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As NSW opens
BLUESFEST
announces more artists

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“HOLD ON TO YOUR TICKETS BLUESFESTERS – I STILL HAVE SOME AMAZING HEADLINERS TO ANNOUNCE.” – PETER NOBLE OAM – CHAIRMAN BLUESFEST GROUP OF COMPANIES

AMY SHARK
CASEY BARNES
STAN WALKER
KEVIN BORICH EXPRESS
LACHY DOLEY & THE HORNS OF CONVICTION
LISA HUNT’S FOREVER SOUL
GEOFF ACHISON & THE SOULDIGGERS
HAT FITZ & CARA

Bluesfest will take place over 5 days from Thursday 14th April to Monday 18th April 2022 at the Byron Events Farm, Tyagarah, NSW, AUSTRALIA.

To open Bluesfest there will be a very special night, ‘THURSDAZE’, on Thursday 14th April.

All ticket options plus camping, parking and VIP are on sale now via the Bluesfest website.

This morning Bluesfest is excited to announce that, as NSW opens, we are adding another
EIGHT AWESOME ARTISTS to the already amazing lineup.  We have now announced 82 artists who, between them, will perform over 130 shows across the days. And hold tight …. There’s more … Our special THURSDAY artist announcement is coming next!

Amy Shark

AMY SHARK is a super talent who is exploding across the world. She’s a multi-award winner (8 ARIA’s from 22 nominations, 4 APRA Awards from 10 nominations and the AWMA Breakthrough Artist Award) and a formidable songwriter. Amy’s latest album, ‘Cry Forever’, sees her teaming up with blink-182’s Travis Barker on the gold-accredited single ‘C’MON’ and global superstar Ed Sheeran to co-write platinum single ‘Love Songs Ain’t For Us’ featuring Grammy award winning artist Keith Urban. Welcome to Bluesfest, Amy.

Casey Barnes

Australia’s newest country-rock superstar, CASEY BARNES, also makes his Bluesfest debut next Easter. His undeniable talent, paired with iconic foot-stomping performances, and his happy-go-lucky attitude have all attributed to his ongoing success in Australia and abroad. His latest country energetic single ‘Come Turn Me On’ awarded him his fourth consecutive single within the last 8 months to hit #1 on both the Global Country Music Network Charts and the Air 100% Independent Singles Charts. He’s a powerhouse and his high-octane live show is not to be missed.

Stan Walker

15 years ago, a young STAN WALKER played Bluesfest as part of our High School Showcase. Now the Trans-Tasman pop R&B star returns for the first time in his own right. He says it all:  “I grew up in Byron, a wonderful heaven on earth. Every year mum and dad would go to Bluesfest. We love soul and blues. First year I went I was gob-smacked; this was musical heaven on earth. Mum poked me and said: “Son – forget Billboard – forget Grammy’s – I will know you have made it as an artist when you are on the Bluesfest stage”. Dream big right! I knew that as a boy from the wrong end of town that was unlikely. Well Mum you are my plus one for April 15th”. He’s a multi-award winner (7 wins from 25 nominations) and this week added 2 more Waiata Māori Music Awards!

Kevin Borich

KEVIN BORICH has been thrilling audiences with his dynamic Rock, Blues and Funk … and blistering boogie, ever since he came over the Tasman with the La De Das and their anthemic ‘Gonna See My Baby Tonight’. He has been lauded globally for his guitar virtuosity and has shared the stage with the greats: Santana, Bo Diddley, Richie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Ron Wood (Rolling Stones), Joe Walsh, John Mayall, Taj Mahal, and has opened shows for Elton John, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy and Peter Frampton. Together with his ‘A Team’ Express, Jon Carson (drums, vocals) and Chris Gilbert (bass, vocals), the KEVIN BORICH EXPRESS leave audiences wondering just how 3 performers can create such inescapable sounds, mixing Rock, Blues & Funk. You’d better see for yourself at Easter.

Lachy Doley and the Horns of Conviction

LACHY DOLEY is omni-present at Bluesfest: he is the go-to keyboard wizard for many top Australian artists. In between touring and sessions for others he fronts The Lachy Doley Group. His latest album ‘Studios 301 Sessions’ debuted at #1 on the ARIA Jazz & Blues Albums Chart. This time at Bluesfest Lachy Doley has taken his festival-adored Hammond Organ power trio THE LACHY DOLEY GROUP and supercharged it with an electric 4-piece horn section, 2 amazing backing singers and some screaming blues guitar to create … LACHY DOLEY AND THE HORNS OF CONVICTION. All the soul and energy of the power trio but with whole lot more class, more excitement, and more power.

