Americana music has never been so popular and Maverick Festival, has been at the forefront of this new music for the past 12 years. We take a look at the line-up of the 2019 festival which is held in the heart of the Suffolk countryside
Is it country? Is it folk? Is it blues? It's all of those and more. It also embraces cajun and bluegrass. Americana is a 21st century algam of a wide variety of traditional influences, which blend and combine sounds into a musical cocktail and offers audiences roots music for a new age.
Americana remains one of the fastest growing musical artforms in the world ans depending on the influences of the performer can take on any number of different styles, keeping it lively and unpredictable while anchoring it in an authentic sound.
It's significant that Bradley Cooper made his character, Jackson Maine, an Americana performer in the award-winning remake of A Star Is Born and Suffolk's Maverick Festival, based at Easton Farm Park, has been a long time supporter of this increasingly popular musical hybrid.
This year Maverick Festival is celebrating its 12th anniversary as the UK's first and finest Americana festival. The three-day event presents music performances, film, workshops and features over 40 different artists, across six stages indoors and out.
This year Maverick will be celebrating bluegrass on the Friday night, with performances from Old Crow Medicine show's Chance McCoy, Lowly Strung and Philadelphia's Man About A Horse. Saturday's programme will include a celebration of the protest song, introduced by the comedian-musician Rich Hall who will also present his celebrated Hoe-down.
Other additions to the festival line-up include London based five-piece Dana Immanuel & The Stolen Band; a banjo-whacking, guitar-shredding, fiddle-sawing, foot-stomping, whiskey-soaked, all-female outfit. Since 2014, they have been delighting crowds spanning the blues, rock, Americana, indie, folk and country scenes with their high-energy live show and utterly unique brand of musical badassery.
The Festival also welcomes the return of Muscle Shoals native Hannah Aldridge, the queen of southern gothic rock, who will bring the blues from the Mississippi Delta to the humid, dixieland jazz of New Orleans.
Maverick Festival is renowned for spotting rising stars and getting there first: showcasing the most authentic and talented musicians from both sides of the Atlantic. Over the past decade, organisers have stuck to what they believe in, presenting exciting and inspiring line-ups year after year.
Among the groundbreaking musicians gracing the festival stage this year are: Drew Young, Kev
Watford & Kelly Bayfield, Amy Lott, Imogen Clarke, The Black Feathers, The Bombadils and Resonant Rogues.
Paul Spencer, festival curator, said: "This year we are pushing the musical boundaries of Americana even further with the addition of some classic Cajun and a Friday night focus on bluegrass.
"The sun always shines and the music is magic. Come talent spotting at Maverick 2019 - we have a lot to live up to!"
As well as the musical talent, the festival also features a spacious campsite, bell tent meadow and tipi village, as well as a carefully selected range of delicious food-stands catering to meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans alike. Pizza, paella & pasta, Mexican chilli, duck pancakes & crepes, hog-roast and hand-made burgers, all washed down with freshly squeezed lemonade & freshly ground coffee, local Suffolk cider and a selection of regional ales, wine and craft beers including the Big Drop Brewery's award winning non-alcoholic pale ale.
Also new this year, festival organisers have teamed with the ONE boxed water company to ensure the festival is plastic bottle-free.
The Maverick Festival runs from Friday July 5 to Sunday July 7 at Easton Farm Park, near Woodbridge. Tickets are available from www.ticketweb.co.uk // www.maverickfestival.co.uk
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