AmericanaFest Bootleg BBQ - Celebrating UK Americana with All Female Line Up

BRITISH UNDERGROUND ANNOUNCE LINE-UP FOR 

THE ANNUAL BOOTLEG BBQ, CELEBRATING THE ABUNDANCE 

OF FEMALE TALENT WITHIN THE AMERICANA MUSIC COMMUNITY

PERFORMANCES FROM UK AND US ARTISTS INCLUDING:

ANGALEENA PRESLEY (USA)
YOLA CARTER (UK)
COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS (USA)
DANNI NICHOLLS (UK)
ERIN RAE (USA)
WILDWOOD KIN (UK)

THE BOOTLEG BBQ IS AN INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED UK AMERICANA MUSIC AND NETWORKING EVENT HOSTED DURING AMERICANAFEST 2017 ON SATURDAY 16 SEPTEMBER @ THE GROOVE, NASHVILLE. FROM 12 NOON.

EVENT HOSTED BY BBC RADIO’S BAYLEN LEONARD AND PRODUCED IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE LINE OF BEST FIT AND AMA UK

FREE ENTRY / FREE BEER

Thursday 10 August, London/Nashville – International music showcase producer and curator British Underground will partner with the Americana Music Association to host the fifth annual Bootleg BBQ in Nashville, held on Saturday 16 September, during AmericanaFest, the world’s biggest celebration of Americana music. The internationally recognised industry networking and music event, held each year at East Nashville’s coolest record store - The Groove, showcases the UK’s best musicians influenced by Americana, alongside performances from the best USA emerging artists.

The all-female main stage line up celebrates the abundance of female talent this year writing and performing within the Americana music community and will feature performances from indie country stars including ANGALEENA PRESLEY who stated "I am extremely honoured to be headlining the British Underground BBQ at Americana Fest. I've been building a fan base in the UK for a couple years and it gets better every time I go. Organizations like British Underground are such brilliant supporters of independent artists.  I'm absolutely thrilled about their all female lineup including my friends Danni Nichols and Yola Carter. I feel lucky to be one of those gals and come September, I'm gonna play my heart out for them.”

Joined by rising stars including COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS (USA), DANNI NICHOLLS (UK), ERIN RAE (USA) and WILDWOOD KIN (UK) these female artists are all forging their own success often outside of the mainstream music business. Angaleena added, “Bob Harris and Ricky Ross at BBC radio welcome women with great enthusiasm, as have the AMA in the UK. Stevie Freeman (chair of AMA UK) is such a strong female presence in the industry and I'm grateful for her support.”

UK country soul superstar YOLA CARTER, who returns to the Bootleg BBQ for a second year having received accolades from NPR to The Wall Street Journal for her 2017 performance, stated: “I am delighted to be returning to the Bootleg BBQ again this year. Americanafest 2016 was an incredible launch pad for me, since I performed last year I’ve won artist of the year at the AMAUK Awards, toured the UK, Europe and Canada, playing international festivals and planning the international release of my debut album. British Underground and their team help propel British artists onto the international stage and its great to be able to support them again this year. “

The Bootleg BBQ will be hosted by Baylen Leonard, in association with independent music website The Line of Best Fit who partner with British Underground this year, supporting the event as a media partner as well as curating the line up for the indoor stage. Artists to be announced shortly.

Event partner AMA UK will host an additional series of showcases during Americanafest at The Alley Taps – details to be announced via http://theamauk.org/

The AMA-UK is a professional trade association representing and advocating for the voice of American Roots music in the UK. Our membership comprises musicians, both from the UK and overseas, plus professionals from all sectors of the music industry, such as agents, promoters, venues, festivals, labels, distributors, retailers, management, touring, journalists, broadcasters and publicists.

In 2017 BRITISH UNDERGROUND is celebrating 16 years curating and producing UK music showcases that have helped hundreds of music-makers break into international markets at events like SXSW, Americanafest, Folk Alliance and British House at the Rio Olympics.  Working across genres from jazz to grime, we also offer financial help with travel and accommodation for musicians through our relationship with the PRSF International Showcase Fund and we produce new music radio shows for British Airways in-flight entertainment system.  We are funded by Arts Council England and our offices are in the Musicians' Union in Oval, London. - WEBSITE

About The Line Of Best Fit

The Line of Best Fit is the UK's biggest independent website devoted to new music. From bedroom blog beginnings over ten years ago, we're one of the world’s most trusted voices for music discovery, read by more two million people a month who come to the site to find their new favourite artist. We’re made by music fans for music fans - a DIY collective of writers, photographers, editors, filmmakers, developers and artists from London, across the UK and beyond. Our independence has given us the freedom to focus on rising talent as much as established artists. We’re also a record label, a podcast, a music festival, a club night and a YouTube series. We run stages at some of the world’s best music festivals - Iceland Airwaves, End of the Road and The Great Escape.

