New South Wales' Peats Ridge Festival, held at the Glenworth Valley in the lead-up to and on New Year's Eve, has dropped its first announcement today, with one of the nation's biggest acts - the John Butler Trio - revealed as the headliner.

Running from 29 December 2012 to 1 January 2013 and presented by The Drum Media, tickets will go on sale at 10am Monday 20 August here. Until then you can visit our dedicated Peats Ridge mini-site or try to win a double pass at the bottom of the page.

Stay tuned to the mini-site to keep up on all the festival's latest news, interviews and videos!

The first announcement boasts:

John Butler Trio
Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings
The Black Seeds
Friendly Fires (DJ set)
Krafty Kuts vs A.Skillz
The Herd
Kaki King
Blood Red Shoes
King Tide
Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Electric Wire Hustle
Mat.McHugh & The Seperatista Sound System
65daysofstatic
Deep Sea Arcade
Gold Fields
Gossling
Will & The People
Chapelier Fou
The Medics
Northeast Party House
Hat Fitz and Cara
Tuka
The Cairos
The Preatures
Battleships
Lime Cordiale
Daily Meds
Jones Jnr
Tigertown
Microwave Jenny
Brow Horn Orchestra
DJ Morgs

Scroll down for further information on the first round of artists:

Follow the announcement on Twitter:

JOHN BUTLER TRIO

Playing the midnight New Year's Eve set (which Gotye played last year) John Butler's rootsy-rock is multi-ARIA Award winning, multi APRA Award winning and has multi-platinum sales to its name. The trio (in their various guises) have sold over a million albums in Australia alone and Butler - who made this inaugural AMID Power 50 - is getting rarer with his festival appearances.

SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS

Touring their jazz-soul-funk around the globe for over a decade now, it's a pleasure to have Jones and co back in the country. With a new-school approach to an old-school fans the American collective have fans from around the world, right up into the oval office. They'll also be playing a New Year's Eve set.

THE BLACK SEEDS

One of New Zealand's best loved bands, the Seeds return with their eight-piece live show, mixing reggae, funk, Afro, big-beat and more into their live onslaught. Regularly sell out Australia and New Zealand tours and are invited to Europe's top festivals.

 FRIENDLY FIRES (DJ SET)

The Friendly Fires DJ set will be helmed by Jack Savage of the band, who'll be dropping disco-house and pop numbers all over the joint. No stranger to the decks either, the British indie band are renowned for their all-night club events.

THE HERD

One of the nation's most enduring hip hop acts, they're also one of the best. 12 years into their career they're as relevant as ever, with a back catalogue that is virtually an Australian treasure.

KAKI KING

American Kaki King is playing her only New South Wales set at Peats Ridge, the experimental/indie composer, guitarist and singer has worked on everything from film scores to a Tegan & Sara album. After this jaunt, she'll be back in April 2013 to tour a new album. New tracks at the festival, no doubt.

BLOOD RED SHOES

Brighton indie rockers Blood Red Shoes released their latest album In Time To Voices this year, which showcased their punk roots as much as it did their sweeping indie approach.

KRAFTY KUTS VS. A SKILLZ

Electro warriors go head-to-head in this showcase of UK break-beat drops. Together they've played the likes of Glastonbury and recorded live sessions for the BBC.

MAT.MCHUGH & THE SEPERATISTA SOUND SYSTEM

McHugh was the frontman and creative force behind The Beautiful Girls, but has decided it's time to step out on his own to concentrate on his growing solo career. He's assembled a band and he's going to have a big festival season.

UNKNOWN MORTAL ORCHESTRA

We'll call them New Zealanders but the trio spend a lot of their time in America these days. A blog favourite following their track Ffunny Ffrends, they're become a really big thing with international tours, festivals, releases, label deals and all the rest of it. Driving force Ruban Neilson's the centre of indie attention these days.

65DAYSOFSTATIC

Sit back, relax and let the post-rock take you over. In this case there's an electro edge to it and in their 11 year career they've become one of the world's favourite musicans' bands. Now everyone knows about them.

KING TIDE

Sydney roots outfit will look to launch their fourth album at the festival this year, with the ARIA-nominated set to jam their way to the stage this Peats.

ELECTRIC WIRE HUSTLE

New Zealand hip hop soul trio have built a strong following off their recorded releases. The more people see them live, the more they convert.

