The Americana Music Association UK announces UK Americana Music Week 2024, Monday 22 - Thursday 25 January in Hackney, London

November 27, 2023 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Country Rock, Roots, singer-songwriter, Tour Dates

London’s Hackney will, once again, be the place to be in January 2024 when UK Americana Music Week returns to the borough. 22 - 25 January are the all-important dates, with events and artist showcases in multiple venues culminating in the UK Americana Awards Show. London fans are well served, with many more shows throughout the capitol during January and February. The full press release follows:

Canada House brings the very best Canadian music to UK Americana Music Week 2023

January 10, 2023 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Country Rock, Festivals, News, Roots, singer-songwriter, Blues, Folk

Canada’s official Music Export platform, ‘Canada House’, returns to the UK for two days of music by 12 carefully curated Canadian artists at the UK Americana Music Week 2023, 23-26th January, in London. CIMA (Canadian Independent Music Association) in partnership with Music PEI will be putting down roots at Moth Club in Hackney on the 24/25th of January to showcase the very best in Canadian music. The impressive list of artists includes Tara McLean, William Prince, Andrew Waite and Julian Taylor, to name but four. More about the UK Americana Music Week 2023 and the Canadian contingent follows:

The RGM Inbox: July 2021

July 28, 2021 by David Vousden in singer-songwriter, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Alternative Rock

Welcome to the latest edition of the RGM Inbox, an occasional feature where we shine a light on a quartet of artists worthy of your time. Some names you might know, some you might not, but either way, it’ll all be good.

Dustbowl Revival curate Sway-At-Home virtual music festival April 17-19th 2020

April 16, 2020 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Americana, Bluegrass, Blues, Country, Festivals, Folk, News, Roots, singer-songwriter

Dustbowl Revival have been keeping busy curating their very own Sway-At-Home music festival. Eighteen acts over three days including Steve Poltz, Shook Twins, Luther Dickinson and Birds Of Chicago. The music commences at 10pm (UK Time) this Friday, April 17th. More about Dustbowl Revival, Sway-At-Home and the acts involved follows:

Maverick Festival July 3rd - July 5th 2020

January 08, 2020 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Country Rock, Festivals, Folk, News, Roots, singer-songwriter, Tour Dates

The Maverick Festival will return over the weekend of July 3rd - July 5th 2020 which, as I’m sure you all already know, is 4th of July weekend. This seems to be particularly fitting as Paul Spencer and the Maverick team have been bringing the very best in Americana to the leafy surrounds of Easton Farm Park, Suffolk for many years. The first names for 2020 have been announced with a nice mix of returning favorites and new names including Grammy winning singer-songwriter Steve Forbert and Canadian force-of-nature Terra Lightfoot. More info about the Maverick Festival including ticket prices follows:

Maverick Festival tickets and CD bundles to be won

June 20, 2019 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Country Rock, Festivals, Folk, News, Roots, Competitions

Hello and welcome to the very first Red Guitar Music competition. For our first run at a giveaway, we wanted to start with a bang so we’ve got together with the good folk at Maverick Festival and some of the acts performing at the 2019 event to offer up a pair of weekend tickets plus two sets of CDs with a Maverick Festival 2019 connection. A prize guaranteed to leave even the relative Americana newbie able to hold their own over a pint in the pub. Please read on for full details of the prize and the various ways to enter the competition:

The Shires, Alabama 3 and The Magic Numbers among additions to Black Deer Festival 2019

May 09, 2019 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Country Rock, Festivals, News, Roots, Tour Dates

The latest list of additions to the 2019 Black Deer Festival include UK country duo The Shires returning to the UK for a Sunday night show at the festival. Other names added today (May 9th) include Alabama 3 performing an acoustic set, The Magic Numbers, Stephen Spender and The Breretons. They will join an already impressive list that includes The Mavericks, John Butler Trio, Band of Horses and Billy Bragg. The festival will also host a panel celebrating the history of AMA-UK with Stevie Freeman, Bob Harris OBE and Emily Barker among those set to participate. Much more about the festival, which takes place at Eridge Park, Kent on 21st-23rd June 2019, follows:

An RGM Song Premiere: Chain Station present 'Midwest Girl'.

