2012 Lineup announced!

Dancin' shoes at the ready, folks....

We are quite giddyingly proud to announce the lineup for the 2012 festival.  Trying to top last year has been something of a challenge, but we feel we might just have done it...

Friday night will kick off with one of the most compelling folk musicians on the scene, Alasdair Roberts, whose liquid guitar style and evocative, deeply poetic lyrics have won plaudits across the globe.  He will be followed by local boys made exceptionally good, Finding Albert, in an all-too-rare Stewartry outing - these boys are in serious demand and we're very fortunate to have pinned them down!  Finishing off the concert is Samba Sene and Diwan, Senegalese dance music which we defy you to to stand still to!

Saturday begins with the gorgeous Beth Fouracre, taking a break from the sound-desk to take her rightful place on stage.  She is followed by festival favourites The Shiznits, in their long-awaited and bitterly-negotiated Midsummer Music comeback!  Finally we have some genuine folk legends, the unstoppable Shooglenifty, making their first ever visit to Gatehouse of Fleet.  If you know your onions, you know this is not to be missed.

Sunday's Mill Session brings you acoustic brilliance courtesy of Lewis Fergusson, Pete McConville and Scruffy Buzzards.

There will also be the inevitable mixture of mad jam sessions, smooth blues Jellyroll Gumdrop style, random sandwiches and all the rest.  We'll try to keep you posted as everything develops - browse the website, follow us on facebook or just throw caution to the wind and get yersel's doon here!

Stop Press::: In a last minute line-up change, Beth Fouracre has sadly had to pull out of this year's festival due to other commitments.  Watch this space to find out who'll replace her - some exciting suggestions already being made!

Where did it all begin?

Long years ago in the dark distant past, Gatehouse of Fleet in the heart of Galloway played host to a noted grassroots festival which attracted musicians from around the country.

These epic shindigs would span a whole week and even had a shady offspring in the shape of an annual beer festival. For some reason  however, the Gatehouse festival dwindled and fell from the bough like a patchouli-scented autumn leaf, to fade into legend and obscurity.  Except...

The comeback kid

… a small band of devoted followers headed by the angelic Susi Woodmass kept the flame alive, and in 2007 the Gatehouse Festival made a tentative comeback.

The following year that comeback had nothing tentative about it as, like a phoenix from the ashes, Midsummer Music leapt into the public consciousness and produced a blinding solstice weekend of hooks, hedonism and home baking.

With a weekend of pub sessions hosted by the cream of local talent (and refreshed by the cream of local beer), not to mention a sellout Saturday night concert which saw lo-fi songsmithery mingled with adrenaline filled folk-punk, the Festival staked a claim on the summer music circuit that was not to be ignored.

And so to 2012

What can we say?  It just keeps getting better!  Read on... to find out why Gatehouse of Fleet is truly the only place to be this Summer Solstice. Stonehenge?  Pah!

P.S. - Bands take note: shortly after supporting Mike Heron at Midsummer Music 2010, Trembling Bells had the Sunday times 'Album of the Week' - King Creosote was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize after playing last year's festival - and Finding Albert, this year's Friday headliners, have just won Best New Band at the Herald's Scottish Variety Awards!  It's clearly not overstating things to say that playing Midsummer Music leads to guaranteed musical recognition and success!