Sunny Sweeney recently released a 10th-anniversary reimagining of her 2014 album ‘Provoked’ via Thirty Tigers. ‘Still Provoked’ features new versions of all thirteen tracks on the original release plus two new songs and is available for the first time on vinyl as a limited edition 2LP set alongside CD and Digital. Sunny will return to the UK in November for a ten-date tour. Please read on for more about Sunny Sweeney, the visualizers for ‘My Own Lane’ and ‘My Bed’ (featuring Will Hoge') plus those tour dates.

The Long Road festival has announced the one and only Don McLean will headline the Saturday night of the 2024 festival. The legendary singer/songwriter is at the forefront of a host of new additions to the festival announced today including a first-ever UK show from Paula Cole alongside Ron Pope, Alan Power & the Take Twos, Brooke Eden, Dylan LeBlanc, Gangstagrass, Katie Pruitt, The National Parks, Scott Matthews, Georgia Van Etten, Toby Sebastian, Jess Williamson, The Deep Blue and more joining an already stacked line-up featuring Russell Dickerson, The Red Clay Strays, Randall King, Drew Holcomb, Morganway, American Aquarium, Chapel Hart and many, many more. The full press release follows with all the info you’ll need for a fantastic weekend of great music.

Alex Ellis, aka Our Man In The Field, released his excellent second album ‘Gold On The Horizon’ in November 2023 to universal acclaim. RGM was lucky enough to get along to a launch show at London’s Slaughtered Lamb to coincide with the release and left highly impressed by a superb set of songs delivered beautifully by Alex and his band with unhurried, understated grace. I’m pleased to report that OMITF will be playing selected shows in January, commencing at London’s Green Note on the 14th, before embarking on a longer run of dates in February. Full tour details follow:

The Long Road Festival returns to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire for an event that is now an essential part of the UK summer for fans of all things Country, Roots and Americana. The first set of artists announced for August 25-27th is an impressive mix of big names, rising stars and a wide range of talented newcomers. Jon Pardi making his UK debut is a coup, while Blackberry Smoke are guaranteed to rock late into the Leicestershire night. Scratching the surface of the initial batch of artists, you will find Breland, Margo Price, Tenille Townes and Nickel Creek, highlighting the sheer range and variety of music waiting to be discovered. Tier 4 Tickets are on sale from Friday, March 3rd, so please read on for more about the festival, the artists and ticketing links.

Tenille Arts will return to the UK in August for a performance at The Long Road festival, but it gets even better for fans of Tenille and country music in general. The Canadian singer-songwriter has also squeezed in a trio of shows co-headlining with Caylee Hammack including a London show at Lafayette. Tickets for the tour will be available to purchase tomorrow (Friday, 14th July) at 10am BST here, and her full UK dates can be found below.

The 2023 edition of the Cambridge Folk Festival features a typically eclectic range of artists. If you’ve a pre-conceived idea of what constitutes “folk”, then Cambridge in late July will surely open your eyes and ears to a wide range of sounds from all parts of the globe. From stalwarts of the festival such as Kate Rusby and Eliza Carthy to progressive rap collective Arrested Development. Not convinced? How about Hollywood actor turned highly impressive singer/songwriter Kiefer Sutherland or the more home-spun silver screen success of Fisherman’s Friends. More info about the festival and the artists follows, including ticketing details:

There are plenty of Americana/roots festivals to choose from, but Maverick Festival, returning for its sixteenth year at Easton Farm Park, Suffolk, can justifiably live up to its claim of “Getting it right since 2008”. This year’s offering is shaping up nicely with Tom Russell, Laura Cantrell, Suzie Ungerleider and The Hoth Brothers among the early announcements, alongside such returning favourites as Rich Hall, Carter Sampson, Amelia White and Jon Langford.

Gretchen Peters returns to the UK in May for a final run of shows following her announcement that she will retire from full-scale touring this year. The singer-songwriter has been incredibly well-received by UK audiences over the years, building a considerable fan base the old-fashioned way by touring regularly and releasing quality records. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve been lucky enough to see Gretchen a couple of times over the years, so I’d highly recommend popping along to a show. More about Gretchen and the tour follows:

My original plan was to mention Chris Shiflett’s March 2023 UK tour. Unsurprisingly, the tour is already Sold Out everywhere, which is hardly a shock considering that Chris’ day job is as a guitarist in Foo Fighters. Older fans will remember Chris from his pre-Foo Fighters days in No Use For A Name and numerous releases with Me First And The Gimme Gimmes. As a solo artist, Chris is ploughing a different field judging by the infectious new single ‘Black Top, White Lines’ produced by Jaren Johnston from The Cadillac Three, and co-penned with Johnston (a writer with multiple No. 1 country hits to his name) and Brothers Osborne guitarist John Osborne. The track is a pretty cool introduction to an album expected to drop later this year via Snakefarm Records.

