Shrewsbury Folk Festival, held on four days over the August Bank Holiday weekend (August 28-31), has worked hard to earn and retain its title as one of the UK’s top folk festivals. Known for its inventive programming and high production values, it regularly sells out in advance. Dubbed a ‘key date in the UK folk music calendar’ by the Daily Telegraph and recognised by the Sunday Times as a ‘family friendly folk staple’, Shrewsbury has it all whether you’re a fan of traditional or contemporary folk or are more into the roots and acoustic scene. Based in a glorious riverside setting within walking distance of the town centre, there’s four music stages including two main stages seating thousands, down to the smaller outdoor village stage. This year’s headliners include Sharon Shannon, Oysterband, and Kate Rusby. But the festival is renowned for bringing North American and Canadians acts to these shores. As the Shrewsbury Folk Festival motto goes: “you can’t imagine how much you will discover” and over the past few years, it’s introduced its audience to Barnstar!, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Sweetback Sisters, Blackie and The Rodeo Kings, and Mark Erelli. Organisers always add something a bit different into the mix and that’s included 17 Hippies, Kepa Junkera, Nidi d’Arac, and Molotov Jukebox. This year, they’ve enticed Canadian folk legend La Bottine Souriante to pay its first visit to the Shropshire festival. Joined by countryfolk The Barra MacNeils, Gordie MacKeeman and His Rhythm Boys, and Ten Strings and a Goat Skin, the international flavor will be continued with Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita and Amadou Diagne. Los Angeles based Dawes, who have toured with Bob Dylan and Mumford and Sons, are also on the bill. But what makes Shrewsbury special, besides the always-innovative line up, is the overall ambience of the festival. You can pitch up your tent or caravan for the weekend and relax – everything is within easy reach and the site never feels overcrowded. Children’s festival Pandemonium! offers everything from storytelling to crafts, circus skills, lantern making, drama, dance and music workshops for the younger festivalgoers. Coupled with the ever-popular Panic Circus, it’s an integral part of any family festival experience! The Refolkus youth programme is always in demand. The Big Band will be back this year alongside all manner of other folk related fun for 11 to 20-year-olds. There is a huge dance tent with specialist flooring for ceilidhs, workshops and dance shows. This year Blowzabella will be among the dance bands on the bill and a range of morris sides representing a variety of dance will entertain the crowds. With more than 100 workshops every year from yoga to music sessions, dance classes, and songwriting, and there never needs to be a dull moment. There is a free bus into the town centre on Saturday and Sunday to enjoy the fringe events, including a dance parade, displays and pub sessions. There’s also an extensive craft fair, food village, real ale bars, a wine and cocktail bar & hot showers! Visit www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk for a full line up and to book tickets.

Texas xountry-rocker Suzette Lawrence is making a name for herself with her debut CD TEAR UP THE HONKY TONK. In July 2015 Suzette and her band The Neon Angels will return to Europe, featuring appearances on July 11 at the Americana International Festival, and on July 18 at the Summertyne Americana Festival. Additional club dates, peppered through Europe and the UK, include shows at The Water Rats in London, and Maloe Malo in Amsterdam, with more tba. Suzette’s performances in the UK will feature original tunes from her acclaimed new record, as well as classic rockabilly and honky-tonk favourites.

Celebrated British blues rock guitarist and singer-songwriter, Joanne Shaw Taylor, embarks on a nationwide UK tour presented by Planet Rock this autumn. Joanne will perform songs from her critically acclaimed album The Dirty Truth. A 48-hour ticket presale goes live on Planet Rock Wednesday 15 April from this http://bit.ly/1IFuEGH. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday 17 April from the 24 hour box office: 0844 478 0898, or online from The Gig Cartel. All tickets priced at £20. Joanne is also pleased to announce in celebration of Record Store Day that her boutique record label Axehouse Music will release a very special limited edition transparent red 12” vinyl record on April 18. The record features three recordings made with the BBC in 2014. Track 1, Feels LikeHome was recorded for A SWINGING CHRISTMAS WITH CLAIRE TEAL for Radio 2 with the BBC Band. Track 2, The Dirty Truth, and Track 3, Jealousy, are solo versions recorded for the Paul Jones Blues Show on BBC Radio 2.

