Gate To Southwell 2025 to feature a special Blues Day

A special day of Blues music is to be held, bringing together performers from around the globe.

Gate To Southwell 2025 is expected to be the most popular in the festival’s 18 year history, and it will mark it with a special Blues Day on Saturday, July 5.

Following headliners like ex-Bellowhead frontman Jon Boden and The Remnant Kings on the Thursday and legendary folk guitarist-songwriter Richard Thompson OBE on Friday, Alabama 3 Acoustic will headline the Saturday afternoon concert on the Lake Stage.

Globally famous for their Sopranos theme tune ‘Woke Up This Morning’, the South London roots-futurists — led by Larry Love and Zoe Devlin Love — will pay tribute to blues greats such as Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker.

Throughout the day the Frontier Stage will play host to a variety of artists in a blues vein, and to kick it all off there’ll be a story of the blues presentation from Rhydian Wyn and The Blue Fire with contributions from numerous luminaries of the local blues-scene.

The Blues line-up includes internationally-acclaimed rhythm and blues band The Cadillac Kings, and the cajun-meets-honky-tonk zydeco blues of Ruben Moreno from Houston, Texas.

Hat Fitz and Cara will also make a return from Australia, having supported Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra. Hat Fitz, a veteran of the Aussie blues scene, and Cara, originally from Northern Ireland, blend country and delta blues with Australian folk and traditional Celtic sounds.

Adding a more acoustic element will be Ma Polaine’s Great Decline, as featured on 6Music and Cerys Matthews’ show, plus highly-acclaimed country blues guitarist and vocalist Sunjay, a solo set from Nine Below Zero’s singer Charlie Austen, a special blues set from regulars Winter Wilson.

The Gate To Southwell Festival runs from Thursday, July 3, to Sunday, July 6, at the Kirklington Lakes site.