ANGALEENA PRESLEY (USA)

Critically acclaimed country singer-songwriter Angaleena Presley will perform tracks from her hot new album ‘Wrangled’, the explicitly forthright journey through her experience in the business of Country Music – tackling head on, the uncomfortable realities of the discrimination against female artists at the height of Bro-Country, the high school mentality of Music Row and the pain that's just beneath the surface of the road to stardom. Championed by legends including Wanda Jackson and Guy Clark and media from the Guardian to Rolling Stone, Angaleena Presley is the most resilient, hardworking, straight talking and dynamic performers in country music today.

COURTNEY MARIE ANDREWS (USA)

Another emerging artists success story this year, after a decade playing with over 40 different bands played including Damien Jurado and Jimmy Eat World, Loose/Fat Possum’s Courtney Marie Andrews wrote and released hit album Honest Life (written while she was slinging drinks in Washington State) which has demanded the attention of the music industry and landed support from on both sides of the Atlantic. US publications including Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Paste, American Songwriter to NPR have praised her, alongside British press and media from BBC, The Telegraph, Guardian, Independent alongside an appearance on Later...With Jools Holland.  

DANNI NICHOLLS (UK)

Nominated for ‘UK Album of the Year’ at last years AMAUK awards, the Americana/Roots/Country inspired singer-songwriter, champed by UK media from Bob Harris and Paul Sexton to Uncut and Q Magazine will perform with Emmylou Harris’ incredible back up band, Red Dirt Boys featuring Chris Donohue, Will Kimbrough, Phil Madeira, and Bryan Owings. 

ERIN RAE (USA)

Now stepping out into the spotlight, East Nashville’s go to harmony girl - Erin Rae, who has performed with Margo Price, Anderson East and Andrew Combs, stands front and centre after full length debut ‘Soon Enough’ released last year, received huge critical support from long-time tastemakers at NPR alongside the likes of Rolling Stone and The Fader. Recent indie meets country single releases ‘Wild Blue Wind’ and ‘Like The First Time’ received unprecedented support from influential music blogs from Line Of Best Fit to The 405 and have finally propelled her into the limelight she deserves. With her new record ‘Putting On Airs’ poised for release early next year – 2018 is already shaping up to be her break-though year.

WILDWOOD KIN (UK)

Wildwood Kin, a family trio, borrow heavily from early folk influences, but their extraordinary debut album delves deeply in to other genres, featuring both electric and acoustic instruments. It boasts inventive sonics and spectral atmospherics alongside their hypnotic three-part harmonies. Guitarist Emillie Key, her bouzouki/keyboard-playing sister Beth and their drumming cousin Meghann Loney all sing, swapping leads on original songs, and joining forces on harmonies that have remained their trademark. BBC Introducing favourites, their performance at Glastonbury 2017 was selected by the BBC as one of the Highlights of the festival and their first 2 singles both featured on the BBC Radio 2 playlist.

Having recently signed to Sony’s Silvertone Label, the band’s amazing debut album “Turning Tides” is released in August and in September they play as part of Radio 2’s Festival in a Day in Hyde Park.  This Autumn they embark on their own UK headline tour.

YOLA CARTER (UK)

Yola, the country-soul singer/songwriter from Bristol UK returns to Americanafest this year, after a meteoric rise during last year’s Americanafest, where Yola was singled out by publications from The Guardian to NPR, Blue Grass Situation, Stereogum and No Depression, which led to her claiming ‘UK Artist of the Year’ at the AMA UK Awards 2017. She then embarked on her first headline UK tour, described by The Times as “spectacular” and is currently planning the release of her debut album. Heavily influenced from an early age by Sixties country, Stax-era soul and gospel ranging from The Staple Singers to Otis Redding, Yola was raised in a small seaside town in the South West of the England and “always wanted to be a country music artist”. Unafraid to address difficult issues in her lyrics, Yola’s real-life story - both heartbreaking and inspirational - naturally finds its way into her songs. Coming from a poor, broken home and a parent suffering from mental illness who ‘banned’ her from making any music, Yola’s experience of growing up was one of truly living below the breadline. In a working class community in denial of its status where discrimination and even violence fuelled by racism were not unusual, writing music quickly became an outlet and a means of expression, and touring a means of escape.