Woodford Folk Festival 2013 Lineup Announced. Dates, Tickets, & Venues

The Woodford Folk Festival 2013 lineup has been announced with event organisers touting it as “the most ambitious programme ever.”

One of Australia’s longest running institutions, the Woodford Folk Festival now enters its 28th year and promises to feature over 500 acts across 28 venues, with 1,235 performances crammed across six days and nights for this year’s edition.

Running from Wednesday 27th December to Friday 1st January at the revered Woodfordia site on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Hinterland, the Woodford Folk Festival 2013 lineup offers a diverse mix of artists, styles, and genres – running the gamut from traditional folk and blues, to roots, soul, jazz, dance, and much more.

Leading the music programme is a strong list of international artists, with English ‘folktronica’ pioneer Beth Orton – backing up her recent Aussie visit for her new Sugaring Season LP – beloved Split Enz/Crowded House/solo artist Tim Finn (in his Woodford debut), legendary reggae offspring Julian Marley, emerging Canada stars Half Moon Run, Bablyon Circus from France, Scottish artist Rachel Sermanni, and Canadians Rose Cousins.

The Woodford Folk Festival 2013 lineup features, as always, a strong Australian contingent too. This year’s highlights include the Gotye-drumming trio The Basics, dynamic Melbourne melodist Clare Bowditch, blue-eyed soul crooner Matt Corby, festival-honed faves Blue King Brown, Aussie rock supergroup The Break, and Buffalo Tales – the musical moniker of Wes Carr.

Famed troubadour Jordie Lane, folk heroes Busby Marou, Indigenous star Shellie Morris, emerging NIMA winner Thelma Plum and mercurial hip hop artist Chance Waters are also on the bill, as well as The Twoks, Brendan MacLean, GANGgajang, and more.

“We see our festival programme as a catalogue of offerings that might satiate the best audience a festival could hope for,” says Festival Director Bill Hauritz.

“We aim to give our precious patrons a deeper cultural encounter. We offer the complete experience from great food, comfortable and stimulating surrounds with challenging presentations across a broad spectrum of spoken word, music, craft, dance, comedy and workshops.”

To that end, beyond the impressive Woodford Folk Festival 2013 lineup, there’s also a selection of speakers and leaders in their field offering their experience in a series of panels and forums. Woodfordia will welcome former Prime Minister Bob Hawke (in his seventh Woodford appearance) and famed Australian conservationist Professor Ian Lowe.

Elsewhere on the Woodford programme, the Folklines event series will include performances from Japanese drum masters TaikOZ and the mantra chants of Monks of Tibet. The GREENhouse will again provide environmentally minded debates and workshops, while theatre buffs will find plenty to enjoy at The Parlour and the Bazaar, including Hot Brown Honey Burlesque, The Dirty Brothers, Birdmann, and the annual Woodford game show, Festival of Fortune.

The full festival programme can be viewed at www.woodfordfolkfestival.com or as a handy online version of the 132-page sized document here.

Early bird tickets are on sale now for Woodford Folk Festival, with a range of passes and discounts available until 24th December. Head here for more info.

(Image: Martin Ollman. Source: Woodford Folk Festival 2012-13)

Woodford Folk Festival 2013 Lineup

Beth Orton (ENG)
The Basics
Clare Bowditch
Matt Corby
Tim Finn (NZ)
Half Moon Run (CAN)
Julian Marley (JAM/ENG)
Busby Marou
Buffalo Tales
Chance Waters
Thelma Plum
Shellie Morris
Leah Flanagan
Andrea Kirwin
Blue King Brown
Brendan Maclean
GANGgajang
Jordie Lane
Rose Cousins (CAN)
Babylon Circus (FRA)
Breabach (SCOT)
Rachel Sermanni (SCOT)
The Twoks
Darren Hanlon
Bootleg Rascal
Belle Jar
Castlecomer
Beccy Cole
Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers (CAN)
Barry Morgan’s World of Wonderful Organs
TaikOZ
The Dirty Brothers
+ more