The band was formed in a 300-year-old mill worker’s cottage in Eling, Southampton near the New Forest National Park in England.

Soon after, their sound caught the attention of Black Star Records in Lyndhurst, where the band debuted & now they partner to record their first ever live album, which will be pressed to vinyl from a live in store gig in May 2025 and is affectionally being called ‘Liberty’.

Over the course of a year, Fern & the band gathered at Homeway Cottage, writing & rehearsing their music, before adopting the name ‘Fern Barnes and the Homeway Boys’—a tribute to the place that birthed their sound.
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Fern Barnes’ journey is one of transformation. Having spent years living on the road in a van after selling practically everything, touring the UK with Daughters of Davis. She now finds herself laying down roots in a community she truly loves. The shift to this grounded life celebrates the richness of local connections—working with fellow musicians, supporting small businesses, and collaborating. Barnes later secured a sponsorship deal with Burrow & Hide from Lyndhurst to collaborate in the bands folk aesthetics which again celebrates Fern & the boy’s love for their local community, a partnership that complements their deep ties to the local community.
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Throughout her journey, Fern has poured everything into her music, now hear her individual sound as she releases her first album soley penned & crafted by her own hand.

​In the band’s live set, you’ll hear Fern’s heartbreak and healing as she sings & plays acoustic guitar. Her music tells stories of struggle, love, & the tension between an old soul and a world that feels out of place. You’ll hear Kyle’s driving double bass, Neil’s lilting lead guitar and Dave’s heartfelt drumming, accompanying lyrics that reflect society’s challenges. You’ll see a snapshot of society at odds with a soul born in the wrong era but very much standing in solidarity with a generation that knows what true struggle is. It is in that human experience we listen to this talented bands latest work, Liberty.

Local favourites Rob Clamp & The Ashmen will be livening-up our 2nd Big Top Stage on Saturday 2nd August. It’s not often you come across a voice with such controlled power: even at the emotional heights and depths of the songs, Rob’s voice retains a purity and focus that is all too rare. Wherever his song-writing leads him, his voice adapts to the genre, from pop through folk and roots. A classic voice for classic music.’ Rob has been featured on BBC introducing, has won the highly regarded ‘Purbeck Rising 2022’ imprinting himself onto the UK folk scene, and won the ‘Sofia International Singer Songwriter Festival 2022’ in Bulgaria. Rob’s music is filled with real life experiences, performed in his own compelling storytelling style, with acoustic guitar accompanied by a variation of foot percussion.

The Ashmen are all multi-instrumentalists, banjo and drums, electric and double bass, keyboard and mandolin, violin and harmonica, while Rob plays acoustic and foot percussion. With such a line-up, their sound sits comfortably across folk-rock and americana – reflecting Rob’s British and American influences.

The Heathen Apostles from Los Angeles, California, will make their Wickham Festival debut to bring a touch of Gothic Americana on Saturday 2nd August. Born of the voices of past lives and baptized in the dust bowl dirt, the Gothic Americana music of the Heathen Apostles harkens back to a bygone chapter of American history. Using contrasting influences such as Bauhaus, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds and The Pogues along with Howlin’ Wolf, Loretta Lynn (the band covers her classic Fist City) and Bessie Smith, the Heathen Apostles have created a style of music that at once conjurs both angels and demons, and will enlighten a darkened soul.

Crossing paths at a gathering one Indian summer evening, femme fatale bellower Mather Louth (Radio Noir) and rock n roll veteran Chopper Franklin (The Cramps, Mau Maus, Nick Curran & the Lowlifes) quickly uncovered a mutual appreciation for murder balladry, Americana, and memento mori. It was not long before a collaboration that sought to marry these interests in a sonic landscape, the Heathen Apostles, surfaced. The landscape was further tilled with the addition of Thomas Lorioux (Kings of Nuthin’, Legendary Shack Shakers) on bass and Luis Mascaro on violin.

Their 7 albums – Boot Hill Hymnal (2013), Fire to the Fuse (2015), Requiem For a Remix (2016), Bloodgrass Vol. 1 & 2 (2018), Dust To Dust (2019) Bloodgrass Vol. 3 & 4 (2022) and The In Between (2024) – along with their many EPs and singles (their release The Fall was named Best EP of 2018 by Folk n Rock magazine), capture the essence of the Heathen Apostles modus operandi: Southern Gothic Americana imagery surrounded by haunting, minor-chord melodies, musical influences including Gothic Roots music, Bluegrass, Blues, and Gypsy Jazz, all deftly bound together by the band’s dark and sometimes brooding sense of a bygone age.

In 2023 the Heathen Apostles signed with Rocky Road Touring (the home of  artists such as Peter Murphy, Sisters of Mercy, Killing Joke, Fields of the Nephilim, and Diamanda Galas). In 2024 their agent Dana McDonald  left Rocky Road but continues to represent the band, so for 2024 & 2025 the Heathen Apostles will be touring in support of  The In Between, which came out on Ratchet Blade Records on July 5th, 2024.

Singer-songwriter and energetic musical troubadour WOB will be warming-up our Main Stage 2 at Wickham on Saturday 2nd August.

