There is a buzz in the air as The British Country Music festival returns to Blackpool for it’s second year! After the past 18 months, the impact it has had on the arts in particular, never has there been more of a need to celebrate and support our homegrown talent and that’s exactly what Marina and Martin Blore intend on doing for years to come at The British Country Music Festival. With headliners Nathan Carter, Wildwood Kin and Lisa McHugh all ready and raring to go, the stage is set for an incredible weekend in the North of England. I was keen to catch up with Marina to delve into the passion behind the festival and talk through the trials and tribulations of putting on an event during Covid times. The festival has been going for a few years now, where did the original idea come from? What ignited that passion to support British Country artists in particular? It’s actually only been going for one year. We are a husband and wife partnership and Martin and I launched The British Country Music Festival through our company Fit The Bill Ltd in 2019. Of course, we missed 2020 due to the pandemic, but we are back for our second year in 2021. The idea for the festival came from a previous event we used to produce in Liverpool from 2016 to 2018 called Folk On The Dock that attracted up to 80,00 people over three days. We discovered so many new artists that crossed over from folk into country, Americana and roots and we could feel the groundswell in popularity of what was a new approach from UK artists to country music. Gone were the references to American parlance and they were being replaced by beautiful lyrics that were relevant to the British Isles. We were beginning to hear our own brand of country music. That prompted us to provide a platform for homegrown, singer-songwriters to grow their audience, unite them and show the rest of the world the amazing new country sounds that are now easily identifiable as being from the UK. Back in 2016 we booked Robert Vincent to perform at a fringe venue for the Liverpool festival and two years later he headlined on the main stage. Now he is backed by the wonderful Bob Harris. Wildwood Kin were on our main stage at Royal Albert Dock in 2017 and The Luck and Pete Riley performed in 2018. All these artists are making huge waves now and time has proved that UK country music is fresh and it is making Nashville and the rest of the world sit up and take notice. When we launched The British Country Music Festival, many in the industry thought we were mad. They said we needed international artists, that British country music was not enough to stand alone and attract a festival audience. But we are delighted that we stuck to our principles and that the numbers attending the festival this year have grown by 50% with many retaining tickets for year two that they bought at the venue in 2019! Whilst our audience appreciate the headliners, above all, they are music lovers and they are very keen to discover and support new artists and that is what TBCMF delivers. How has Covid affected your plans for the festival over the last couple of years and how have you adapted to those obstacles? We were one of the first to cancel 2020’s event back in March last year and I think that was the right move, as the early notice and clarity of message was appreciated by our ticket holders. Whilst it has been an amazingly difficult time for many festival organisers, we have suffered less than most due to our commitment that 98% of our artists are from the UK. With only two international artists this year; Candi Carpenter and Juna N Joey, we have not been reliant on travel restrictions and quarantine issues, as almost our entire programme are all travelling from the UK, including our headliners Nathan Carter, Wildwood Kin and Lisa McHugh. Understandably, ticket sales over the last 18 months have reflected the mood of the nation in line with the impact of Covid-19. When restrictions were lifted sales increased and when lockdown came again, they paused. However, the mood now appears to be one of cautious optimism. The majority of UK citizens will have been offered both vaccinations by September and it looks like our festival goers are returning to the country music community, where maybe they feel safer than they would with other music genres. What impact do you think the festival has had on the homegrown talent and the country scene here?  Whilst it’s still early days, I think The British Country Music Festival has proved that we clearly have an abundance of UK country and Americana singer-songwriters capable of taking on the best of the rest of the world. Look at the success of The Shires, Ward Thomas and Yola across the pond, whilst it can only be a matter of time before Twinnie takes on Shania Twain in America. We are also providing the opportunity for homegrown artists to headline a country music festival, something that has not been prevalent at many other country events where, more often than not, American artists still dominate. We are also proud of the fact that out of six headliners over two years, five have been female led. Again, this is something not achieved at many other country festivals in either America or the UK. We signed up to PRS Keychange initiative committing to 50:50 gender balance in our programming by 2022. We achieved it in our first year, back in 2019. We have not had to shoehorn them in, they have all been there on merit and it shows what a wealth of incredible, female singer-songwriters we have in Great Britain. All the artists that performed in year one at TBCMF definitely increased their fanbase, with managers and agents confirming new fan faces they had not previously seen at other