2025 Festival Artists
Jenny Mitchell
NZ Best Country Artist Winner and 2 x Golden Guitar nominee, Jenny Mitchell, is a Melbourne based storyteller from the deep south of New Zealand. With powerful songs wrapped in equal parts grace and grit, Jenny recently supported Kasey Chambers on a 32 date tour of Australia and released her highly acclaimed album Forest House via Melbourne based label Civilians.
"Every so often, an artist emerges who has everything it takes to reach the pinnacle of country music success. Jenny Mitchell is a star.” Country Music Capital News
John Coleman and the Lovely Boats
A John Coleman concert is a journey through universal experiences of love, loss, whimsy and joy. John’s recently released album, Amber and the Flow, is a collection of master crafted Tasmanian story songs. The rich vocal harmonies and exquisite playing from the talented Lovely Boats - Emily Wolfe (violin), Oliver Gathercole (piano), Daniel J Townsend (electric guitar) and Al Campbell (bass) is rich embroidery for great songs.
John is a prolific Tasmanian singer songwriter and has performed in many folk festivals, pubs and lounge rooms. His first album involvement was with Fern Chutney in 1986 and since then has written and recorded a further eleven albums – nine of which can be accessed via johncoleman.bandcamp.com
“He’ll sound sweet while he wrenches your heart with the reality of love and loss. His family history is inseparable from the landscape, and his personal stories capture the universal.”
Helen Shield - ABC Radio Hobart
Rhys Crimmin is a world travelling multi-instrumentalist one-man band, singer-song writer and teller of Australian stories.
He covers genres from folk to country, blues to reggae and Celtic to bush music. Rhys has been touring and collecting music from different countries for over 20 years, blending it together with his own original music in a uniquely Australian style. He uses instruments such as guitar, didgeridoo, harmonicas, foot percussion and vocals.
Rhys is an engaging performer who thrives on making a special connection between himself and the audience
Home Bru
A contemporary folk outfit consisting of three brothers from Hobart, Tasmania. Ziah Cooper (violin), Taylor Lewincamp (bass guitar) and Jes Lewincamp (guitar) have played together from a young age and are known for their vibrant, yet refined sound
The Heart Collectors
From acoustic harmony lead ballads to Bowie-esque sonic soundscapes, Australian four piece ‘Epic Folk’ group The Heart Collectors capture the essence of inspiration, honesty of love, and the nature of the cosmos in their music.
From humble beginnings in regional NSW, the last 7 years have seen the band regularly sought out by some of the biggest international music conferences and festivals in the world, including South by South-West, Folk Alliance International, NAMM, Canadian Music Week, and Global Music Match. They have wowed audiences, representing Australia with their tight vocal harmonies, intricately beautiful musicianship, and larger than life stage presence and performance. Following the success of their “Austin To Boston” USA tour in early 2024 with 13 sold out shows, the band’s tour was extended for an additional 6 months following up invitations to perform across Canada and the USA.
The band completed their 9 month headline USA tour with their album The Space Between being named a finalist for Best Album at the International Folk Music Awards 2025, alongside Sierra Ferrell, Kaia Kater, and Aoife O’Donovan.
George Mann
A former union organizer and activist based in Ithaca, New York, George Mann sings songs from the last century of the labor and social justice movements, and his own songs are powerful and funny takes on the state of the nation. His concerts are part sing-along, part history lesson, and he can make you shout for joy, send chills down your spine or bring tears to your eyes in the same set.
Daniel J Townsend is an AFMA-nominated songwriter and award-winning educator, poet, storyteller and creative facilitator, based in lutruwita/Tasmania.
"A head full of stories, a soul old enough to have lived them, and a heart young enough to believe in their power to move us."
3 x CMAA ‘Golden Guitar’, 2 x Australian Folk Music, ICMA and Music Victoria Award winners, The Weeping Willows (Laura Coates and Andrew Wrigglesworth) are a couple of old souls, steeped in Bluegrass tradition and draped in Gothic Americana imagery. They regale their audiences with stories of sunshine and romance, God and The Devil, murder and decay. Real music.
