UPDATED 04/04: Amazingly, even MORE outstanding acts have been added to #BDF19 (that’s the hashtag we just made up) in the shape of… Billy Bragg, Yola, Ethan Johns and these super stars:

BLACK EYED DOGS ✮ TREETOP  FLYERS ✮ IDA MAE ✮ MIKE FARRIS ✮ EMILY MAE WINTERS ✮ SAM MORROW ✮  ROSEANNE REID ✮ AMY MONTGOMERY ✮ JOANA SERRAT ✮ ARIELLE ✮ SAM BEER ✮ THE SOUTHERN COMPANION ✮ HANNAH WHITE & THE NORDIC CONNECTIONS ✮ HOT ROCK PILGRIMS

But that’s not all, they’ll also be cooking up a storm again in their Live Fire Arena. Promising even more mouth-watering delights than were served up last year, Jon Finch and Ben Merrington – founders of Grillstock, the largest authentic BBQ festival outside of the US – are back, pioneering the Americana barbecue scene in the UK’s festival fields once again.

Set to transport Black Deer attendees to America’s deep south, Live Fire will see the very best chefs, pitmasters, butchers and woodsmen appear in their own fiery performance of cooking demonstrations that’ll both educate and inspire. As well as demos, Live Fire is set to host blazing BBQ cookout competitions where the best pit teams will go head-to-head in a series of fast paced challenges exercising their meat expertise as well as testing their know-how in new vegan and fish rounds – We LOVED this last year!

This year, Black Deer Festival’s Live Fire Chefs include US BBQ pitmaster and TV personality Ray ‘Dr BBQ’ Lampe, Temper owner Neil Rankin, NZ BBQ export Matt Burgess, foraging and game butchery guru Nick Weston, Co-Chair of The Guild of Food Writers Genevieve Taylor, food writer and stylist Gill Meller, award-winning beer & food journalist Melissa Cole, Matt Williams, Countrywoodsmoke’s Marcus Bawdon and SMOKESTAK founder David Carter.

—— *breathes*—– and now the rest..!

After already announcing some top class headliners for Black Deer Festival 2019, they’ve added even more top names for one of the finest new festivals in the UK. After previously confirming the likes of Band of Horses, Ryan Bingham, The Dead South, Fantastic Negrito and Hayseed Dixie, for the festival running 21st – 23rd June 2019 at the stunning Eridge Park in Kent, they’ve now added The Staves, Kris Kristofferson & The Strangers, The Mavericks, Neko Case, and The Marcus King Band to name just a selection.

Black Deer, the three-day celebration of Americana and Country, welcomes artists from both America and closer to home and sister trio The Staves will be an absolute must-see. They’ve been touring with First Aid Kit throughout 2018 and performing live with Bon Iver – who also produced their second album If I Was in 2015, who is also tremendous live and are inspired by US bands like Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills & Nash and Fleetwood Mac, The Staves make evocative and folk at its most harmonious and we cannot wait.

Country Music Hall of Fame inductee and global LEGEND Kris Kristofferson is also set to perform this summer with the late great Merle Haggard’s band The Strangers. The prolific music and film star hails from Texas and Nashville and brings with him a slew of chart-topping hits that have completely redefined country song writing over the past five decades. Kristofferson has won three Grammy Awards and released 29 albums since the early 70s, including three with Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings as part of the Highwaymen. Expect to hear these and notable singles like Me and Bobby McGee, Help Me Make It Through the Night and Sunday Morning Coming Down by the certified entertainment icon in Royal Tunbridge Wells this June.

There’s also The Mavericks, from Miami, who combine neo-traditional country music, latin, and rockabilly in a unique and instantly identifiable sound. They’ll be welcomed by the Black Deer crowd after striking a chord with a UK audience with their gold record-selling single Dance The Night Away in 1998 – 20 years ago! Black Deer also look forward to a career-spanning set from Neko Case, the American singer-songwriter also known for her work with Canadian indie rock group The New Pornographers. She recently released a new album Hell-On – which the Guardian described as a “pitch perfect roar of female defiance” and alongside The Staves and Larkin Poe this year, shows the consistent strength of prominent females in the scene.

The question already is… how can we see them all at the same time and, very importantly, how can you join us?

Book your tickets right now: https://blackdeerfestival.com/tickets

What to know who else is playing? Scroll down for the poster and click here!

Black Deer celebrates a culture like no other. With a genuine love for the music, its honesty, its roots and heritage, it’s all about listening to the story behind the experience, both light and dark and is more than just a music festival, it’s an absolutely beautiful experience, check out our review from last year!

This year, Black Deer Festival are delighted to welcome the Americana Music Association UK (AMA UK), Orange Amplification, Desertscene and Barons Speed Shop as this years partners, as well as a return from the inspiring Supajam and esteemed Tunbridge Wells Forum.

Book now: https://blackdeerfestival.com/tickets