Marcus King, the hugely acclaimed singer, songwriter and guitarist, returns to the UK for a string of shows this month (March 2023), in support of last year’s stunning album Young Blood, which was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys. Part of a European trek, the dates include Marcus’ biggest London show thus far at the Kentish Town Forum. I’d advise getting there early, as support comes from Ida Mae. More about Marcus and those tour dates follow:

Country and folk music is all about the story. This is why the songwriters’ circle (a concept that supposedly comes from Canada rather than Nashville) has become such a popular platform for getting to the heart of the music. How did that song come to be, and what inspired it? Four UK based songwriters: Annie Dressner, Lucy Grubb, Dan Wilde and Luke James Williams, will be hitting the road to share their stories in late March at a selection of intimate UK venues. More about the tour and those all-important dates follow:

Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Nigel Wearne will kick off his UK tour tomorrow, Friday the 13th, in Aldershot alongside acclaimed singer-songwriter Lauren Housley. The duo first met in Montreal, Canada, in 2019 and bonded over a mutual appreciation for John Prine. This chance meeting would lead to the ‘To The Edge’ single, a wonderful minor-key lament ideal for a David Lynch movie. Alongside the tour, Wearne will slip in a solo showcase at UK Americana Music Week on the 25th. The tour dates, video for ‘To The Edge’ and more about Nigel Wearne follow:

The Cadillac Three will return to the UK this summer for a run of shows, including a headline slot at The Long Road Festival. Dubbed the Hillbilly Hypnotized tour, these new dates replace the 10th Anniversary shows the band were forced to cancel in late 2021 due to the pandemic, and tickets remain valid from those shows. It’ll be the first time UK fans will be able to hear tracks from the ‘Tabasco and Sweet Tea’ album and its predecessor ‘Country Fuzz’ live. More about The Cadillac Three and the tour dates follow:

The Long Road might have been forced off the calendar in the last couple of years but 2022 will see the festival return to Stanford Hall in Leicestershire intent on making up for lost time with an initial lineup that bodes well for a fantastic weekend of live music. Early names include Sunday headliners The Cadillac Three, Country legend Marty Stuart, ace songwriter Brandy Clark and an exclusive appearance by LOCASH. Also appearing over the Bank Holiday weekend of 26-28th August 2022 are quite a few acts we’ve featured previously at RGM including Morganway, Gretchen Peters, Lindsay Ell and Whitney Rose. More about the festival, the lineup and those all important ticket details follow:

No stranger to the UK, Amelia White will return to our shores for an extensive UK tour this Summer. The East Nashville singer and songwriter has a new, Kim Richey produced, album ‘Love I Swore’ set for release later this year so we should be treated to new music alongside old favorites. More about Amelia White and those tour dates follow.

Update: Unfortunately Amelia White has had to postpone her UK tour to later in the year so the current tour dates are now CANCELLED.

Fresh from an appearance at the C2C festival this past weekend Morgan Wade will return to the UK in June 2022 for a run of headline shows. The dates in London, Glasgow and Manchester are in support of the recent reissue of her debut album ‘Reckless’ as a deluxe edition with a host of bonus tracks. ‘Reckless’ is a superb record (RGM review) and Morgan Wade is easily one of the most exciting new artists in country music. More about Morgan and the tour dates follow (UPDATED with additional London date)

You’ve got to admire the folks behind the Black Deer Festival. The independent festival endured two cancellations with the 2020 and 2021 festivals victims of the Covid pandemic. Undaunted Black Deer is back for 2022 with a mix of big names, rising stars and cult artists who could well turn out to be your new favourite because Black Deer is that kind of festival. The RGM team were pleased to cover Black Deer in 2019 as we believe it to be a festival against which others should be judged. I know this sounds like high praise but, we had a great time, the people running things were super friendly and the festival seemed to run like clockwork. The other great news is the free ticket initiative for the NHS and key workers has been rolled over to 2022. The Black Deer Festival is set for June 17-19th, 2022 with Van Morrison, Wilco, The Waterboys and Lucinda Williams leading the way. More details about the acts already booked and the festival follow:

Glasgow based label Vacancy Records recently announced a UK tour for May of 2022 featuring three of their artists; Ashley Campbell, Barrie-James and Paul McDonald. The trio will all perform solo sets and quite possibly pop up at other points in the evening to help each other out. It’s an old-school approach that you don’t see quite so often these days and kudos to the label for putting the tour together. Tour dates and the thoughts of the artists about the tour follow:

