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Leicestershire's Country Music Festival

Date: Jun 26th, 2010 5:21:15 am - Subscribe
Mood: natural

By J Appleby

What started out as a one man’s goal to help a man dying of cancer has turned into a local festival that brings in people from all over the globe. From Australia to America, people will descend on Hinckley Rugby Football Club for four days in August to celebrate what many might think is a novelty genre for the UK...country music.

From August 5th-8th, Leicestershire’s Country Music Festival will feature over 23 traditional and modern country music artists from the length and breadth of the British Isles as well as a small showcase of young, local talent.

Roy Ellis, the organiser of the event, started the festival in 1989 to aid a local family’s fight against cancer.

“I started it many years ago. There was a family in the village that had four very young children. I knew them very well and the gentleman was dying of cancer. He only had weeks to live and they wanted to go on a holiday in Wales. I thought I’d just put something on for him to raise a bit of money.”

Leicestershire’s Country Music Festival has stayed true to its charitable focus with over £100,000 raised for charity over the years. This year the festival is raising money for L.O.R.O.S, Leicestershire and Rutland Hospice.

The event has grown from just a handful of caravans to over 4500 attendees. Roy Ellis seems to have hit a nerve with people’s love for country music and insists there is a big following for the genre locally.

Some of the highlights of this year’s line up will include Henry Smith’s Country Dreams who is a Berkshire singer with a good fan base and inspirations ranging from Alan Jackson to Merle Haggard.

From the North of England, Little Rock will be present and has been hailed as one of the hottest, most sought after bands in the UK country music scene.

Also, a local act that goes by the name of L.A.J Duo will perform on the Saturday.

Roy Ellis says the festival is a good family outing and a gathering of friendly people to enjoy good music.

For more information on Leicestershire’s Country Music Festival visit http://www.royscmf.co.uk/index.htm

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