★★★★ “Australian alt. country at its near-finest...” / “Australian Gothic-Country is in good hands.” Rolling Stone
As the Crow Flies is a well-known Hobart based folk quartet, performing original and arranged pieces with heart and soul.Their intricate and heartfelt melodies are contrasted with the fun, frivolity and playful skill of a group of fast fiddlers who’ve played together over many years. With some exciting new ventures in the works, As the Crow Flies has a renewed energy to delight audiences with their unique, original music and creative arrangements of tunes and songs from Tasmania and
further afield.
The Young Ireland Collective includes musicians from across Tasmania who believe that Irish music can be even more rewarding when it includes a knowledge of its history and context.
The Collective uses traditional music and spoken word to acknowledge seven leaders of the Young Ireland movement transported to Van Diemen’s Land for their political activism during the Great Irish Famine. Their shows have been performed in Hobart and Cygnet Folk Festival and at bicentennial celebrations in Bothwell, Richmond and Westbury.
The performers at Mt Roland Folk Festival will include: Annie Woolley (vocals, bodhran), Barry Higgins (flute, uilleann pipes, voice of the Young Irelanders), Dave Elliston (vocals, accordion), Elise Okell (fiddle) and John Hickey (guitar, script development).
"Flitch is a trio of flute, fiddle and guitar from Northern Tasmania. The combination of their individual approaches to the playing of trad Irish music resolves into a unique sound. From slow airs to fast reels, Flitch aims to reveal the music’s inherent beauty and drive."
The Latrobe Federal Band commenced in 1875 and we are the oldest continuous functioning brass band in Australia. We are located in Latrobe, Tasmania.
The Saraswati Symphony is a small group of dedicated kirtanists from different backgrounds and lineages coming together to inspire and uplift through music. The band expands to include other musicians and singers who add to the soundscape.
Women Who Drum - Drumming circle
Formed out of the ongoing weekly drumming workshop facilitated by Lavender Lily in Sheffield. This group has been playing together for two years, exploring African, World, and Improvised beats and rhythms.
Meredith Rose is known for being a local yoga teacher and sound worker, familiar with working with instruments such as singing bowls, gongs, chimes, traditional Indian instruments and more, but lately she has uncovered her absolute passion for her newest instrument: the remarkable loop machine!
Using almost only her voice, Meredith lays down layers of sound to create luscious songs from the bottom up, designed to help open your heart and let joy in.
A mathematical, sometimes meditative, musical experience!
Pipers Weird
"A-buzz with rich harmonies of the music from yesteryear and today, showcasing Scottish smallpipes, the quieter mellow cousin of the Highland pipes, you'll be treated to bagpipes like you've never heard before from Pipers Weird, an offshoot of the Burnie Highland Pipe Band."
Mountain Echoes is a vocal group based in the Kentish district of Lutruwita / Tasmania. It started in 2020, with some experienced adult mentors, providing an opportunity for young people to develop and express their vocal talents, working together as an ensemble. It quickly grew to include some parents and other adults who felt compelled to join in, not by any deliberate coercion, but because of their joy of singing.
As a community group Mountain Echoes focusing on people they are inclusive of all ages, genders, abilities and capabilities.
Jas Rocca - The Forest Folk, workshops
Join The Forest Folk in making a small grass basket using foraged materials. You’ll learn the basics of basket making so you can recreate larger scale baskets at home. This workshop is for all ages and skill levels.
Cordage is great fun to make and handy to have. We will make a few metres of cord from a selection of different materials. This workshop is for all ages and skill levels.
Mini Spoons - Using Huon Pine we’ll carve tiny spoons for salt or decoration. Huon pine is wonderfully soft and easy to use, it also smells like heaven, making it the perfect beginners start to whittling. As we’ll be using sharp tools this workshop is for adults only. Places are limited, please put your name down for a spot at the hall entry.
Alex is a Registered Music Therapist and Director of Creative Therapies Tasmania. With over 20 years’ experience leading community choirs and inclusive music programs, Alex is passionate about using music to foster belonging, connection, and joy. She plays double bass in the folk trio Sparrowgrass, directs Exhale Community Choir and has presented nationally on music, storytelling, and creative wellbeing. Alex brings warmth, artistry, and a deep belief in the power of collective singing, guiding singers of all backgrounds to share voice, spirit, and song in celebration of community.