With their May date at London’s Scala sold out, Norwegian alt-folk-country-rock mavericks Katzenjammer will return to the capital in November for their largest UK headline show to date. One of the most accomplished, instinctive, charismatic and nonconformist bands around, Katzenjammer are all impressive singers and multi-instrumentalists, sharing lead vocals, instruments, song-writing duties and, as The Guardian observed at a recent London gig, an enormous sense of fun. Prior to the Shepherds Bush Empire gig Katzenjammer will bring their genre-mixing, full-on riotous show to Britain for a headline May tour and summer festival dates Nothing if not utterly distinctive, four smart and super-talented Norwegian musicians – Anne Marit Bergheim, Turid Jørgensen, Solveig Heilo and Marianne Sveen – met at music college in Oslo and have mastered a thrillingly diverse blend of country, folk, blues, pop and rock. Katzenjammer released their third studio album ROCKLAND in March to great acclaim and, as well as notching up sales throughout Europe, received long-overdue nods of approval from the British press. Produced by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave, PJ Harvey, Beth Orton) the album is a joyous and uplifting record, refreshingly lacking in pretention, nigh-impossible to define and, as Songlines wrote, “a peppy life-enhancing joy from start to finish”.

All’s Fair In Love & War is the follow up to Ken Will Morton’s highly acclaimed 2012 release, Slow Burn. The new recording compiles 19 new songs (plus a hidden track) written in the wake of the dissolution of a long term relationship and with Morton finding himself living alone in a mobile home.  Soon after, he’d written more than enough material for a double album (hence, initial title was A Double From A Single Wide).  Morton converted his home to facilitate writing and recording music at anytime day or night, with wires and cables, guitars, amps and lyric sheets everywhere. Determined to hold on to the essence of this new work, and with the help and encouragement of engineer J.P Pruett, the entire album was made in the comfort of his home.  Morton played all instruments—guitars, bass, harmonica, $20 garage sale keyboard, child’s xylophone—and vocals himself, over a bed of prerecorded drum track loops from the internet, adapting each song to fit a corresponding drum track.  No Pro Tools were used on this record so every take had to work all the way through.  From the country rocker “Blindsided,” the power pop of “Straight From Your Lips” and the whimsical “Down The Drain” to the anthemic “Reach Forward,” this is Morton’s most diverse and confident recording to date.  Heralded as a clever lyricist, Morton even takes a subject such as the Great Hartford Circus Fire of 1944 and turns it into a gem of a song and a history lesson with “Little Miss 1565.”  All’s Fair In Love & War will surely resonate with fans of intelligent songwriting.   Morton’s music placement in film/TV includes: “Oh Lord” on “The Deadliest Catch” (Discovery Channel), “Devil In Me” on “True Blood” (HBO) and “On My Feet Again” in the indie film “Flight Of The Cardinal.” Morton is an extremely engaging performer and has toured most parts of the U.S., opening for Todd Snider, Billy Joe Shaver, Tommy Stinson, Sugarland, & more.  He has toured Ireland, performed at South-by-Southwest, the Americana Music Festival and more.  He will tour regionally in support of the new release.  The CD release show will be at Little King’s Shuffle Club in Athens on Saturday, June 6th.

Award-winning Nashville based singer songwriter Sonia Leigh will co-headline her first ever-European tour. Coming straight off of her smash summertime single, Put It In Your Pocket, Sonia Leigh has brought yet another hit to the table with her latest independent release, When We Are Alone, which debuted on Sirius XM The Highways’ On The Horizon. Co-written and produced by Danny Myrick, (She’s Country, Jason Aldean), Leigh says, When We Are Alone is “a progressive step” for her musically. Sonia will begin her co-headlining tour with Sasha McVeigh throughout the UK in April. The ‘Mind the Gap Tour’ will kick off in London at Water Rats on April 8 and continue across the United Kingdom as well as a stop in Dublin, Ireland. “Touring the United Kingdom has been a dream of mine my whole life. I am energized and eager to share my music here. I am very passionate about bridging the gap between U.S. artists and artists from all over the world. Working together with up and coming artists like Sasha McVeigh is just the beginning.” says Sonia. Sonia Leigh performed at the 2nd annual C2C: Country-to-Country festival. and along with an impressive UK tour on the horizon, When We Are Alone has quickly begun to turn heads.

