FORMER Koroit country singer Kayla Dwyer will feature on the bill of the St Brigid’s Blues & Roots Festival this week.
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The festival will be held in the Crossley Hall, beginning on Friday night and continuing through Saturday afternoon and into the evening.
The festival is a fundraiser for the Friends of St Brigid’s Association and the Crossley Men’s Shed.
It will be the second year the festival has been held, having debuted last year.
Festival organiser, Brendan Dowd, said the aim is to continue to build momentum.
“About 18 months before the first festival, we had a blues and roots revue fundraiser,” he said.
“That was very successful but the most important thing is it started to sow the seeds as far as establishing St Brigid’s as a blues and roots venue. We want to gradually build recognition of the festival so it is something people lock in to attend for years to come.”
The growth of the festival has begun with last year’s program being restricted to just the Saturday.
Children’s entertainment has also been added this year with dodgem cars and a jumping castle in play.
Joining Dwyer on the bill will be south-west musicians Tom Richardson, Dave Burgess, The Monaros, Lost in Suburbia, Jessica Skye, Lee Sonny Boy Morgan and the Hog Stompin’ Zydegators.
Former Port Fairy musician Marco Goldsmith will also perform with the Blue Sunday Blues Band.
Port Campbell band The Swamp Apostles will take its place at the festival.
The Swamp Apostles play mostly original tunes, bouncing between blues, country and rock genres.
The band features Jimmy Cowabunga (vocals, guitar), Drew Deppelar (lead guitar), Dave Lodge (keyboards, Squeezebox), Dr Pete Younis (rythym guitar), Scotty Munro (bass) and Richard Partridge (percussion, drums).
The Humbuckin’ Pickups formed in 2012 and will add Crossley to an already long line-up of events they have played.
These include the Fleurieu, Yackandandah, Surrey Hills, Healesville and Newport folk festivals.
Ishor Gurung will add an international flavour to the bill with the Portland performer born and raised in Nepal. He played in rock bands in Nepal and was also runner-up in a national guitar competition.
Since moving to Australia in 2009, Gurung has concentrated his musical energies on mastering the art of the acoustic guitar. He has recently released his first solo acoustic guitar instrumental album, Reminiscence. Tickets for the festival are available at www.trybooking.com/338804