Christmas spirits will definitely be lifted by the announcement of some great acts for the Gate To Southwell Festival next year!

Following the commercial and critical success of last September’s event in Kirklington, the organisers have confirmed the 15th Gate to Southwell Festival will take place from July 14th to 17th 2022. Leading the list of Celtic stars already booked are the much-celebrated, riotously-entertaining Stornaway three-piece band Peat & Diesel, often branded the “Hebridean Pogues” with their comedic stories of island life as showcased on two acclaimed albums ‘Uptown Fank’ and ‘Light My Byre’. They recently sold out the 10000-seater Glasgow Barrowlands and have won Live Act of the Year at the Scottish Trad Music Awards. 

The July event will also welcome Dervish, BBC Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 winners and one of the best-loved Irish traditional bands over the last 30 years.  Fronted by Cathy Jordan, among Ireland’s most famous singers, Dervish have played everywhere from Glastonbury to Rio De Janeiro (in front of 250,000 people) and become international cultural ambassadors along the way.  The Guardian describes them as “simply brilliant…they carry Irish history with them” and many regard them as the natural heirs to The Bothy Band and The Chieftains. 

Kicking off the festival on July 14th, Thursday will definitely be Blues Night, headlined by “national treasure” singer, songwriter and star guitarist Ian Siegel. He’s a nine-times British Blues Awards winner, a three-times European Blues Awards winner, and he’s twice won Mojo’s blues album of the year - the magazine branded Siegal "the cleverest writer and most magnetic performer of Blues in the UK”. Alongside Siegel, Southwell welcomes the Daniel Smith Blues Band led by one of the UK’s best boogie woogie and blues pianists.

Bringing an extremely vocal international flavour to GTSF 2022, The Spooky Men’s Chorale are cult figures from New South Wales and Western Australia thanks to albums such as ‘Tooled Up’, ‘Urban Sea Shanties’ and ‘Welcome To The Second Half’.  A charismatic, funny and powerful male voice choir they’re famous for a capella renditions of pop classics such as ‘Dancing Queen’, ‘In My Room’ and ‘Ghost Riders In The Sky’. 

Also signed up for the Midlands premier international roots music festival there’s the much loved singer-songwriter partnership of Chris While and Julie Mathews, the new line-up of highly danceable folk rockers Blackbeard’s Tea Party, Birmingham’s youthful folk supergroup Filkin’s Drift Ensemble featuring Ellie Gowers and the Field & Dyke project with BBC Folk Award winner Greg Russell and Danny Pedlar. 

Building on last year’s success, 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, great traders, cask ales, campfire sessions, kids events and ceilidhs.  Well-behaved dogs welcome too. 

Discount tickets for the festival - set in beautiful rural countryside near Southwell, just off the A617 (linking the A1 and M1) between Newark and Mansfield – are available now and m,ore acts will be announced soon. 

For the latest news visit www.gtsf.uk