Manchester Americana Festival, this weekend!!

[Editorial]

 

Manchester Americana Festival

The first ever Manchester Americana Festival takes place on Saturday 25^th August 2012 (Bank Holiday weekend) at The Verge, upstairs at the Cheshire Ring, Manchester Road, Hyde SK14 2BJ. Doors open 12 noon and the event finishes 11pm. Admission is £5; you can pay on the door or buy a ticket in advance from the venue. You also have the option of buying a £10 ticket which will cover this event PLUS 2 other gigs at The Verge that weekend: Friday evening- The Tune Wallahs; Sunday evening – The Spurious Family and The Prohibition Swing Club (all acts playing music in the Americana vein).

For the festival on Saturday, we have brought together a selection of the top local acts playing country and blues influenced music, with a distinct emphasis on New Country. Our headlining acts, The Good Intentions and Quiet Loner, are nationally renowned in their fields, but with the standard of music available throughout the day we strongly recommend that you take in as many of the acts as possible, especially as it’s all for only a fiver!

Programme of events

12 noon – doors open

12.30pm Steve O’Donoghue

Classic singer-songwriter with hints of Dylan and Roddy Frame – few can match Steve when it comes to writing songs about the disintegration of relationships. http://www.reverbnation.com/steveodonoghue

1.30pm Chris Layhe

Chris is best known as the bassist with the definitive lineup of the Icicle Works. These days he plays Creedence-influenced country blues, sometimes accompanied by his band Oyster. www.myspace.com/oyster1

2.30pm Risa Hall

Risa Hall is the real deal when it comes to Americana, having grown up with The Ramones in Forest Hills, NYC. Her music is a gutsy mix of country, blues and jazz influences, with (not surprisingly) a dash of punk as well. http://www.risahall.com/

3.30pm Richie Syrett

A rising star of Manchester’s new country scene, Richie has already received an ecstatic review from the Americana UK website for his album “Good morning midnight” (“an exquisite collection”). http://www.richiesyrett.com/

4.30pm Blind River Scare

Blind River Scare is a vehicle for the country-influenced songwriting of Newport (South Wales) based vocalist/ guitarist Tim Manning, who is a regular and popular guest at the Picnic Club at Fuel Bar. http://www.reverbnation.com/blindriverscare

5.30pm Picnic Area

South Manchester’s finest play alt country with attitude, and their Bill Leader-produced album “You know you want it!” has received a number of glowing reviews, including an 8 out of 10 from Americana UK. www.reverbnation.com/picnicarea Also see interview at http://mancunianmatters.co.uk/content/25053647-interview-country-ro...

6.30pm Garron Frith

Critically acclaimed local songwriter responsible for some heartbreakingly beautiful songs. As the Daily Express (no less!) writes, of his latest album “Away from the bright lights”: ‘ If someone of the calibre of Ryan Adams or Josh Ritter was delivering this, everyone would be gushing about songs like "Not the Man", "The Remedy" and "Good Thing"’. http://www.garronfrith.co.uk/

7.30pm Stuart Warburton

Formerly of rockabilly band The Rhythmaires, Stuart’s music embodies the spirit of Sun-era Johnny Cash. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB5HSAQtF2E

8.30pm Quiet Loner

Quiet Loner aka Matt Hill is one of the best loved figures on Britain’s new country scene, and his songs of infidelity, murder, suicide, as well as social comment transcend the limitations of the genre. “Secret ruler of the world” became Americana UK’s album of the year for 2004, and he has followed this up with the acclaimed “Spectrology”; ”Greedy magicians”, a live album of protest songs will follow soon! http://quietloneruk.wordpress.com/

10pm The Good Intentions

Liverpool-based country band The Good Intentions have won a string of awards, including Best Americana Act of the Year 2011 in the British Country Music awards. In addition to acclaim for their albums “Poor boy” and “Someone else’s time”, they have also received national publicity through singer Peter Davies’ involvement in the “56 Up” documentary. Make sure you stick around at the festival for wonderfully catchy songs like “Everyone loves a drinking man”, “Black train”, and “She’s in a George Jones mood”. www.thegoodintentions.co.uk

For more details, please contact:

Andy Callen, [e-mail] , mobile [phone]

Graham Buckley, [e-mail] , mobile [phone]