Almondsbury Creative is a thriving hub for arts, entertainment and sports in North Bristol. They host various events across the year including family events, film nights, Cider festivals and music festivals.

Friday 8th September marked the very first country music event. Fans of the genre, the family behind Almondsbury Creative had been keen for a while to bring more country events to Bristol.

An impressive line up of UK country acts, the low ticket price of £15 brought you the likes of Morganway, Jade Helliwell, Megan McKenna and Harleymoon Kemp!

As well as music, the festival provided various food vendors including a BBQ, Bourbon Bar, Cider Stall, a Bucking bronco and a bouncy castle for the kids.

The event took place in a sporting field in Almondsbury which is a generous space, not too large and not too small. The stage, a fair size, was easy to see from every angle.

As this was the very first year, it wasn’t massively busy – in fact, as it was a Friday, most people turned up after 6pm (likely after work).

The first year of any event tends to be less busy than organisers would probably have liked. I remember the very first C2C Festival having various blocks in the O2 Arena blocked out and the first Long Road Festival was also much less busy than it gets now. So with that in mind, I hope this becomes as annual event as it was a lot of fun!

Gates opened at 4pm and the first act of the day were Morganway. A band that are far too good to be openers for anywhere, Morganway were mind blowing throughout their set. If you haven’t heard the masterful vocals of SJ Mortimer then we recommend having a listen.

Morganway bring a bit of Fleetwood Mac blended with Florence and The Machine to their music. This was exactly how my friend described them.

Americana goodness, Morganway are rich in heavenly harmonies and exceptional musicianship. The band bring a lot of energy to their set with highly memorable and thoroughly enjoyable songs such as Come Over and Hurricane. Flawless performers, it’s almost impossible to describe just how good this band are. In fact at times, we almost felt in a trance like state as we became so lost within their music.

Morganway are meant for great things and we certainly see a bright future for them!

After some line dancing from some hired professionals which many joined in on and country music from the DJ, Jade Helliwell took to the stage. This was our first time seeing her live. A powerhouse vocalist, Jade puts everything into her performance making sure her audience are getting exactly what they want and more!

Jade isn’t just a beautiful performer but also a lot of fun on stage – her banter is inviting and humble and she makes sure everyone feels like she is performing directly for them! A great band to back her which included Luke Thomas (her fiancée and a well established guitarist within the country community) we were also treated with the accompaniment of UK singer/songwriter Laura Oakes on guitar and backing vocals.

Jade performed original material which included her new single Hero and Heroines as well as a fun medley of well known country hits such as songs from Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride and more, this medley really got the crowd confident to get up and dance! This was exactly what the crowd needed and they were up for the remainder of the evening.

Last up, before the afterparty with Harleymoon Kemp was the radiant Megan McKenna. Having spent all summer playing various festivals such as The Long Road, it was nice to have McKenna in a headlining slot. McKenna needs not to be remembered for her reality tv past now but simply for her contribution to the country music genre as a highly talented and hardworking singer/songwriter.

Megan has paid her dues over the years by travelling back and forth to Nashville to immerse herself within the scene to learn and to write with some of the finest songwriters Nashville has to offer.

A natural to the stage, McKenna’s vocals are always on top-form. With an unfortunate start to her set where she was let down by the microphone not working, she turned it around quickly as soon as it did with her down to earth personality, joking with the audience.

Megan performed songs such as Baby Talk, Confetti, High Heeled Shows, DNA, Ruin Your Night and more. Ruin Your Night in particular is a favourite for us but it was This that truly captivated the audience!

Closing with the upbeat, sassy, bad ass The Good, The Bad and The Bitch, Megan’s set flew by and we were saddened it was over! I do miss hearing more songs from The Story of Me album so hopefully we will get more of those in the future. McKenna’s music is well written with fun pop-country tunes as well as stunning ballads.

One thing noticeable in this set was Megan seemed to feel at home with the crowd more so than ever. She engages with the fans a lot as if she was performing to personal friends. In the past, we have heard negativity on Megan from people who aren’t keen on entertaining the thought of a reality tv star turning singer/songwriter. However, all you need to do is listen to her sing for her to prove her worth. Whether her music is your cup of tea or not, Megan McKenna is meant for the music industry.

Over all, the event was really enjoyable! As I mentioned above, it’s an event to grow and I truly hope that it does. Upon first arrival, you may be thrown a little and mistake it for somewhat of a village fête but rest assured, once you settle down and get into it, you feel like it’s more of an intimate and safe party that you feel completely free to enjoy with plenty of space to dance or just be.

The kids had plenty of space to run around without bothering anyone and even went farther to the field to play football.

The night was young for many but late for our children so we left after Megan McKenna. The party was still very much in full swing though and people were geared up for Harleymoon Kemp. We were sad to leave, it was a hot “summers” evening and the atmosphere at this point was that of a fun, sociable Friday night hanging out in the open air with your friends.

It was also nice to see the likes of local and award winning artist Elles Bailey in attendance as well as our friends from Brits and Boots.

We look forward to next year, so we really hope it happens.