Travelling extensively with a trusty acoustic guitar, the “astonishingly bouncy talent machine” was spotted at venues all over England, gaining ecstatic audience reactions from crowds more used to punk rock than acoustic music. At the end of 1990 he joined the ranks of agit-folk-rockers Blyth Power, a band described by Folk Roots, as “a national treasure”. After four years of touring and recording the critically acclaimed Guns of Castle Cary and Pastor Skull albums, Wob decided to concentrate on his own music. This path has led him to festivals, rock venues, folk clubs and a host of weird and wonderful places in Britain, Europe, Australia and the US.

In 1995 Cycle Records released Wob’s debut album I Can’t Stay Long. “Despite the albums title, this looks set to be a story that will run and run” (Rock ‘n’ Reel). Since then there has been Friends In The Night which according to Folk Roots, “captures energy on a coiled spring”. March 1996 saw Wob travelling to Australia to tour with the Killjoys, a band often heard on Neighbours and Home & Away. During this tour he won “Best Newcomer” award at the Port Fairy Festival, the prize was a brand new Maton guitar.

In August 1997 a charity tour of Romania was undertaken, playing in children’s homes and culture houses. This was followed a few months later with the recording of Straight on till morning which saw a new element to the Wob sound. The album was recorded in Wales with Matt Cooper on bass and Wig on drums. The production was by Wiggy, the once right hand man of Billy Bragg, he encouraged and was encouraged to bring out a much more band orientated sound which has continued and being continually honed to this day.

Early 1999 found Wob recording his first solo album, proper. Gather brings together moments from the Straight on till Morning sessions, a new set of recordings done at Lighthouse Studios, Weymouth and live tracks from Germany and Austria.This album was released in time for his second solo tour of Australia in March 1999.

At the end of 2000 it was decided to utilise the powerful recordings that were made on this tour and release the live, Shouting from the shore which really does show Wob and his audience interaction at it’s best. Listening to Legacy on this record will have the hairs standing up on the back of your neck, just about every time.

After returning from touring the Live album Wob found himself performing at a friends wedding in Vienna with Matt Cooper. Here they met up with John Rutherford and Robbie Davies and after a very brief rehearsal around a coffee table performed at the Szene supporting festival favourites, Kangaroo Moon. It was organised at the last minute and nobody knew if it would work but from this performance came the birth of Silverleaf. The Silverleaf project lasted a couple of years, they played up and down the UK and Austria a couple of times but due to geographical problems it was short lived, half the band were in Edinburgh and the other half in southern England and the distance took it’s toll.
During the demise however, Wob was busy recording and in 2003 released With just one step. The advent of this album and honouring booked Silverleaf gigs meant that Wob reformed the trio with previous cohorts John Forrester and Wig. The gigs rolled in and once again saw them off to Europe for some well received gigs in Germany, part of one of these you can hear on the Mp3 page.

During the summer of 2006 whilst rehearsing new drummer Jon Edon, Wob recorded A month of Sundays which has been called, “The best and most well produced Wob album to date”. He played everything on it and it shows a versitilty and growth in his song writing. This was then mixed and mastered in September at Audrey Studios, Melbourne by Craig Pilkington whilst Wob did a short tour of South Australia. This was released in 2007 and was toured through out the year. Kerri Stapleton joined the band on bass when John Forrester left.

“A little guy with just a guitar and an extra long pair of vocal chords, UK’s Wob began the show by kicking ass… Humorous and passionate, the combination of his clever acoustic style and his perky stage presence was definitely worth seeing, the crowd vouched for that”
Beat Magazine

Stories and songs from Hampshire, country & coast, Gilkicker Weevils are a contemporary folk and roots band with a rocky flare. Whether through big hooky chorus’s, heartfelt ballads or fast paced footstompers, their feet are firmly planted in the ancient folk tradition of storytelling. You’ll immerse yourself in history and folklore through their catchy folk rock melodies. 

Real-life troubadours and masters in the art of connection; Victoria Vigenser (NZ) and Lindsay Martin (AU) interweave soulful vocals, effortless strings and driving rhythms to form a singular musical voice. Their sound is equal parts contemp-folk, alt-country and acoustic-pop, but no words capture their unbelievable musical kinship, or the deeply heartfelt way they relate to their audiences.

We Mavericks have been on a steep rise to countless festival billings and shows at home and abroad, twice nominated “Te Kaipuoro Taketake Toa | Best Folk Artist” in the Aotearoa (New Zealand) Music Awards, twice nominated “Best Contemporary Duo/Group/Ensemble” in the Australian Folk Music Awards, selection as Spotlight Showcase Artists at Folk Alliance International and are recipients of Australia’s Troubadour Foundation Award.

Although the duo describe themselves as a folk act, the singles from brand new album “Heart of Silver” have been picked up by the country music scene in Australia- “All This Noise” featured on Country Music TV, “Hold Me” featured on ABC Country’s GRASSROOTS and title track “Heart of Silver” enjoyed the spotlight on ABC’s premier country program, Saturday Night Country with Beccy Cole. They are currently touring across the UK, Europe and Australia to wide acclaim.