Dan Sultan, All Our Exes, Chain, Mia Dyson, Caiti Baker, among Aussie acts added to Bluesfest

Bluesfest announced a host of Australian roots, groove and blues acts to its bill this morning.

Leading the announcement is Dan Sultan who slips in his Bluesfest appearance with the 18-date Killer Solo Tour which runs between March 27 to June 6.

Sydney singer-songwriter and harmonies collective All Our Exes Live in Texas will, apart from their own set, most certainly join Kesha for her ‘Praying’ single, on which they feature, and which has now been picked up as an anthem for the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements around the world.

Chain, the legendary blues band, celebrate the 50th anniversary of their forming in Melbourne, and gone through 31 members since. Three years later their ‘Black And Blue’ was on radio and the Towards The Blues album went double gold.

Singer-songwriter Mia Dyson’s return to the festival comes in the wake of a successful US tour with Jen Cloher (which this week saw her check out the famed Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama where many of her fave records were cut) and the March 9 release of her If I Said Only So Far I Take It Back album through Single Lock Records // Cooking Vinyl Australia

Also returning is Melbourne’s Shaun Kirk, whom Buzz hailed as “One of the finest blues voices this country has ever heard” and Mixdown regards as “One of the most explosive solo acts this country has to offer.” He’s independently sold 30,000 records and had 250,000 YouTube views.

Northern Territory’s Caiti Baker’s post Sietta career saw her work with Gurrumul, Pete Murray and A.B. Original and the release last October of her debut album Zinc.

Steve Smyth is a singer songwriter and guitarist based in Sydney and London and expanding his following in Europe with hard touring.

Dog Trumpet formed by Mental As Anything co-founders Peter O’Doherty and Reg Mombassa, will in 2018 release a  Best Of and undertake more touring in Australia and overseas.

The Hanlon Brothers fuse hip-hop, R’n’B, soul and jazz and, having set up a new purpose-built studio in Miami on the Gold Coast, release a second album this year.

Also announced this morning were San Francisco’s Con Brio, fronted by the dynamic Ziek McCarter.

These acts join Lionel Richie, Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters, Ms Lauryn Hill, Kesha, John Butler Trio, Tasha Sultan, Seal, Jackson Browne, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheride, Gomez, Chic featuring Nile Rodgers, Jose Gonzalez, Michael Franto & Spearhead, Jimmy Cliff and Youssou N’Dour among others.

The 29th Bluesfest is held at Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, just outside Byron Bay over the Easter long weekend, Thursday March 29 to Monday April 2.