April 12, 2019 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Americana, Bluegrass, News, Premiere

Chain Station hail from Denver, Colorado and the string band will release their third album ‘Backroads’ on May 3rd. Denver sits on the western edge of the High Plains, just east of the Rocky Mountains, so it's hardly surprising that living in such a stunning part of the world has heavily influenced the band and their music. ‘Backroads’ will please traditional bluegrass devotees but the guys are ready and able to add a few modern twists to the genre. Today RGM is very pleased to premiere ‘Midwest Girl’ a track from the upcoming record that displays a lovely relaxed vibe, cool harmonies and terrific playing. So please read on for much more about Chain Station, the inspiration for ‘Midwest Girl’ and even more importantly the song:

Black Deer Festival 21st - 23rd June 2019

April 09, 2019 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Blues, Country, Country Rock, Festivals, Folk, News, Roots, singer-songwriter, Tour Dates

The Black Deer Festival will return to the leafy confines of Eridge Park in Kent on June 21st - 23rd 2019. The festival recently won Best New UK Festival at the AIF Independent Festival Awards 2018 and is looking to build on that momentum in 2019. The lineup looks strong with Band of Horses, John Butler Trio, The Staves, The Mavericks and legendary singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson already announced. Recent additions to the bill include Billy Bragg, Ethan Johns (solo), Yola, Treetop Flyers and Sam Morrow while a few of RGM’s personal favourites are also set to appear including The Sheepdogs, Ferris & Sylvester and Worry Dolls. Much more about the festival including ticket details follows:

Maverick Festival 5th - 7th July 2019

April 05, 2019 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Alt-Folk, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Country Rock, Festivals, News, Roots, Tour Dates

The Maverick Festival is celebrating its 12th anniversary by once again bringing the very best of the Americana scene to picturesque Easton Farm Park in Suffolk over the first weekend of July 2019. This year the festival will be throwing a little Cajun into the mix and shining a spotlight on the Bluegrass scene on Friday night. As usual, a wide variety of acts are set to appear including Ags Connolly, Chance McCoy, Amy Lott, Broken Bones Matilda, The Black Feathers, Dana Immanuel & The Stolen Band (terrific at the recent press launch for the festival) and many, many more. Loads more about the festival including ticket details follows:

Josh Turner and Kip Moore to headline The Long Road Festival 2019

March 13, 2019 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Country Rock, Festivals, News, singer-songwriter, Southern Rock, Tour Dates

The Long Road festival in Stanford Hall, Leicestershire launched in 2018 and will return to the venue in 2019 on September 6th - 8th for three days of the very best in country, Americana and roots music. The first wave of acts for 2019 include headliners Josh Turner (making his UK debut) and Kip Moore. The Steel Woods, John Paul White, Asleep At The Wheel. Rhiannon Giddens, Eric Paslay, Charley Crockett, Morgan Evans, LANCO and Lainey Wilson are among the impressive names confirmed for the festival. Tickets are on sale from 9am on Friday March 15th. A full list of the acts announced today and loads more about The Long Road festival follows:

RGM presents The Maple Leaf Roundup #5

December 12, 2018 by Rich Barnard in singer-songwriter, Alternative Rock, Folk, Americana, Bluegrass, Pop

The good folk of Canada continue to shower the RGM inbox with their musical missives and we’re delighted to be able to share with you another selection of exciting new tunes from over the water.

Counting Crows and Alison Krauss confirmed for BluesFest 2018

June 18, 2018 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alternative Rock, Americana, Bluegrass, Blues, Classic Rock, Country, News, Tour Dates

BluesFest 2018 at London's O2 was already looking like a pretty special few days and now looks even better. Counting Crows are to headline the Sunday night of the festival and they will be joined by Alison Krauss who will also play a full set with The White Buffalo in support. I think you'd have to agree that this is a very impressive line-up for the closing night of BluesFest 2018. Previous coverage of BluesFest can be found here. More about the artists and the festival follows including ticket details:

Southern Avenue and Bonnie Bishop among latest Maverick Festival additions

March 10, 2018 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Festivals, News, Tour Dates