Lisa Hunt

LISA HUNT is one of our ‘almost’ local stars with an incredible loyal following. Former Byron Bay and now Gold Coast resident, New York born Lisa Hunt has sold over a million records and shared stages with the likes of Pavarotti, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, James Brown, Miles Davis, Dionne Warwick and Zucchero, with whom she worked as featured vocalist for many years. Lisa Hunt’s Forever Soul, a Rhythm and Blues Retrospective, comes to Bluesfest next Easter.

Geoff Achison & The Soul Digger

For the real traditional Blues lover, you can’t go past GEOFF ACHISON AND THE SOUL-DIGGERS. Geoff and his top-shelf band have been dishing out the Blues across the globe for the last 30 or so years and we are happy to have him back playing Bluesfest.

HAT FITZ & CARA

HAT FITZ & CARA: Fitz has played at more than half our total Bluesfests and with his powerhouse drummer, vocalist (and wife) Cara they have rocked our stages several times in this past decade. Classed as Convict Rhythm and Roots they are among Australia’s most talented roots music artists; with Fitzy’s weathered vocals and soaring, blues-soaked guitar combined with Cara’s pounding drums and soulful honey coated voice. They are a real treat to see – don’t miss this ‘dynamic duo’.

Peter Noble OAM comments: “How good is this announcement? How great are these artists? This Bluesfest lineup keeps building and building – the quality and talent next Easter Long Weekend, Thursday 14th April – Monday 18th April 2022, is amazing and unparalleled! It is THE BEST Aussie & Kiwi lineup – EVER, and guess what – we still have one or two surprises left up our sleeves!! We have always believed the day would come when we will be coming together to attend music festivals again. We have never given up on that and, although it’s been quite a difficult time, we feel that, for our beloved music industry, the musicians, the crews, everyone who works in it and especially the fans, it is our responsibility to be there to present the music we love, just as soon as we can. Thank you for sticking with us in what has been an epic journey … it’s not too long now.”

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Amy Shark

AMY SHARK

After bursting onto the global music scene in 2016, Amy Shark’s 6 x Platinum single ‘Adore’ put her on the map as one of Australia’s most formidable emerging songwriters. This was followed by APRA award winning (Song Of The year) 6 x Platinum and number one Australian Airplay Chart hit, ‘I Said Hi’ and the 2019 3 x platinum single ‘Mess Her Up’.

Shark’s debut/breakthrough #1 ARIA album and Platinum-certified LOVE MONSTER was recognised in 2018 with four ARIA awards (Album of the Year, Best Female Artist, Best Pop Release, Best Producer [Dann Hume]) and was nominated for another five. LOVE MONSTER went on to become the highest selling album by an Australian artist for 2018.
Amy was the first Australian artist to be crowned as the Apple Up Next Artist and as such, covered billboards in the US and performed on black shiny floors for Jimmy Fallon, James Corden and Colbert, touring the US multiple times and winning fans over across the country.

Not one to slow down, 2020 saw Amy release her ARIA award winning, platinum accredited single, ‘Everybody Rise’, which is nearing 32 million streams globally and spent 12 weeks in the top 10 Australian airplay chart. Amy’s latest album, CRY FOREVER was her second #1 ARIA debut holding the top spot for two weeks consecutively. Shark teamed up with blink 182’s Travis Barker on Gold accredited single ‘C’MON’ and global superstar Ed Sheeran to co-write platinum single ‘Love Songs Ain’t For Us’ featuring Grammy award winning artist Keith Urban. Today Amy has 645 million combined global streams.

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Casey Barnes

CASEY BARNES

Australian country artist Casey Barnes continues to further propel country pop/rock within the Australian music scene. It is Casey’s undeniable talent, paired with those iconic foot-stomping performances, and his happy go lucky attitude that have all attributed to his ongoing success in Australia and abroad.  

Despite the global pandemic setback, 2020 was an epic year for Casey Barnes, seeing him nominated for ARIA’s Country Album Of The Year with his ARIA #1 Australian Country Album, Town Of A Million Dreams.

Since then, Casey has lapped up four Golden Guitar nominations (2021 Toyota Album of the Year, Contemporary Country Album of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Vocal Collaboration of the Year) as well as an Apra Nomination (Most Performed Country Work) and an Air Nomination (Country Album of the Year), as he prepares to take his high octane live show around Australia to celebrate his latest country energetic single Come Turn Me On that awarded him his fourth consecutive single within the last 8 months to hit #1 on the Global Country Music Network Charts and more recently, placed #1 Air 100% Independent Singles Charts. The track has been well received with Rolling Stone Magazine (AU) stating, “While 2020 served as something of a bleak year for most, Barnes was able to turn musical lemons into lemonade. His latest is a masterful piece of country pop/rock, “Come Turn Me On” is exactly the sort of song that the phrase “crossover hit” was made to describe’.

