It’s festival season for sure as hordes of music fans pack both wellies and sun cream as they head off for a weekend of unbridled fun. Be it the massive set up at Glastonbury or the rootsier confines of Maverick there’s plenty to choose from but for sheer unadulterated Americana joy then one need look no further than this unassuming spot in Germany’s Ruhr district, the small, post industrial town of Oberhausen, home to Static Roots. Now in its fourth year, Static Roots has grown from an initial invite only event to being sold out for the first time with several hundred fans gathered together in a converted zinc factory to see and hear 13 acts, most of them surely familiar to readers of AUK. There’s no corporate funding, no kowtowing to fashion, the line up purely a reflection of the festival’s director’s musical tastes which are somewhat impeccable. Continue reading “Static Roots Festival, Zentrum Altenberg, Oberhausen, Germany, 12-13th July 2019”
This year’s Maverick Festival was held under glorious sunshine at Easton Park Farm in the deepest part of rural Suffolk. As usual, Director Paul Spencer had pulled together a tremendous range of polished multinational talent which all just about falls within what we consider Americana. The timing of the event, smack dab in the middle of the footie world cup, meant however that the balance of music vs. football in the conversational strands was slightly different from the July norm. 