Village Pump Folk Festival's, patrons Steve Knightley & Phil Beer have revealed the headline acts for this year’s festival, as well as their own unique contribution to the event.

Show of Hands appearance at this year’s festival will be recorded as a limited edition album – available only to those in the audience at the Village Pump stage at the Westbury White Horse Country Park. 

Steve Knightley commented “Festival goers will be given the opportunity to be named as ‘backing singers’ on a one-off live recording of that night’s performance. This CD will only be available to those who attend and will be limited to 1000 copies.”

Phil Beer said “We are thrilled to be back at our favourite West Country festival and it is an honour to reveal that our fellow headline acts include our very good friends Oysterband; the incredible Treacherous Orchestra from Scotland plus the best Reggae/ English folk fusion band in the world - Edward II.”

These acts are also joined by legendary figures of the UK Folk scene Martin Carthy MBE & Dave Swarbrick who will be marking their 50^th anniversary of performing together this year; Barbara Dickson OBE with Rab Noakes, alongside emerging acts including Mad Dog McRea, Roving Crows, Sam Green & The Midnight Heist and the exciting young Welsh band Calan.

The festival organisers are also pleased to have captured a performance by False Lights – the exciting new project/band from Bristol based Jim Moray and Sam Carter. Their session early this year for the Folk Show on Radio 2 is still being much commented on ahead of their first album release in February.

Returning to the festival this year will be the vocal thunder from down under – The Spooky Men’s Chorale. This Australian acapella group are renowned as one of the most formidable acts in the live arena.

The Village Pump Folk Festival is also delighted to be hosting a rare gig by a new band called The Broonzies whose alumni include North-eastern singer-songwriter Jez Lowe alongside Chris Parkinson, Maggie Holland, and Rod Clements (formerly of Lindisfarne).

Festival director John Alderslade said :- “Our promise to people attending the Village Pump Folk Festival is that they will get to experience, across our four stages, the very best in folk, roots and acoustic music in the United Kingdom. This year we have a hand-picked roster of terrific talent that will delight and entertain you whether you’re a seasoned festival-goer or a novice taking the plunge for the first time, a nu-folk obsessed teenager or a family looking for entertainment for all. I and the rest of the volunteer team can’t wait to welcome you to the White Horse Country Park, Westbury from 24^th July and to be part of the biggest backing band ever assembled for Show of Hands!”

The full line up for the festival is :-

The Broonzies, Spooky Men’s Chorale, False Lights, Calan, Barbara Dickson & Rab Noakes, Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick, Mad Dog Mcrea, Roving Crows, Coco & The Butterfields, Wille & The Bandits, Ruarri Joseph Band, Sam Green & The Midnight Heist: Allan Yn Y Fan, Mick Ryan & Paul Downes, Carrivick Sisters, Cardboard Fox, Keith Christmas, Striding Edge, Jenna Witts, Rob Lear, Bill Smarme & The Bizness, Up The Creek, Worry Dolls, Talisman, Phil Cooper, Kirsty Clinch, Leander Morales, Polly Barrett, Jackie & Felix Byrne, Gaz Brookfield, Foreign Affairs & Village Pump Choir.

Tier 2 tickets are selling strongly and are available at £109 adult weekend, £54.50 student weekend and £10 per child.

The organisers of the 2015 Village Pump Folk Festival, announce new partnership between the festival and UK car-sharing site Liftshare.

Liftshare promotes cheap, social and sustainable travel to festivals across the country and is looking to work closely with us this year to help promote the festival whilst offering affordable travel to the event for fans of the festival. “The Village Pump Folk Festival is seeking to be a progressive organisation and we know from customer comments received last year that people are concerned about the carbon footprint of the festival, sustainability and green issues. We love the idea that our Pumpers can create the festival atmosphere of the Pump en route to White Horse Country Park.”

“Liftshare is a cheap and green way to travel to Village Pump Folk Festival in 2015. Simply offer or request a lift from fellow festival-goers, and split the petrol cost to save a great deal on the road. It’s miles cheaper than trains or taxis, and better for the environment too. Sign up for free and start saving today.”

Each year, thousands of Liftshare members use the free site to split petrol costs and request lifts to UK festivals like Download, Glastonbury and Latitude to name a few. Liftshare’s founder Ali Clabburn said :- “We would like to see more and more people using schemes like ours, and to help festivals meet their sustainability targets.” Village Pump Folk Festival Director John Alderslade commented:-

He added that:- “ If working with Liftshare means less cars on the roads, more travellers socialising on their way to the Village Pump Festival and less of an impact on the environment – we are all winners!”