Strong Female line-up at Folk Festival

Star of BBC One’s The Voice, Sally Barker, will be one of the main attractions at this year’s Gate To Southwell Folk Festival (5th – 8th June), creating one of the strongest line-ups of female roots music talent to gather in the UK this summer.

Singer/songwriter Sally, who performs with legendary all-women act The Poozies, was mentored by Tom Jones who said of her cover of ‘To Love Somebody’: “you moved me…it was so beautiful I couldn’t help myself”.

The Poozies join a truly international bill by key figures from the current female scene including BBC Folk Award winners Bella Hardy & The Midnight Watch and The Mischa Macpherson Trio, winners of this year’s BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award.

Other fantastic female acts include Nanci Griffith-associate Maura Kennedy of The Kennedys, acclaimed Irish sisters The Henry Girls, Lisa Butler of Caladh Nua, Polly Perry of The Billet Doux and 16 year old prodigy from Cambridge GraceSarah.

Headline acts this year include The Bills and The Sojourners from Canada, folk rock collective Feast of Fiddles, Scotland’s tremendous Treacherous Orchestra, New York guitar legend Woody Mann and one of the finest singers on the current English folk scene, Jim Causley.  Derby’s Cupola will lead the Friday night ceilidh and also perform with Southwell festival favourite Lucy Ward.

Alongside guaranteed great music and dancing, the beer and cider festival, music workshops, a children’s festival and many family activities, the organisers have also announced there’ll be a ground-breaking “silent folk disco”.  To find out more and buy discounted tickets before the end of April, visit www.southwellfolkfestival.org.uk