The sun set on this year's Southern Fried Festival on Sunday with an electrifying performance by rockgrass pioneers Hayseed Dixie. And, with the echoes of the final guitar lick fading over the Perthshire hills, Horsecross declared Perth's second annual festival of American roots music a resounding success.
Attendance nearly doubled in this, the event's second year, with 4500 music lovers descending on Perth for the weekend-long festival which saw top international acts including Lucinda Williams, Booker T, Los Lobos and Mary Gauthier playing to sell-out audiences in Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre. Local bands got in on the act with well-attended gigs in the Twa Tams and the Salutation Hotel by The Humble Hobos, Red Pine Timber Co, Ian Hutchison and Buchanan.
The two main venues buzzed with drum and songwriting masterclasses, fiddle, banjo and guitar workshops and the Bluegrass Big Sing performance. The Horsecross catering team made sure there were Southern fried specialities on the go in Perth Concert Hall and Perth Theatre throughout the weekend.
Comprehensively covering all the roots music bases from bluegrass to blues, soul to rock, funk to country, this small but perfectly formed festival is gaining in profile locally, nationally and internationally with festival goers from as far afield as USA, Ireland, Spain and Norway enjoying the event alongside fans from throughout the UK.
Paul Bush OBE, Chief Operating Officer at EventScotland which supports the Southern Fried Festival, said:
"EventScotland supports a calendar of unique and exciting events which attract visitors from the UK and beyond to Scotland's vibrant cities and scenic rural areas. Over the years, music festivals of every type and scale, have become powerful drivers for tourism and Southern Fried's impressive ticket sales prove just how popular such events are, even in times of economic uncertainty. This year's funding from EventScotland helped Southern Fried to add new venues and performers to the impressive line up, a line up which has attracted more than 4,000 festival goers with a passion for music to Perth and Kinross. We are confident that the festival will continue to go from strength to strength in the years to come."
Headline act Lucinda Williams had her own special words for the Fair City festival saying:
"My favourite gig of the entire UK tour! I love Scotland!! "
And fellow performer Diana Jones said:
"What a warm feeling here in Perth. The Southern Fried Festival reminds me why we're all in this music business - to find kindred spirits and sooth our souls."
Promising to return with a bigger and better event in 2010 - Perth Concert Hall's fifth anniversary year, festival director, Andy Shearer of Horsecross said:
"It was a fantastic weekend! I am so pleased that we were able to bring such high profile artists to Perth as part of Southern Fried, and many audience members commented over the three days on the quality of the line-up. Everybody at Horsecross worked really hard to give artists and audiences the best possible Southern Fried experience, and even the weather was relatively kind to us! I can't wait until next year."