In his review of their last festival, held just outside the village of Kirklington, Johnny Whalley rounded off his live review of Gate to Southwell’s fourteenth festival: “The 3000 or so people who attended Gate to Southwell Festival 2021 could hardly have wished for more, from the site, from the performers…”. Now looking forward to 2022, the organisers have announced that the 15th festival will take place from July 14th to 17th 2022.
Among the names shared for the 2022 line-up is the Stornoway trio Peat & Diesel, whose relentless gigging saw them wow crowds at Belladrum and Glasgow’s 10000-seater Barrowlands. It was no surprise that they picked up the well-deserved Best Live Act at the 2019 MG ALBA Scots Trad Music Awards, by which point they were well on the rise from pub band to selling out nationwide tours. That’s pretty remarkable…and no big label or movie in sight. That raw authenticity and energy continues to resonate with audiences, and while that energy can be heard on their albums ‘Uptown Fank’ and ‘Light My Byre’, they are a band you will want to see live; take a listen to their 2020 Barrowlands live album, and you’ll hear why.
The festival will also be welcoming the mighty Sligo-based supergroup Dervish. Fronted by Cathy Jordan, they are hugely respected both in Ireland and abroad. They have more than earned the title of international cultural ambassadors, and at the 2019 BBC Folk Awards (reviewed here by Colin Irwin), they picked up a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award. They also recently celebrated their thirty years together with their album The Great Irish Songbook (reviewed here), which saw them joined by luminaries from the folk and Americana world.
The opening night of the festival (Thursday, July 14th) has a strong blues flavour, Ian Siegel – nine-time British Blues Awards winner, a three-time European Blues Awards winner, and he’s twice won Mojo’s blues album of the year. Alongside Siegel, Southwell will welcome the Daniel Smith Blues Band.
The Spooky Men’s Chorale are no strangers to regular folk festival-goers. This ‘vast, rumbling, steam powered and black black clad behemoth’ from Western Australia have become a British folk favourite whose pop classic covers never fail to entertain an audience; combined with their deadpan humour, they always deliver the goods.
Already booked are the much-loved singer-songwriter partnership of Chris While and Julie Mathews, and for those keen to burn off some Christmas calories, the York-based Blackbeard’s Tea Party will help you get there. Also booked are Birmingham’s youthful Filkin’s Drift Ensemble featuring Ellie Gowers and the Field & Dyke project with BBC Folk Award winner Greg Russell and Danny Pedlar. The latter released their debut album in 2019 which we reviewed here.
Building on last year’s successes, there’ll be four live music stages presenting acts from diverse genres such as folk, blues, world, Americana, country, ska, punk, jazz… Plus on-site camping, glamping, street theatre, poetry, comedy, artisan food, quality traders, cask ales, campfire sessions, kids events and ceilidhs.
Discount tickets are still available for the event, set in beautiful rural countryside near Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
More acts will be announced soon. For tickets and the latest news, visit www.gtsf.uk.
Photo Credit: Jim Connolly Photography