The British Country Music Festival

Now in its third year, The British Country Music Festival (TBCMF) will take place at the indoor, Winter Gardens entertainment complex in Blackpool in September.

With four stages in the venue, the event was launched in 2019 to provide a platform for grass roots artists to perform alongside established, singer-songwriters of country music, Americana, folk, roots and all the various sub genres.  This year the festival is expecting record ticket sales with the announcement that Ivor Novello Songwriter of The Year 2014 and BRIT’s Critics Choice Award winner Tom Odell will be the main Saturday night headliner. Tom has had four top five albums including massive number one Long Way Down, and Jubilee Road which was inspired by the terraced streets in which he grew up.  

Second headliner on Saturday will be Lucy Spraggan, whose song-writing skills are critically acclaimed and have covered subjects from sobriety to mental health.  Since wowing the judges on the X Factor back in 2012, Lucy has toured extensively with showcase performances at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas in 2018, a UK tour and European dates and appearances at Glastonbury and Isle of Wight festivals.  

Headlining on Friday is Amy Wadge, making a rare live appearance, having recently spent more time focusing on song-writing.  Amy, is the writer of this year’s Eurovision song 'Space Man' for singer Sam Ryder.  Her long established partnership with Ed Sheeran is well documented and her name is referenced on the EP they wrote together 'Songs I Wrote With Amy'. 

Sunday is the last day of the event, that traditionally welcomes an international artist to the festival. This year sees Canadian country singer Jess Moskaluke take that guest spot.  Jess is the first artist since Shania Twain to achieve the Canadian Recording Industry Award (CRIA) Platinum single release for the hit 'Cheap Wine and Cigarettes' and she has since won CRIA Gold awards for 'Take Me Home' and 'Kiss Me Quiet'.

With the boldest and most impressive line-up yet for TBCMF, the events’ various stages will welcome artists including Kezia Gill (who will be performing some unreleased songs on the acoustic stage) and Laura Oakes who will host the Songwriters Carousel.  With performers such as Brooke Law and The Tumbling Paddies, the venue will be bursting with the UK’s best music creators.

Support artists on the main stage include singer-songwriter and producer Henry Priestman, former member and songwriter for The Christians and whose album The Chronicles of Modern Life was a huge success.  Along with Henry, Sunbirds will also be performing on Sunday.  The band comprises of Beautiful South founder member Dave Hemingway, who has been busy working with South colleague, guitarist/songwriter Phil Barton, new discovery singer/violinist Laura Wilcockson and drummer Marc Parnell.