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Stan Walker

STAN WALKER

Few figures in Australia and New Zealand music can compare to Stan Walker. As a singer, the trans-Tasman pop R&B star, recording artist, actor, and activist, is virtually peerless, possessing a heaven-sent voice that can sound angelic, sensual, or soaring. He brings people together. Growing up between Tauranga’s Tamapahore Marae in New Zealand and Byron Bay in Australia, the trans-Tasman Māori pop R&B star, recording artist, actor and activist was acutely aware of both the strength of his culture and the injustices suffered by indigenous people. From an early age, Stan knew he would be an agent of change, but if you want to create change, you need a platform. 

In 2009, he found his platform, when he became the winner of the seventh and final season of Australian Idol, and during the decade that followed, Stan Walker became one of Australia and New Zealand’s most beloved artists, with accolades that speak for themselves. Stan is connected to an online audience of over a million, and his tours across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands regularly sell out, and he has shared stages with RnB and hip-hop superstars like Chris Brown, Ciara, Nicki Minaj, Akon, and the queen herself – Beyoncé, who personality complimented on the beauty of his voice. In an era where the gestures of celebrity and influencer culture have never felt emptier, Stan is a man of the people, and for the people.

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Kevin Borich

KEVIN BORICH EXPRESS

Kevin Borich, a man with 57 years of professional experience behind him, a man who was invited onstage to jam with Santana twice, has shared the stage with Bo Diddley, Richie Blackmore (Deep Purple), Ron Wood (Rolling Stones), Joe Walsh, John Mayall, Taj Mahal, Living Colour, Canned Heat, and has opened shows for Elton John, Status Quo, Jeff Beck, Buddy Guy and Peter Frampton, plus two AC/DC shows in the USA. He topped the Australian Rock Music Guitar Awards twice in the 70’s and is always mentioned in the Top 10.

His crowds are a mixture of generations and attitudes. Older rockers, with their long hair, see his relaxed stance to be the epitome of cool.  Younger musicians are left pondering just how 3 performers can create such inescapable sounds, mixing Rock, Blues & Funk. Some fans know the words to his songs, dancing manically enjoying themselves. Indie people are curious to see if it is true what they have heard that a guitarist song writer with a career spanning close to 60 years can transcend his rock-based funk ‘n’ blues boundaries into the realms of their world.

The KEVIN BORICH EXPRESS is Kevin Borich (guitar, vocals), Jon Carson (drums, vocals) and Chris Gilbert (bass, vocals).

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Lachy Doley and The Horns of Conviction

LACHY DOLEY & THE HORNS OF CONVICTION

International touring artist Lachy Doley has taken his festival-adored Hammond Organ power trio THE LACHY DOLEY GROUP and supercharged it with an electric 4 piece horn section, 2 amazing backing singers and some screaming blues guitar to create….. LACHY DOLEY AND THE HORNS OF CONVICTION. All the soul and energy of the power trio but with whole lot more class, more excitement, and more power. The Horns Of Conviction isn’t just BIG for the sake of it, but a journey through different sounds and blends that these incredible musicians can conjure. Going from ginormous all-in full brass crescendos to the whisper quiet whistling tones of the Hammond Organ in the hands of blues organ master, all swirling underneath Lachy’s emotive baritone blues vocals to draw out as much wonderment, emotion, and entertainment as possible. Dubbed the Jimi Hendrix of the Hammond Organ, Lachy Doley is the most celebrated Blues/Soul/Rock organ player in the world today. Alongside powerhouse drummer Jacki Barnes and Joel Burton on bass, The Lachy Doley Group are a super energetic Soul/Blues force that perform as if their lives depend on it.  A must-see band at any festival. An unforgettable rollercoaster of Blues, Soul Ballads, Funk and a straight up amazing time.

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Lisa Hunt

LISA HUNT

Lisa Hunt began singing in that great African American tradition, the gospel church laying the foundation of her soulful singing style. As a singer – songwriter she has sold more than a million records. She has worked alongside producers Jellybean Benitez (Madonna) and Toni C (Whitney Houston), and has worked alongside the likes of Pavarotti, Ray Charles, Eric Clapton, James Brown, Miles Davis, Dionne Warwick and Australian artists Jimmy Barnes, Midnight Oil, Christine Anu, Wendy Matthews, and Diesel. For many years she worked with and was the featured vocalist on tour and recordings with Zucchero. As an actress she has appeared in several ‘Off-Broadway productions and later produced and starred in her own production of ‘The Roots Of My Soul‘. a “Bluesical” – Byron Bay’s very first musical. In recent years she has been touring the Rhythm and Blues Retrospective ‘Forever Soul‘ in Australia, the Middle East and Europe, and hope that this return to Bluesfest will get the same reaction as last time – an epic 5 encore stomping set.