Keith Urban will return to the UK in April 2022 as part of his The Speed Of Now World Tour. The five UK shows are Birmingham, Newcastle, Manchester, London and Edinburgh before heading to Europe for more dates. Tickets are on general sale from 9 AM on October 15th. Speaking from personal experience if you’ve not seen Keith Urban live you’re missing out as he always delivers a great show. More about Keith and ticket details follow:

POSTPONED 29/112021 News Update: The Cadillac Three will return to the UK and Ireland in December 2021 to play a run of headline shows with special guest Brent Cobb. The shows coincide with the band celebrating ten years of…being a band. That sounds like as good a reason as any for a celebration to me. You can learn loads more about TC3’s recent activities and check out those all-important ticket details via the press release which follows:

Lauren Housley enjoyed considerable crossover success earlier this year with the release of her third album ‘Girl From The North’ which made the upper reaches of the official Folk, Americana and Country charts. An impressive achievement off the back of a string of glowing reviews from such as Louder Than War, Maverick Magazine, Americana UK and The Daily Express. Lauren will be touring the UK commencing with a show at London’s Half Moon on November 4th. Supporting Lauren on all dates and playing acoustic guitar in her band will be 2020 UK Americana Award winner Robbie Cavanagh. The shows are a mix of full band and acoustic trio shows so my advice is go twice. Full details and more about Lauren Housley follows:

Tangled Roots is a one-day festival set for September 11th 2021 at Radford Mill Organic Farm, Timsbury, Somerset (just outside Bath). The festival has a nice mix of local and national artists covering a wide range of folk music with a dash of Appalachian, a smattering of Bluegrass and even a little Flamenco to get the blood pumping. Those who like their festival experience to include a night or two under canvas can choose to camp on the Friday and Saturday nights if that’s your thing. Full details follow, including links to the official website for tickets etc.

RGM is pleased to report that while many things have gone to the dogs in recent months some folks are still gnawing on their chew toy and determined to come out fighting. With this in mind, The Maverick Festival will return to Easton Farm Park in Suffolk on the weekend of Sept 3rd - 5th and the first names added to the bill include perennial Maverick favourites Rich Hall and Hank Wangford who will be joined by Ethan Johns and his Blackeyed Dogs, Sara Petite, Shawn Williams and Mary Elaine Jenkins with more names to be added soon.

Eric Paslay will be spending plenty of time in the UK in 2020. The Platinum-selling hit songwriter will be performing at C2C 2020 before heading out on an extensive run of dates as the special guest of UK country stars The Shires. More about Eric Paslay and those tour dates follow:

Morgan Wallen will visit the UK for the first time for a run of shows in May 2020 as part of a European headline tour. The singer has been touring with Jason Aldean in the USA and will join up with Luke Bryan in late May for another run of shows. Needless to say, Morgan Wallen is an artist in high demand. Special guest for the UK shows is Hardy whose ‘Rednecker’ single and a run of platinum singles as a songwriter has marked him as one to watch on the modern country scene. Ticket pre-sales begin February 5th, and will go on-sale to the general public February 7th. Much more about Morgan Wallen and Hardy follows:

Canadian singer-songwriter William Prince recently released his second album ‘Reliever’ and has announced UK dates in support of the record. William has headline shows in March/April 2020 including Omeara in London plus an appearance at Black Deer Festival on June 20th. The Glassnote Records released album is a follow up to his Juno award-winning 2018 debut record. More about William including those all-important dates and a live version of ‘Reliever’ follows:

Marcus King will visit the UK in February for a run of shows in support of his recent ‘El Dorado’ album. Marcus has created quite a stir with ‘El Dorado’ which finds the 23-year-old singer and guitarist exploring his roots on a terrific record that mixes blues, country and classic rock with the soulful sounds of the South. ‘El Dorado’ could well prove to be a watershed moment for Marcus King. More about Marcus King including the tour dates and a brilliant take on ‘Wildflowers & Wine’ from the record follows:

Nashville based singer/songwriter Olivia Lane will return to the UK in 2020 for a run of headline shows. Five dates have been announced including London and Manchester with more shows to be added in the coming weeks. Lane’s recent EP ‘The One’ received great reviews and radio play in the UK from Bob Harris and Ricky Ross amongst others. Tickets will be on sale at 10am GMT on Thurs 21st Nov. More about Olivia Lane including those tour dates follows:

No stranger to the UK, Chase Rice will be back this side of the pond for a run of headline dates in January 2020. The UK dates will feature a full band show while Chase will also visit Germany and the Netherlands for the first time to play acoustic sets. Chase was in the UK earlier this year at C2C and performed two sold-out acoustic tours of the UK in 2017 and 2018. A full list of tour dates and much more about Chase Rice follows including the UK Version of the video for ‘On Tonight’: