Red Rooster festival is delighted to announce the first line-up for its 7th edition, 2020. The 3-day event takes place in the beautiful parkland and woods of Euston Hall, Suffolk, from May 28 –30.
Richard Hawley is set to headline Red Rooster 2020 with North Mississippi Allstars, Luther Dickinson, The Sheepdogs, Nicole Atkins, Jim Lauderdale, MFC Chicken, Sister Suzie & the Right Band and Mudlow also announced. Many more artists will be confirmed in the new year.
2019 has been a landmark year for Richard with his ninth studio album, Further, blasting into the UK album charts at No.3 in the same year he celebrates his twentieth anniversary as a solo artist, something that he views with his customary sense of bluff realism.
“I suppose twenty years is quite a long time in this business but, to be honest, even after all this time, I’m still a searcher. I’m still genuinely searching for things, in music and in life. I can’t tell you exactly what I’m looking for, or where I’m actually going but when I get there, I’ll probably send you a text,” he says, wryly.
In the two decades that have elapsed since Hawley jettisoned band life, first with The Longpigs and then as Pulp’s guitarist, the 52-year-old songwriter has forged one of the most singular and diverse careers in modern music.
His ability to cut across styles, time and, in some instances, place, is down to Hawley’s deep and intuitive understanding of music itself, his grounding stemming back to his childhood when his father, a musician himself, introduced Richard to country, blues and rock’n’roll.
Talk to him about his blues heroes, and he is likely to list Sonny Boy Williamson, Muddy Waters, Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup (“the master!”) and Freddie King as personal favourites. At heart, though, Hawley remains in love with rock’n’roll in its purest form and he sports the quiff to prove it. “People often ask me why I still have a quiff. I always tell them it’s because I still can,” he deadpans.
Announced billing order is now as follows:
Richard Hawley
North Mississippi Allstars
The Sheepdogs
Nicole Atkins
Jim Lauderdale
MFC Chicken
Sister Suzie
The Fuzillis
Mudlow
Published on 28 November 2019 by Ben Robinson