The Maverick Festival has announced the latest additions to the 2018 bill for the eleventh staging of the acclaimed Americana festival. Those names include Memphis band Southern Avenue and Texas-raised singer Bonnie Bishop. Australia will also be represented at the festival by Lachlan Bryan and The Wildes, making a welcome return in 2018, with rising Aussie star Imogen Clark along for the ride. Closer to home The Mountain Firework Company and longtime friends of Maverick Hank Wangford and BJ Cole will also perform. Please read on for more about the latest Maverick additions:

Missed Some Great Music In February? Check out the latest RGM Spotify Playlist

March 03, 2018 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Americana, Bluegrass, Compilation, Country, Folk, Playlist, Showcase, singer-songwriter

February has just flown by at RGM with a host of cool new releases to review, gigs to see and news of upcoming albums and tours. If you missed anything then please check out our Spotify playlist for a quick refresher of some of the great artists we featured last month. March is already looking very busy with lots more stuff coming up. Many thanks to all the artists, PR companies and labels who've been in touch this month and all our readers for your continued support. Please like, follow and share as it makes all the difference.

Maverick Festival announces first names for 2018

February 14, 2018 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Alt-Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Festivals, Folk, News, Tour Dates

The Maverick Festival has announced the first names for the 2018 event set for Friday 6th - 8th July. Now in its eleventh year, the Maverick Festival has become an integral part of the Americana scene in the UK and always hosts an impressive range of artists. This year will be no different with a mix of returning favourites and many performers new to Maverick including Jonathan Byrd, Terra Lightfoot, The Danberrys, Leeroy Stagger and Arkansas Dave. More details about the event and the acts scheduled to appear follows:

Ramblin' Roots Revue returns to High Wycombe April 6th-8th

January 29, 2018 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Festivals, Folk, News, Roots, Tour Dates, Alt-Country

After a successful first event last year, the Ramblin' Roots Revue will return to Bucks Student Union in High Wycombe for three days of Americana, folk, country and roots music in 2018. The event is produced in association with respected UK Americana label Clubhouse Records and they're put together an impressive range of acts including The Magic Numbers, The Rails, Danny and the Champions of the World, Jess Klein, Robert Vincent and Bennett Wilson Poole (whose upcoming album has gone down well in the RGM office). All the info you'll need about the festival follows:

What to expect at C2C 2018

January 29, 2018 by David Vousden in Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Festivals, News, singer-songwriter, Tour Dates

With the annual C2C festival just a few days away this seems like a good time to take a look at all things Country 2 Country at O2 from March 9th - 11th 2018. The press release follows with all the info on the various stages and the many performers appearing over the weekend including the CMA Songwriters Series (On the 8th March) and the BBC Radio 2 Stage:

The famed Bluebird Cafe returns to C2C in 2018 + After Show Party News

December 12, 2017 by David Vousden in Americana, Bluegrass, Country, Festivals, News, Tour Dates

The famed Bluebird Cafe will return to the C2C event at the O2 in 2018. The Nashville institution has experienced an increase in visibility and popularity in recent years as an integral part of the Nashville TV show so expect tickets to be in high demand. Nashville is all about the songwriter so these seated songwriters round shows really get to the roots of the music. The O2 / C2C have also released details of the official Aftershow Parties for 2018 with Walker Hayes, Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real, Brett Young with Morgan Evans set to please the late night music lovers (Glasgow will also have aftershow parties for our friends north of the border). More details follow:

Maverick Festival 2017 Final Line-Up and Stage Times

June 15, 2017 by David Vousden in Acoustic, Americana, Bluegrass, Blues, Country, Festivals, News

The Maverick Festival today announced their final additions to the line-up with Nashville duo American Young and Alabama songwriter Sonia Leigh added to an already impressive artist list. Leigh has songwriting credits on that guilty pleasure that is the Nashville TV series while American Young performed recently at C2C in London. The Maverick Festival runs from June 30th - July 2nd and with so many excellent acts in just three days some inventive clock watching, or a flux capacitor, might be required to catch that not-to-be-missed set. We have all the info you'll need so please read on for more about Maverick and those stage times.