One of Scotland's most successful festivals, Glasgow's Celtic Connections, is heading from the Friendly City to the Windy City.
The perennially popular roots and traditional music festival, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in January, is to hold its first major overseas concerts in Chicago next month as the Ryder Cup golf tournament takes place at the nearby Medinah Country Club.
Organisers are also planning a festival spin-off in Paisley from October 25 to 28 as part of the Renfrewshire town's new Spree festival. It is backing a day of musical performances, including a new talent stage dedicated to the memory of the late Danny Kyle, the Paisley- born folk music promoter and broadcaster, and a concert by Francois & the The Atlas Mountains.
Donald Shaw, artistic director of Celtic Connections, said: "We are delighted to be working with The Spree to bring a taste of the Danny Kyle Open Stage to Paisley.
"Every year at Celtic Connections the cream of new musical talent performs on Danny's open stage and it is a great opportunity for young musicians to get recognised. Danny has left an incredible legacy to Scottish folk music."
He added: "We are really trying to engage with the wider world.
"We are in a fantastic position in that Celtic Connections has built up over the years into a high-quality festival and so it seems a good time, after doing the Big Top festival on Skye, that we engage with other events and organisations.
"With the Ryder Cup, it is a chance to tap into those audiences as well as looking forward to the Ryder Cup when it comes to Scotland in 2014.
"It is all about letting more people know about the festival in January, making a noise about the festival over there, with the Holy Grail of growing that international audience, and I really feel we can tap into that US audience more."
Chicago will host the first of the Celtic Connections Transatlantic Sessions.
It will feature the leading fiddler Aly Bain and dobro player Jerry Douglas, singer Dan Tyminski and songwriter Tim O'Brien, as well as Kathleen MacInnes and Karen Matheson.
Others to appear in the US premiere are Phil Cunningham, Danny Thompson on bass, Irish piper Jarlath Henderson on uillean pipes, guitarist Russ Barenberg, ex-Solas guitarist John Doyle and drummer James Mackintosh from Shooglenifty.
The second performance programmed by Celtic Connections will feature Scottish folk singer Julie Fowlis, Glaswegian folk pop band Admiral Fallow, singer, songwriter and accordionist Emily Smith, and Rura.
Mark MacMillan, leader of Renfrewshire Council, said: "We're delighted to welcome Celtic Connections to the Spree and to Paisley."
Councillor Archie Graham, chairman of Glasgow Life, said: "Celtic Connections started in 1994 with just 70 performances. Now the brand is truly global, with record-breaking audiences of more than 100,000 enjoying some of the world's greatest artists, with over 2000 performances across 20 venues."
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