much detail, but said they had had "two really, really big outcomes from just being here", and have been booked for tours abroad in 2025.
Claire Cremin from Melbourne Australia was here to book Irish artists for music festivals down under. This was her second year attending the event, and this year, she brought one of her artists, Ernest Aines along too.
"I work with artists in Australia. I wanted to not only bring my artists here but bring yours over to Australia," she said.
She said she had already made some bookings, but could not say who yet.
"Yes I have, my lips are sealed!", she said.
Ernest Aines described his genre as Americana, Celtic inspired folk.
He is in Dundalk while on a month long tour.
"I'm hoping to make connections, see what people are doing, see other artists, meeting festival bookers and trying to spark a few more opportunities," he said.
All of the musicians and groups attending the event are hoping to strike the right chord with the right people.
The organisers say it is been so successful and that they will definitely be back with an encore, next year.