UK-based singer/songwriter Sarah McQuaid was keen to ensure that her fourth solo album Walking Into White got at least a few full-length listens before being subsumed into playlists – so she’s performing the whole thing live, track by track, as the first half of each concert on her forthcoming April-May UK and Ireland tour (see full details of dates below). Released in February on the USA-based Waterbug label, Walking Into White has already drawn praise from critics. The album was officially launched on March 6 at the first concert on Sarah’s currently underway Netherlands-Belgium-Germany tour, where both the live album performance and the more relaxed second half (incorporating greatest hits from Sarah’s previous CDs as well as an encore rendition of Jerry Jeff Walker’s classic Mr Bojangles) earned a rapturous reception from the audience. “It’s all done live on the night,” Sarah explains, “but Martin has to do a lot from the desk end to make it happen. On Low Winter Sun, for example, before I start the song proper, I play a chord on the guitar which he samples and turns into a lovely lush wash of controlled feedback that turns up later in the song as a background and underpinning for the bell peal that I’m playing on the guitar. “And on Jackdaws Rising, I start by laying down a 5/4 time stomp and handclap pattern that he turns into a percussion loop repeating through the song, while each part of the three-part round also loops until I get to the final repeat of the first part. It’s like walking a tightrope – incredibly difficult to get the timing right, but when it works it’s amazing!” See https://youtu.be/ZcGNbm4yfD4 for a video of Sarah’s performance of ‘Jackdaws Rising’ at the album launch show on March 6 in Steendam, Netherlands.

Kenny Chesney’s been locked down for close to two months, getting ready for his 2015 The Big Revival Tour across the States. After walking offstage at Gillette Stadium after two sold-out nights in August 2013, he made the decision to devote his next year to making his record. But time off the road didn’t mean the eight-time Entertainer of the Year’s heart wasn’t yearning to be out there playing. “Once the album was done, I started thinking about the stage, the set list – ‘cause this new music really got me inspired – and how we could make it mean even more!” Chesney says with a laugh. “And you know, I can’t stand being away from the fans! They fire me up. That’s why we decided to throw a stadium show on the beach at the FloraBama line – just the world’s biggest Keg In The Closet show – so I could see the No Shoes Nation doing what they do best.” In that spirit, Chesney began figuring how to present his music with new intensity. The same care that went into The Big Revival, his 13th number one country album debut that’s yielded the GRAMMY-nominated multiple week number one American Kids number one Til It’s Gone and the fast-rising, Wild Child with Grace Potter, was applied to what may be the hardest-hitting tour yet from the singer. “Every time, I want people to have the best night of their lives…,” Chesney explains. “I take that very seriously. I’ve heard enough stories about people planning their summer around coming to see us, and when you know that, you wanna always give ’em more and better, trying to think what else? But, you know, these songs are the reason people come – and I don’t ever want to take away from the music.” Chesney scoured the globe looking for the most cutting edge ways to present the music. The PA – providing clearer sound at stadium-sized levels – is from Australia; the first of its kind being used in the States. The Clay Paky Mythos lighting system is also a North American first, brought over from Italy after a late night “shoot out” in a parking lot from the company’s Bergamo factory that clearly proved to add a deeper and brighter dimension to the overall lighting package. “It’s all part of it,” Chesney says. “How it looks, how it sounds, how you feel. I had the time to really seek out what was special… really find things that are innovative; even if it’s just the quality they deliver. I’ve got some of the best people in the business out on The Big Revival Tour, folks who’ve worked for Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Lady Gaga… They get putting music across in big places, but they also understand that to me – and the fans – the songs are important.” The video screens are some of the biggest and most impressive on the road right now. Delivering over 2,300,000 pixels, there are six hand-held cameras, a jib for the stadiums and two robotic point-of-view cameras – all controlled from a central position and called live every single night, allowing for maximum spontaneity. The additional footage has been shot in New Orleans, Mexico, the Caribbean, Maui, Positano, the road, the fans and anywhere people come together in the name of music. Having sold in excess of a million tickets on each of his headlining tours, Chesney is the only country artist in Billboard’s Top 10 Touring Acts of the Last 25 years – with only 12 years as a headliner.

