Gate To Southwell Festival

INTERNATIONAL ROOTS COUNTRY & BLUES STARS LINED UP FOR GATE TO SOUTHWELL IN JUNE

There’s a perfect blend of international stars, festival favourites and regional talent lined up for this year’s Gate To Southwell in June, and one of America's most successful singer-songwriters, Gretchen Peters, will be among the headline acts.  Grammy-nominated and recently inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, she’s regarded as one of the best voices in country and roots music; her hit album 'Blackbirds' was described as "an Americana tour de force" by The Sun while Uncut magazine hailed her as "one of Nashville's greatest talents of the past two decades". Gretchen will be performing in the Southwell Big Top on Saturday June 9th.

Already booked for the East Midlands’ premier roots and acoustic event are hugely-successful veteran Geordies Lindisfarne, award-winning folkies The Young’uns, one of Ireland’s greatest singers Cara Dillon performing with special guests, returning Danish roots stars Habadekuk, extraordinarily funky Latin ska band Dinamo from Mallorca, celebrated Devon guitarist and singer-songwriter John Smith, acclaimed Canadian fiddlers The Fitzgeralds and 2017 BBC Folk Singer of the Year Kris Drever.  There’ll also be a special Blues Night (Thursday 7th) featuring Britain’s number one R&B band Nine Below Zero, Louisiana bluesmen The Lil’ Jimmy Reed Band and the UK’s best slide guitarist Johnny Dickinson.  

Also joining the eclectic, international bill there’s Scotland’s Blue Rose Code, the Canadian jazz-meets-klezmer-meets-folk of The Boxcar Boys, acclaimed Southwell regulars Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar, 2017 BBC Group of the Year The Furrow Collective, irresistibly entertaining Canadian hillbillies Ol Savannah, the traditional Celtic dance fused with funk & jazz of Dallahan, much-loved global troubadour Rory McLeod, the Canadian roots rock of James Keelaghan & Hugh McMillan, FATEA folk award winners the Luke Jackson Trio, highly-rated harmonious Celts Mongoose plus The Outside Track’s blend of Canadian and Celtic musics, and award-winning songstress Vikki Clayton, who has sung with both Fairport and Fotheringay.  

While charismatic Jeff Warner, one of America’s foremost performers and interpreters of traditional music, returns following his excellent appearance in 2014, Truckstop Honeymoon - fusing bluegrass, punk rock and soul with music hall jazz and rock & roll - will be newcomers to Southwell in June. They took to the road in 2005 after their New Orleans home, and their recording studio, were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  Since then, they’ve settled in Kansas but still continue to travel the world with their four kids.  Another welcome visitor is Joshua Cook, who also brings his unique brand of raw rock & roll, hard R&B and electric blues to Southwell, all the way from Kansas USA. 

Adding to this fine mix there are also some very talented Midlands acts including the megafolk of Birmingham’s Destroyers, the stunning harmonies of Lincolnshire’s Winter Wilson, the country blues of Derbyshire’s Rogue Embers, the bluegrass Americana of North Lincolnshire’s The Life And Times Of The Brothers Hogg – one of last year’s highlights – plus the fantastic folk-country of the highly-rated Rye Sisters also from Lincolnshire.  Throw into this regional music stew the extraordinary land-locked pirate prog-rock-meets-world-music of Nottingham’s Seas Of Mirth and clearly there’s something for the most eclectic and eccentric of tastes. 

Derby’s Josh O’Keefe might sound like an unlikely contender for the role of the next Bob Dylan or the heir to Woody Guthrie, yet his politically-charged songwriting, his harmonica-playing and his powerful gravelly vocals are attracting high praise and respectful comparisons. Only in his mid-20s, Josh has moved to the Nashville skyline to inhale the ghosts of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams and already has a new record deal.  

With new acts still being added to Southwell’s best line-up yet - including the great roots and blues guitarist Martin Harley, returning-by-popular-demand Irish traditional band Ranagri, Bristol’s Sheelanagig duo of Kit Hawes & Aaron Catlow, award-winning folk singer-songwriter Luke Daniels, acclaimed Irish songwriter Don Mescall, the inspiring alternative folk of Brighton’s Ellie Ford, the wonderfully-talented duo of Alex Cumming & Nicola Beazley… - there’s also the East Anglian Americana of The Shackleton Trio, the warm comedy compering and songs of Keith Donnelly, seasoned Leeds guitarist Benjamin William Pike and promising folk duo Harbottle & Jonas.   They’ll all add to the summer party atmosphere at this most family-friendly of festivals, which also features music workshops, ceilidhs (featuring top notch dance bands at Hoofers such as Banter, Tautas Roks, Urban Folk Theory and the English Contra Dance Band), dance displays by Morris sides from across the UK, children’s entertainment (starring Dan The Hat), a craft fair plus great food and drink stalls.

Discounted tickets are still available for this fantastic four-day event in beautiful Nottinghamshire countryside from Thursday June 7th to Sunday June 10th.    So just visit the Gate To Southwell 2018 website and grab a bargain - www.gtsf.uk