With new and returning artists set to embark on their Port Fairy adventure, the 45th Folkie will celebrate songwriters and storytellers performing alongside up and coming folk stars.

Program director Justin Rudge said the second line-up was refreshing to announce following Victoria's latest COVID-19 lockdown.

''What an honour to be able to confirm this fantastic line-up for our 2022 festival," he said.

"Next March we will be presenting true festival favourites, incredible songwriters and show-stopping emerging artists who will go on to be the future of folk music around the world.

''I'd like to thank the Port Fairy Folk Festival team and our wonderful volunteers, alongside the artists, agents and managers, for working so hard together to bring this collective of talent for the return of our iconic Folkie in 2022.

"We cannot wait to celebrate live music in our beautiful seaside village with our loyal audience and newcomers alike in March."

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Frontman of The Bushwackers Dobe Newton is thrilled to be joining the lineup once again.

He remembers playing one of the first Folkies on the back of a truck in the late '70s.

"As always there's a whole lot of acts on the lineup I haven't seen before, but the beautiful thing about this festival is the constant discovery - you always walk away having seen half a dozen people you're unfamiliar with and who blow your mind," he said.

"We performed at the second or third festival back at the end of the '70s and have been going regularly ever since.

"I've been down there every year for about the last 30 years."

The iconic Australian band is celebrating its 50^th birthday this year and will be playing an extra-special set at the 2022 festival.

The Bushwackers are led by Newton and the musical direction of Roger Corbett. Both are joined onstage with a great team of musicians wielding fiddles, accordions, mandolins, guitars, bass, and drums.

"We're going to stretch the 50th to include Port Fairy Folk Festival," Newton said.

"Seeing it's our 50^th we'll do some special stuff - we have talked to a few of our legendary ex-members who are Victorian-based and who are going to come along - including a couple from the first ever Bushwhackers lineup."

It's the intimate, community-centred approach of the festival that Newton says keeps him and others coming back year after year.

"It's just one of the worlds great festivals and it's always an honour to be asked to play," he said.

"The first one we played was on the back of a truck on the footy oval so it's changed quite a bit since then but the one thing, as I say to people, it's sad sometimes when you see events get too big and people lose that sense of intimacy.

"I cant think another festival I've been to that's so successfully managed its increased popularity but still means as much to those people going years and years and years and there are people who have literally grown up with that festival and still come back.

"They've managed to maintain that amazing atmosphere of involvement they've always had despite the fact that, physically, it's huge."

The following artists have been added to the bill:

Bob Evans, Emily Barker (UK), Ernest Aines, Fiona Ross & Shane O'Mara, First Nations Voices, Gordon Koang, Jordie Lane, Leah Senior, Liz Stringer, Maubere Timor (TL), Nadia Reid (NZ), Robyn Hitchcock (UK), Rudely Interrupted, The Bushwackers, Heartbrokers, The Thin White Ukes, The Weeping Willows, Tracy McNeil & The GoodLife, Tuck Shop Ladies, Van Walker & The Ferriters will join the line-up featuring Eric Bibb (US), Kee'ahn, Emma Donovan & The Putbacks, Courtney Marie Andrews (US), Eilen Jewell (US), Weddings Parties Anything, Elephant Sessions (US), Jon Boden (UK), Baby et Lulu, and Watchhouse (US) for the 45th Port Fairy Folk Festival in March.

The 45th Port Fairy Folk Festival will take place in Port Fairy, Victoria from 11-14 March 2022. Tickets available now.

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