Due to overwhelming demand Country to Country 2016 will now take place over three nights at The O2, London. Between 11th and 13th March we will be bringing the absolute best in country music once again. The festival will start on Friday evening followed by the full weekend of activities you’ve all come to love. In the main arena there will be performances from the world’s biggest country stars as well as emerging talent from the UK and Europe. Country fans can get their hands on early bird tickets for the three days from Friday 13th March at 9am. Tickets will be available from the following: www.axs.com/c2c /08448 24 48 24 and www.gigsandtours.com / 0844 811 0051. Announcement of the full talent bill will be later in the year along with more exciting news about other shows. C2C 2015 saw Luke Bryan, Lady Antebellum, Florida Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, Lee Ann Womack, Brantley Gilbert, Brandy Clark and Kip Moore take to the main stage as well as launching the brand new satellite stage which saw performances from UK talent such as The Shires, Ward Thomas, Sam Palladio and upcoming Nashville artist Sam Hunt.

In a ground-breaking chart first, The Shires – Crissie Rhodes and Ben Earle (from Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire) – have become the first British country band to reach the Top 10 in the Official UK Album Chart with their debut ‘Brave’, released this week. The duo, who recently became the first UK signing to the re-launched Decca Nashville label, have today reached No.10 in the charts. Having overtaken Hozier, and just behind Paloma Faith, The Shires now sit comfortably alongside mainstream pop acts such as Kelly Clarkson, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith. Official Charts Company Chief Executive Martin Talbot, confirmed this unprecedented achievement, “This is a fantastic feat by this young British country duo. No UK country act has ever made this kind of impact on the chart before – it is truly remarkable.” The Shires’ record-breaking chart position is further evidence of the current cultural shift of country music moving eastwards from Nashville. From Dolly Parton’s Pyramid Stage set at Glastonbury last summer, to the increasingly successful annual Country to Country Festival at The O2 (at which The Shires are performing four times this weekend), and the popularity of recent hit musical TV show ‘Nashville’, never before has the country music genre had such a following in this country. Young British artists are now identifying with country singers such as Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves, who have re-defined the genre by eradicating old stereotypes and appealing to a much younger audience. BBC Radio 2’s Bob Harris comments on the phenomenon: “I’ve been doing the country show for 15 years now, and in the whole of that time I’ve never known things to be quite as exciting as they are today … Country is now appealing to a completely new, young generation” After forming in 2013, The Shires very quickly attracted industry fans and mainstream radio support, sparking much interest from the press in the rapidly growing popularity of country music in the UK. “It’s a chance for country, one of music’s most maligned genres, to have its day in the sun” – Q magazine While other pop or folk acts have hit the upper reaches of the Official Singles Chart with individual country songs (for instance, Lena Martell or Jimmy Nail), no act has made such an impact at the upper levels of the Official Albums Chart with a genuine country album – as verified by the UK branch of the Country Music Association. Director of BBC Music and CMA board member, Bob Shennan, comments: “From the very first play, The Shires have proved to be a class act. They also prove that a British artist can create authentic country music – and the fact that BBC Music has supported them via BBC Introducing and now Radio 2 is testament to their obvious talent and songwriting ability. We hope they can take Nashville by storm!” As country music continues to penetrate British culture, today it is The Shires who are firmly at the forefront. As the Sunday Times declared, “Country is being reborn – in Bedford”.