Port Fairy Folk Festival Unveils Multinational First 2016 Line-Up Tease

The annual Port Fairy Folk Music Festival is pulling out some serious stops for next year's impending 40th-anniversary event, revealing today a spread of multinational performers — hailing from Europe and the Americas — destined to bring the good times to coastal Victoria in March next year.

Leading the international charge for 2016's event are Ukrainian quartet DakhaBrakha, Canadian trio The East Pointers, traditional-Irish-meets-modern-rock outfit Moxie, fellow Gael Mary Black on what will be her farewell tour, Canadian-born, US-based troubadour Steve Poltz, and veteran US folk singer-songwriter John McCutcheon.

Of course, it wouldn't be a full reveal without some modicum of local talent, and Port Fairy Folk Fest has lined up a corker — veteran Aussie folk crew The Bushwackers, celebrating their 50th anniversary together as an outfit, which means they've been a band for a solid six years longer than Wikipedia gives them credit for.

Also, it is important to note that these are The Bushwackers — with an expansive historic members roster that includes a raft of famed Aussie musicians such as Pat Drummond, Tommy Emmanuel, Freddie Strauks (ex-Skyhooks), Pete Farndon (The Pretenders) and many others — and not The Bushwhackers, aka Butch and Luke, a gimmicky wrestling tag-team in the '80s who used to go by "the New Zealand Kiwis" and "The Sheepherders". It is definitely the band destined for Port Fairy. We hope.

The final offerings will, of course, go beyond folk music to include drawcards such as comedy performances, the family folk circus, soul/jazz/cabaret, and all manner of other global goodness to keep your senses sated for the duration of the event. 

Spanning 20 venues, 100 acts and 200 shows over four days, the Port Fairy Folk Music Festival, proudly presented by The Music, will be held from 11-14 March 2016. Having already sold out its subscriber allocation in a snap, you'll want to move quick when the event announces a new release of tickets — and its full first line-up — tomorrow.

See the festival's website for more information.