Chch musicians to play at new country festival

Katie Thompson. Photo: Supplied

Well-known Christchurch musicians are set to play at a new country and western festival, ‘Country in the Country’.

Christchurch-based alt-country singer Katie Thompson and the KT band will perform at the festival in Leeston on March 30, as will Lyttelton-based group The Eastern.

Thompson opened for Elton John in Dunedin in 2011, while The Eastern has performed their folk country blend from Nashville to Timaru.

Also performing are 17-year-old Southlander Carly Drysdale, a finalist for the New Zealand country music awards songwriter of the year for her song Revenge, plus Dunedin-based The Sisterhood.

Casey de Blecourt from The Sisterhood was the NZCMA Entertainer of the Year award in 2022.

The festival is the brainchild of Selwyn Sounds co-promoter Craig Bradford and Hang Up Entertainment Services director Andre Goldsmith.

The Eastern will be among the performers at ‘Country in the Country’. Photo: Supplied

Bradford and Goldsmith noticed a gap in the festival market for country music in the midst of the genre’s massive commercial resurgence.

“There’s a billion concerts, but none of them are country,” said Goldsmith.

Bradford said the music festival will mean a lot to “tranquil” Leeston and hopes to cement it as an annual gig.

“This could potentially become the place for country in Canterbury,” he said.

Goldsmith said Country and Country would intertwine elements of music festivals and A&P shows with a hoedown, ferris wheels and bouncy castles, and food trucks and picnic tables. It would be a family event, he said.

Goldsmith and Bradford are confident of a crowd of at least 2000.