Musical legend Judy Collins and other international stars are back on the bill for Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2022 after a two-year hiatus forced by the covid pandemic.
The festival has secured much of its original 2020 line-up of overseas artists for next year including the American folk singer songwriter (USA), Galician piper Carlos Núñez (Spain), Juno award winners Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (Canada), Black Umfolosi (Zimbabwe), Moonlight Benjamin (Haiti/France), Stephen Fearing and The Sentimentals (Canada/Denmark) and solo shows from Colin Linden (Canada) and Tom Wilson (Canada). The Grammy nominated all-women string band, Della Mae (USA), will also be making its first visit to Shrewsbury.
Festival favourites Show of Hands will also headline and The Roaring Trowmen will bring the annual dose of sea shanties with organisers poised to reveal many more headliners early in 2022. The festival has a rich pedigree of bringing performers from all corners of the globe to Shrewsbury but a postponed festival in 2020 and travel restrictions in 2021 meant they had been unable to attend.
Director Sandra Surtees said: “I am very pleased that we will, at long last, be able to host our first visits from Judy Collins and Carlos Núñez – they’ve been on our wishlist for a very long time! Moonlight Benjamin will also be making her festival debut as will Della Mae, which we think are a perfect fit for the festival. We’ll be revealing more headliners early in 2022 as our plans develop including many more of the best in folk, roots and Americana.”
The festival is adopting a new format in 2022 following the success of this year’s outdoor stages with a combination of open-air stages and open sided marquees.
Sandra added: “We had overwhelmingly positive feedback about the atmosphere this year with the new stage layouts and having outdoor and covered venues was the most popular option with our audience.”
Tickets for the 2022 festival, which will take place at the West Midland Showground in Berwick Road from August 26th to 29th, are now on sale at www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk.
