Celebrating with a Lang

We're going off with a Lang (as opposed to a bang) this year and celebrating our 10th Festival in style. The Festival Committee is incredibly proud to bring you an amazing line up of talented musicians to the stage on Sunday 20th May.

JEFF LANG

"In a world where music is diluted by money and plasticine, give thanks that Jeff Lang is out there... He paints pictures in sound." Beat Magazine

Australian-based musician Jeff Lang has earned worldwide acclaim as a virtuosic guitarist, a dynamic songwriter and a startlingly unique live performer. With a back catalogue of 14 studio albums, Jeff has been featured at major festivals, pubs, clubs, arts centres and venues internationally for the past decade. Blending rock, roots, folk, blues, ballads, instrumentals, improvisation and a devastatingly high level of musicality, Jeff Lang is a singularly unique performer in our world.

Lang has built up a devoted, almost cult-like, following with his live performances. Working without a set list and allowing the unique energy of each night to shape the songs, taking the audience along for the ride, has seen word of mouth bloom into a successful career.

It's been widely acknowledged that Jeff Lang is an extraordinarily individual musician. What enhances his unique nature is his steadfast adherence to a prolific and diverse musical palette and output. A songwriter, a collaborator, a virtuosic guitarist and a stunning lyricist, Jeff Lang crafts songs as novella - rich with depth and vision, yet with an open breath for individual interpretation.

Jeff Lang is headlining the Festival, find out more at www.jefflang.com.au

DANNY WIDDICOMBE

Danny Widdicombe has been a steadfast feature of the Brisbane music scene for some years. At 19, while living in Melbourne, Danny was diagnosed with leukaemia.  He had a bone marrow transplant in 2004 and in those long days in the isolation room after the transplant, he began writing what would become his album The Transplant Tapes. The album was a difficult one, emotionally, for Danny to release but he did in 2006.

Danny has played guitar for Andrew Morris, Bernard Fanning and Karl Broadie, as well as touring the country as part of Tim Rogers’ Temperance Union.

In 2008 he helped form the ARIA Award nominated group, The Wilson Pickers and last year Danny and fellow Wilson Picker, Andrew Morris, won the annual Grant McLennan Memorial Fellowship for 2010. The duo spent the prize travelling to Berlin to write and establish a European base to further their careers.

After years of discussions the Festival is thrilled to present Danny Widdicombe to the stage. You can read and hear more about Danny at www.dannywiddicombe.com

INNES CAMPBELL

Innes was National Flatpicking Guitar Champion in 2009 and the main songwriter in the group 'Present Company', who toured all the major festivals in Australia last year, to widespread critical acclaim. He plays guitar like few others and his songs are quirky, satirical and occasionally deeply personal; but always affecting.

At Hampton this year, Innes will be performing solo on three instruments - guitar, dobro and mandolin. With these instruments, looper pedal, pedal keyboard and his own voice, Innes has created a marriage between his imagination - wide open, eclectic and analogue, and his instruments - digital, exacting and acoustic. It's a marriage of convenience but also one of love - which at time of writing has already borne fruit in the shape of several new songs; and perhaps a new CD by the time you read this.  So come and see the newlyweds.  Be prepared for something old, something new, something borrowed. And probably something blue(grass).

Check out Innes' music at www.innescampbell.com

THE RUSTY DATSUNS

The Rusty Datsuns' have been winning hearts and inciting hoedowns since their formation during the infamous 2011 floods. It was an extraordinary twist of fate that brought the three respected, prolific and slightly crazy musicians, Sian Evans (Bessy-Lou, Pollysasin), Fern Thompsett (These Dirty Bones) and Alex Skinner (Chocolate Strings), together. Keeping high and dry in an old Queenslander while the Brisbane flood waters rose around them, the Dattos music was forged with no power, some instruments and a few rain buckets of talent, the unlikely combination yielding a rare musical chemistry.

Combining sweet vocal harmonies over a backdrop of deftly finger-picked guitar, banjo, ukelele and soaring fiddle the 'Dattos' live show has crowds dancing jigs and making merriment aplenty with their spellbinding performance, a fresh take on modern folk with a healthy bluegrass twinge.

BREAKING HART BENTON

Whilst the name "Breaking Hart Benton" bears reference to the tragic demise of one of the great 20th Century American painters, to define the band's sound one has to reach far further back, to the traditional music of Britain and Ireland.

Songsmiths Michael David and Lee James (who, more often than not, will be joined by the talented Alice McDowell on fiddle and exceptional vocalist Shani Forrester) have a uniquely modern indie/folk sound with undeniably strong Celtic/Americana influences and an equally strong focus on melodic, lyrically rich songwriting where Australian themes and observations can sit comfortably beside an old time murder ballad.

Check out their website www.breakinghartbenton.com

MOSAIC JUDY

The band "MOSAIC JUDY" as the name implies, showcases a diversity of genres including rock/blues, country, jazz, pop, funk and old time, covering great music from the 60s to the present. Exceptional lead vocals and smooth harmonies cushioned by a driving rhythm section delivers a professional and fun performance. Having played together for 10 years at a variety of events including weddings, parties and corporate functions, 'Mosaic Judy', is a band of tight instrumentals and powerful vocals. Exactly what an audience needs. Enjoy!  "To be playing the 10th Anniversary Hampton Festival is a privilege and we are stoked." Judy Hobson, vocalist.

DANA HASSALL

Dana started song-writing and playing guitar at age nine whist singing began years earlier. Winning a TSA (Tamworth Songwriters Association) scholarship in 2007 to Camerata School of Country Music (now known as the Junior Academy of Country Music) was the start of many accolades to come.

At just 19 years of age, Dana has already amassed many achievements including Runner Up - 2011 Mud Bulls & Music Country Talent Search, 2011 APRA Professional Development finalist (alongside Harmony James & Sophie Clabburn of The Sunny Cowgirls), the 2007, 2008 & 2009 Queensland Songwriting Champion, a finalist placement in 2008's Q Song Courier Mail People's Choice Awards and a grand final spot in the 2008 Gympie Muster Maton Talent Search.

Dana is looking forward to showcasing her new music to a live audience. Find out more about Dana at www.danahassall.com