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Geoff Achison & The Soul Diggers

GEOFF ACHISON & THE SOULDIGGERS

Melbourne’s Geoff Achison is an Australian musical icon and a household name in the Australian blues scene. His blinding guitar virtuosity, wry wit and old-school work ethic mean that this fabulous artist has been treading the boards at some of Australia’s biggest festivals, touring the world annually, and playing at your local for the past 30-odd years. Drawing on influences such as Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and The Allman Brothers Band, and backed by The Souldiggers featuring Victorian session legends Roger McLachlan, Gerry Pantazis and Richard Tankard, Geoff invokes the spirit of classic Blues and Soul to create superb and exciting original music.

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Hat Fitz & Cara

HAT FITZ & CARA

Classed as Convict Rhythm and Roots Fitz and Cara are among Australia’s most talented roots music artists. The husband-and-wife team have clocked up over 12 years of worldwide touring, festival performances and 5 album releases from their base of operations in the hinterland of Southeast Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Their festival touring circuit takes in Australia, the UK, North America and Europe where their modern blend of old-timey-influenced sounds is equally at home in a variety of settings from folk or Americana main stages to blues and acoustic venues. While the singer/songwriters are both multi-instrumentalists, it’s Fitzy’s weathered vocals and soaring, blues-soaked guitar combined with Cara’s pounding drums and soulful honey coated voice that show them at the peak of their creative power. 

Winners of Blues Album Of The Year at the 2013 Australian Chain Awards and UK Spiral Earth, Hat Fitz & Cara also won Best Vocal Of The Year at the 2015 Chain Awards and were finalists in the 2015 Memphis International Blues Challenge in the USA. Semi Finals of IAMA’s 2020 with two songs in for the Best Duo.

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The above artists join our already massive ALL-AUSSIE (with special guests from NZ)
Bluesfest 2022 lineup:

MIDNIGHT OIL     PAUL KELLY     JIMMY BARNES
THE TESKEY BROTHERS     SIX60
FAT FREDDY’S DROP     L.A.B     JOHN BUTLER
XAVIER RUDD     MISSY HIGGINS     KASEY CHAMBERS
HOODOO GURUS     IAN MOSS     THE LIVING END     PETE MURRAY
THE WAIFS     JON STEVENS     KATE CEBERANO     JOHN WILLIAMSON
ROSS WILSON and THE PEACENIKS     THE ANGELS     THE CHURCH
RENEE GEYER     TEX PERKINS THE MAN IN BLACK     VIKA & LINDA
HIATUS KAIYOTE     WEDDINGS PARTIES ANYTHING     THE BLACK SORROWS
KATE MILLER-HEIDKE     BAKER BOY     MARK SEYMOUR & THE UNDERTOW
DIESEL     RUSSELL MORRIS     TROY CASSAR-DALEY
CW STONEKING     JOSH TESKEY & ASH GRUNWALD
ALL OUR EXES LIVE IN TEXAS     BRIGGS
CHAIN     THE BAMBOOS     BACKSLIDERS
MELBOURNE SKA ORCHESTRA
19-TWENTY     ASH GRUNWALD     HENRY WAGONS     SAM TESKEY
JEFF LANG     FIONA BOYES & THE FORTUNE TELLERS     KARA GRAINGER
JEFF MARTIN -PLAYS THE SONGS OF LED ZEPPELIN
RAY BEADLE     PACEY, KING & DOLEY     NATHAN CAVALERI      KIM CHURCHILL
FOOLS     MAMA KIN SPENDER     DAMI IM     PIERCE BROTHERS
EMILY WURRAMARA     THE BUCKLEYS     MICK THOMAS’ ROVING COMMISSION
DANIEL CHAMPAGNE     JK-47     THE REGIME
GARRETT KATO     HUSSY HICKS     ROSHANI     LITTLE GEORGIA
ROUND MOUNTAIN GIRLS     ELECTRIK LEMONADE
LAMBROS.     PALM VALLEY
BYRON BUSKING COMPETITION
ROCKWIZ LIVE

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About Bluesfest Byron Bay   

Showcasing an All-Aussie (with some special guests from NZ) music bill in Byron Bay, Bluesfest is Australia’s most awarded music festival, and was recently nominated as ‘Best festival of the Decade’ by industry bible, Pollstar. From the humble beginnings in 1990 the festival now takes place at the beautiful Byron Events Farm (formerly the Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm), regularly attracting an audience of over 100,000.  Located just 10 minutes north of Byron Bay, NSW, Australia, Bluesfest is well situated and surrounded by the charming village of Mullumbimby and the beach towns of Byron Bay and Brunswick Heads. Best festival vibes ever! 

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Follow BLUESFEST
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram

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Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund – an Australian Government initiative

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AMNPLIFY – SR