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.

No stranger to our shores, Toronto-based singer and songwriter Julian Taylor returns to the UK for a run of shows kicking off in Shoreham-By-Sea on August 22nd. The dates are in support of his upcoming album Pathways, which is set for release on 27th September 2024 via his Howling Turtle, Inc. label, and include shows at The Long Road festival and London’s Water Rats. A full list of dates and a little more about Julian Taylor, including a link to the title track featuring Allison Russell 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.

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.

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:

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:

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.

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:

Jerry Leger returns to the UK in April for a run of shows as part of a European tour. Jerry will be joined by Dan Mock and Kyle Sullivan on bass and drums respectively. The dates commence with three shows in one day on April 13th 2019 for Record Store Day with appearances in Bexhill, Lewes and at the Ramblin’ Roots Revue Festival in High Wycombe. Jerry and his bandmates will be keeping busy it seems. A full list of tour dates and details of ‘Too Broke To Die’ - a Limited Edition retrospective release only available on this tour - follows:

Nashville based singer-songwriter Ashley Monroe will return to the UK/Europe in January 2019 for a run of dates set to include an appearance at Celtic Connections and a show at Bush Hall in London. Ashley is touring in support of her terrific Dave Cobb produced ‘Sparrow’ album from earlier this year. Tickets go on sale Friday, October 26th at 9.00 am UK time. More about Ashley Monroe follows:

Update November 24th: Ashley’s tour is looking to be one of the early must see shows of 2019. The Bush Hall show sold out and an additional night has been added at the venue while the Glasgow show has been upgraded to a larger venue. Full details can be found below:

BluesFest 2018 at The O2 this October was already looking pretty impressive with the likes of John Fogerty, Steve Miller Band, Robert Plant, Robert Cray and Van Morrison already on the bill. The promoters have now added more impressive names with the always excellent Zac Brown Band bringing their individual brand of Southern/Country/Jam rock to the O2 with special guest Beth Hart. The festival takes place October 25-27th with artists performing in the main arena and at the Indigo venue of the O2. More about the acts, the festival and ticket details follow:

Russell Dickerson returns to the UK in October for his biggest tour yet. With ‘Blue Tacoma’ from his recent ‘Yours’ album a top 5 single at country radio in the USA — an album that also made the top 5 of the Billboard album chart — things are looking very good indeed for Dickerson. The October dates include a London headline show at The Borderline as part of Country Music Week and a run of shows opening for Darius Rucker. More about Russell Dickerson, those tour dates and the video for ‘Blue Tacoma’ follows:

Joshua Hedley will return to the UK for a run of shows in September including an appearance at the Long Road festival alongside Lee Ann Womack, The Shires, Aaron Watson etc. Hedley's recent album 'Mr Jukebox', released on Jack White's Third Man Records, is classic country influenced by such greats as George Jones, Glen Campbell and Faron Young. Hedley has an uncanny knack for composing an instantly recognisable and familiar tune, he might be looking back but his songs feel like a refreshing change when pitched against much of the music on today's country radio.  Those tour dates and more about Joshua Hedley and 'Mr Jukebox' follows:

American songwriter Amelia White will return to the UK for an extensive tour this summer that includes shows at Maverick Festival and London's Green Note. Amelia is touring in support of her 'Rhythm of the Rain' release which was co-written with Grammy Award-winning songwriter Ben Glover. The songs took shape in the UK during her November 2016 UK tour, as she watched the BBC coverage of the election back home, so Amelia is very much looking forward to performing 'Rhythm of the Rain' in the UK. More about Amelia and those tour dates follow: