Show of Hands annual signature festival on the Dorset heritage coast celebrates its 15th year this summer – fielding some of the hottest young acoustic roots acts in England, Wales and Germany in one of its best ever line-ups. 

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The 15th year celebration should have taken place last summer but Show of Hands were forced to cancel their popular annual signature festival as relentless rain lashed Dorset’s coast and flooded roads were closed throughout the area.

With fingers firmly crossed for this July’s weather, the unique family festival will once again take place at Abbotsbury’s glorious Sub Tropical Gardens near Weymouth on Saturday, July 6, close to the Jurassic coast’s Chesil Beach.

Together with regular guest Miranda Sykes on double bass and vocals, singer songwriter Steve Knightley and his multi instrumental partner Phil Beer will spearhead over six hours of non-stop open-air entertainment on Abbotsbury’s West Lawn.

Joining the outdoor party will be a raft of special guests topped by the innovative, sometimes controversial, always electrifying Jim Moray – one of the most exciting talents to hit the English folk scene.

Moray, who is currently on tour with Eliza Carthy, has turned the folk world on its head with his inimitable, boundary-blitzing brand of “nu-folk” and is credited with bringing about “the greatest leap forward in folk for 30 years”. Ever the experimentalist the BBC Radio 2 award-winning multi-instrumentalist and singer is known for shaking traditional English ballads back to life in striking modern arrangements. At the 2004 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards he won both the Best Newcomer and Best Album titles – the latter for his stand out debut album, Sweet England, which featured radical takes on some of our best-known traditional ballads.Jim, who has played key festivals including Glastonbury, WOMAD and Cambridge, went on to make albums including MOJO’s 2008 Folk Album of the Year (the exquisite Low Culture) and caused more surprises with his BBC award-winning XTC cover All You Pretty Girls. 

Hoping the rain clouds will stay away from Abbotsbury will be the 2012 winner of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Horizon award for Best Newcomer - Derbyshire singer-songwriter Lucy Ward.

“Totally, totally brilliant! - Mike Harding about Lucy Ward 

At just 22 she is developing into a fine songwriter and has been busy wowing folk club and festivals audiences up and down the country with her pure, captivating voice, unpretentious banter and sparkling stage presence. Her set is an eclectic mix of modern and trad folk interpretations and her own songs and her debut album Adelphi Has to Fly drew praise from many corners.  

Also joining the impressive line-up will be another award-winning young act -the high energy, much feted Welsh band Jamie Smith’s Mabon. “A top band led by one hell of an accordion player and arranger”-Mike Harding

The prodigiously talented JSM are fast making their unique and vibrant mark on the roots scene, led by tunesmeister and accordionist extraordinaire Jamie Smith. 2011 saw the all-male line up make a triumphant first appearance at the world’s largest winter music festival - Celtic Connections - as well as their WOMAD debut on the BBC Radio 3 stage, and many other memorable festival performances. 

Mabon scooped the Best Instrumental Album title (for their Porthcawl-recorded Live at the Grand Pavilion) in the 2011 Spiral Awards -an album that captures all the energy and pizzazz of their acclaimed live show while their latest album Windblown was widely acclaimed.

A new diversion has seen JSM weave some songs into the set -including the aptly named Yes We Sing Now (!) as well as some exciting shifts in style and sound. But it is Smith’s inspired, eclectic tunes that continue to dominate the material that delves into every Celtic corner – from their native Wales to Brittany, Scotland, Ireland, Galicia and beyond. His prolific and imaginative compositions take audiences on a magical whistle-stop Euro tour with jigs and reels jostling for space alongside other dance-related forms including Breton andro, French mazurka, Galician muinera and even shades of klezmer in an exuberant, feelgood show. 

Fellow Devon musicians Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, rapidly making waves on the roots scene, will also be heading to Abbotsbury, following their tour with Steve Knightley this spring.

Steve first saw the duo busking on the seafront during the 2009 Sidmouth Festival and a year later they were firmly on the festival’s bill. Henry and Martin went on to join Show of Hands for some dates on their 2010 “Spires and Beams” tour. 

With a new album Mynd out this autumn, they combine influences as diverse as English folk music, Indian classical and American blues using slide guitar, fiddle, harmonica, banjo and beatbox. Their debut album, Singing The Bones, has won praise from the likes of Radio 2’s Mike Harding and Radio 3’s Fiona Talkington and their festival circuit appearances include Glastonbury. 

Completing the line up will be the Germany-based acoustic duo Broom Bezzums (Andrew Cadie and Mark Bloomer) who Steve Knightley describes as “just about the best young duo on the circuit”. Songwriters, vocalists and multi instrumentalists, between them they play fiddle, guitar, mandola and Northumbrian pipes and have supported Show of Hands on German tours.

The event starts at 3pm .Tickets are available on 01305-871130, price £25 (adults); £15 (children) or a great value family ticket for two adults and up to three children for £55. The Abbotsbury Tourism box office is open 9am-1pm and 2-5pm Mondays to Fridays. www.abbotsbury-tourism.co.uk or email [email protected] 

Concertgoers are invited to bring low-backed seating, rugs and picnics into the grounds - entry to the West Lawn area is from 1.30pm. The grounds open at 10am for those interested in looking round the magnificent 20-acre gardens (admission included in ticket price) with one trail taking visitors to a viewpoint overlooking the Jurassic coast and Chesil Beach. For the youngsters, children’s entertainer Rob Pudner will be on hand with his circus skills and storytelling and face painters will also be at the ready.