DEEP SEA ARCADE

Finally launching their album this year, the Sydney triple j favourites bring their Brit-pop sensibilities to Peats Ridge this year. They can be relied upon for a good time, both on and off the stage.

GOLD FIELDS

Forming from the ashes of pop-punk upbringing, harmony-driven indie-pop from Ballarat has grown to include rhythmic lines and "herky-jerky" dancing. Come on kids, let's do the herky-jerk!

GOSSLING

Fresh from singing for the new Woolworth's ad campaign and the hit single Boys Like You with your man 360, Gossling is forging a path of her own. Her debut album will be released early next year, so keep your eye out for new tracks.

WILL & THE PEOPLE

From the UK, this is a band created - and destined - for the live performance. Veterans of Glastonbury among a swag of other events, they're a mix of prog-house, swing institutions and party vibes.

CHAPELIER FOU

French electronic fiddler and violin virtuosos, Fou throws glitched-up beats in with classical instrumentation. We're also told he is a "musical acrobat" on stage. Shit, if he wasn't one to watch already...

THE MEDICS

Brisbane's The Medics caught a lot of people's attention with their album Foundations and the indie band were a crowd favourite at Splendour recently. They're an indie band, yes, but not one that we've seen before.

NORTHEAST PARTY HOUSE

Look at the last two words in their name and take note. There's been a lot of buzz around the dance-rock vibers in the last 12 month and all signs point to a big summer festival season for them. We're expecting the Melbourne outfit to be a favourite of people in costumes.

HAT FITZ & CARA

Folk duo are no strangers to the road but recently they've been experiencing life on the European streets. Their new album Wiley Ways was produced by Jeff Lang and is out in October. It's good to have them back.

TUKA

Sydney hip hopper Tucker is one third of Thundamentals, and has his second solo album due for October this year. Plenty of groove, plenty of party, plenty of hand-claps.

THE CAIROS

From Brisbane, they recently kept a tour diary for us. They could be the fountain of youth for this year's event - a place for jaded old rockers to find their moves again.

THE PREATURES

Yes, they were recently called The Preachers, but they've changed their name. That said, the Sydney band are still dripping in indie rock riffs and have kept all of their sonic sex appeal.

BATTLESHIPS

Sydney's Battleships won't have far to go to the festival and could be one of the surprise hits. Dubbed thinking man's indie, it's all about arrangement for these guys. 

LIME CORDIALE

Chuggy fucking loves these guys, and the Northern Beaches (Sydney's) pop outfit seem to be converting more as they go along. It's pop. It's infectious. You'll dance.

DAILY MEDS

From Sydney's inner-suburbs, hip hop collective Daily Meds released their debut album earlier this year which addressed a number of social issues through beats and synth.

JONES JNR.

Jones Jnr. are DJ Morgs (Thundamentals) and Ev Jones (Hobo Bordeaux), a collaboration the duo have been working on in the studio for months.

TIGERTOWN

Touring with Art Of Sleeping very soon, Tigertown are cooler than both you and me. In fact, they're cooler than us both put together. The six-piece are play colourful alt.pop, and producer Scott Horscroft is mixing their new EP. He knows how to pick them.

MICROWAVE JENNY

Another Peats Ridge patented discovery, Sydney folky husband-and-wife duo are completetly independent and self-managed. Yes, one of their key topics is love.

BROW HORN ORCHESTRA

A strong touring ethic has put these Perth boys on the national radar in the last year and with trumpet and trombone in their arsenal, they're up for a big festival flutter. Nothing brown about them.

DJ MORGS

Remember that guy from Jones Jnr? The one that is in Thundamentals? Yea, well he's got a DJ set all of his very own lined up. A solo beat-tape is currently in the works...

Spotify playlist:

Win A Double Pass!

To win a double pass to this year's Peats Ridge Festival, simply comment below with the act you're most excited to see at the festival this year! Entries close when tickets go on sale (that's 10am Monday 20 August).

Tickets will then be available from here, with three-day season passes $340 plus booking fee for adults. There are also family passes available (under sixes are free). Early bird passes, which allow camping on the 28th, are an extra $45 plus booking fee.

The festival will be announcing upcoming arts installments and more acts in the near future!