Celtic Rock
Celtic rock mixes rock instruments and rhythms with the traditional music of Ireland, Scotland and other Celtic regions.
It began in Ireland and Scotland around the early 1970s as an offshoot of folk rock. Bands add fiddle, tin whistle, bagpipes, accordion or Celtic harp to electric guitar, bass and drums, and often rework traditional tunes and songs. The faster, rougher version that draws on punk is known as Celtic punk.
Artists it is known for: Horslips, Runrig.
- Family
- Rock
- On Spotify
- A current genre
- What it is
- A genre
- From
- Ireland and Scotland, early 1970s
- Trackify listeners who play it
- 2%
About 1,400 of 83,000 Trackify listeners with public profiles have celtic rock among their top artists of the last four weeks. Rounded; updated 13 November 2026.
Celtic Rock artists
The Script
The Waterboys
Mägo de Oz
Alestorm
The PoguesThe celtic rock artists most Trackify listeners have in their top fifty. Each opens on Spotify.
Sources
The definition is written for this site from open sources, and was checked against them on 13 November 2026.