Top local talent and world-renowned acts at Gate To Southwell Festival

Running from July 3 to 6, Thursday’s headliners will be Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings while Friday’s star billing features British folk legend Richard Thompson OBE and the highly acclaimed singer-songwriter Katherine Priddy. On Saturday July 5, the festical welcomes Seckou Keita & His Homeland Band from Senegal plus Alabama 3 (Acoustic) – who sang the opening song of The Sopranos – The Cadillac Kings and Reuben Moreno from Texas. And Sunday’s stars include folk punks Skinny Lister and Barcelona’s El Pony Pisador.

There’s also family entertainment across the four days, plus a beer and cider festival, craft and food stalls and ceilidhs and folk dancing.

The event will also be celebrating some of the best music talent from the Midlands. Playing on the Thursday will be acclaimed Americana and Alt-country band Lawrence County. Hailing from the ‘Bagthorpe Delta’ of Nottinghamshire, and inspired by the same landscape as local literary hero DH Lawrence, they create an earthy infectious foot-stomping vibe as showcased on their 2020 album The Frailty of Humans. Lawrence County promise “folklore laced tales full of fire and brimstone, death, demon drink, preacher men and troubled souls”. Their songs include a version of Nottamun Town.

Supporting Lawrence County in Thursday’s Local Artists Showcase will be a diverse array of talented Midlands performers including Warren Ireland, Sticky Bones Jones and Swing Chickens. Warren Ireland combines live loops with powerful vocals, clever guitar work and thumping beatboxing to create a high-energy original mix of blues and folk.

Sticky Bones Jones has, by his own admission, “fallen down a Bluegrass rabbit hole feet first". Initially inspired by the great Billy Strings before embracing artists such as Doc Watson and Flatt & Scruggs, Sticky Bones plays old favourites and also creates his own music, promising “a range of foot stomping originals about personal life and haunting songs about legendary highwaymen and enchanting instrumentals”. In contrast, Swing Chickens are a Nottingham-based acoustic trio whose upbeat, original compositions – flavoured with gypsy jazz, folk and even punk – have been inspired by everything from politics to cake.

The Local Artists Showcase kicks off on the Thursday afternoon with Scarlett Kirwan, a talented singer-songwriter influenced by artists including Joni Mitchell and Florence Welch. She released her folk pop debut EP Glow last year and has just followed it up with her single Julie following a sell-out show at Sheffield’s Leadmill. Scarlett will be followed on the Frontier stage by Lincolnshire-based songwriter and performer Will Martin, who is musically influenced by Americana, folk, classical and dance.

Next comes Nottingham’s own Jess Breame with her own brand of New Country and Americana. Jess has previously performed at Glastonbury and Splendour among other major festivals. Praised for her husky vocals and evocative storytelling, she’ll be heading off on a USA tour later this year. She released her debut album Gypsy Soul in 2021 and played a memorable set at Metronome in Nottingham in 2023.

Also on the Local Artists bill are Shanks Pony, a festival-style four piece of guitar, cajon, fiddle and double bass. They simply aim “to play with joy and abandon, with inherent charm and earnest storytelling” and describe themselves as “four old friends playing music that will have everyone dancing, singing and smiling”.

Across the four-day festival, there will be plenty of other local, well-established artists returning to perform, such as The Terrible Parents (formerly Huson Whyte).

Launching the festival’s Blue Saturday, Rhydian Wyn & The Blue Fire will present the Story of the Blues from early Afro-American spirituals through to modern urban blues. Rhydian leads the house band at The Stage Blues Club, which is fast earning a reputation as North Nottinghamshire’s very own Ronnie Scott’s. This high-calibre blues band also includes Ian ‘Doc’ Shellard on acoustic and slide guitar, Jonathan Crossley on electric guitar, Cesare Cassarino on bass, Etienne Oosthuysen on drums and Maria Waters on vocals, with a guest appearance from Malc Slater.

Another Gate To Southwell regular, the distinctive looking and sounding Paul Carbuncle, is a Nottingham based singer originally from Kent. He’s a powerful performer of past and present social comment songs – “Some call it folk punk, while others call it punk folk,” he says. Paul performs on the Thursday afternoon.

Nottingham singer-songwriter Malc Slater will also be appearing at the festival offering a fresh journey through life's highs and lows wrapped in rich, soulful sounds. And Gate to Southwell’s own “family festival” coordinator Becky Syson is also a talented singer-songwriter and performer of folk rock songs.

The festival takes place in lakeside parkland in Kirklington. Visit gtsf.uk to book or for more information.