The Wandering Hearts have become a familiar feature on UK country festival schedules. Having played the inaugural Black Deer Festival the group were invited back and this year were upgraded to a main stage slot.

AJ, Chess and Tara were joined by guitar, bass and drums to provide a lively set of strong material that went down a treat in the afternoon sun. The relatively recent addition of a drummer lends punch and weight to the trio‘s trademark harmonies.

Kicking off a 13-track set was Fire & Water. Heartbreak Hotel kept the momentum and Wish I Could provided a catchy pop element.

The Wandering Hearts are now working on their second album. They played two new tracks, Gold and Your Love Hurts. The beautiful Burning Bridges highlighted the trio’s vocal togetherness and Never Expected This saw AJ on lead vocal duties.

The title track of the band’s debut album Wild Silence and the folky Iona took the mood to a gentler place before the rousing climax of Rattle and the perennial closer Devil. The Wandering Hearts delivered yet another high-quality set. On the money – as always.

Words by Chaz Brooks