The more the merrier at Underneath The Stars

With a similarly eclectic mix of folk, swing, jazz, rock and roll, blues and world music that dominated last year’s festival, it’s expected around 3,000 people per day are set to descend on the site.

The festival line-up for 2015 includes Kate Rusby - who along with her family created the event last year – along with former Fairground Attraction singer Eddi Reader, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Molotov Jukebox – their unique tropical-gypsy-dance sound fronted by Natalia Tena, of Harry Potter and Game of Thrones fame.

Guitar maestro Martin Simpson also makes an appearance as well as US old-time musical genius Bruce Molsky. There’s also a chance to see the The Young’Uns; Bristol-based vintage-swing fusion outfit Electric Swing Circus; Leeds-based eclectic six piece Hope and Social. Galleon Blast, featuring BBC 6Music presenter Mark Radcliffe, will be performing on Friday night.

Listen to Joe Rusby talking about the festival on our latest PostMusic podcast

Last year’s event attracted around 8,000 people over three days, and this year organisers have increased the festival’s capacity.

Organiser Joe Rusby - brother of singer-songwriter Kate – said he expected this weekend to be bigger and better than last year’s inaugural event, believing the 2015 line-up will prove even more popular.

“Around 2,000 a day came last year and it was a very comfortable and relaxed atmosphere,” said Rusby. “This year we’re expecting 3,000 or more per day to come and, as a result, we’ve increased our number of traders and caterers as well as the number of family activities.

“We’ve also added another field for camping so it’s definitely building and growing and I hope it continues to do so.”

The idea for the festival - and its name - originally comes from Kate Rusby’s song album of the same name which was released back in 2003. Ever since, her brother has been waiting for the chance to attach it to a music festival in his home county, with his chance finally arriving last year.

“It is an original name for a festival, but it’s stolen from my sister Kate’s music,” he added. “She penned a song a few years ago now and then named her album ‘Underneath The Stars’ and it is one that I’ve always kept in the back of my mind as being ideal for an event like this - underneath the stars - in the summer,

“And it had really been growing in my mind to put on a summer event of music and try to be a bit different and I think we’ve got that here.

“There’s definitely a family-friendly atmosphere – as there is at lots of other festivals – but there are very few festivals that incorporate all the elements that we try to.

“It’s a great line-up musically we’ve got again this year too.

“We’ve got Mary Chapin Carpenter headlining on Saturday night, Kate on Sunday night and Orchestra Cumbia Mailer and Electric Swing Circus kicking things off on Friday night for us.”

Food and drink will be provided by Yorkshire-based producers and sellers.

For more information on ticketing and camping details head over to the festival website HERE

** Underneath the Stars’ official charity partner is Yorkshire Cancer Research, the largest independent regional cancer charity in England. It supports vital projects across Yorkshire helping people avoid, survive and cope with cancer.