A NEW one day family-friendly acoustic music festival is inviting musicians to apply for the final performance slot in September.

Folkstock is being held at Aldenham Country Park on Saturday, September 21, and is the flagship event of the Folkstock Arts Foundation, a new community interest company which has been set up by Helen Meissner to assist acoustic artists with marketing, mentoring and masterclasses.

Iconic fiddle player, Dave Swarbrick from seminal 70s folk rock band Fairport Convention, is its patron.

Folkstock will fuse many different strands of acoustic, folk and roots music and feature over 70 artists, half of whom are from the local area.

They range from award-winning artists such as Lucy Ward, Kris Drever, Reg Meuross, Luke Jackson, and Josienne Clarke/Ben Walker and folk roots band The Willows and Boho Dancer who have sessioned on Bob Harris, through to local artists who are being offered their first festival slots.

Also performing will be a local Under-10s ceilidh group and 72-year-old Chuck Owston from Pennsylvania

Four stages and an additional two performance areas are planned at the festival and now is the final chance to apply for the last performance slot of the weekend.

The festival, which also features songwriting workshops, troubadors, morris dancing, children’s activities and a ukulele workshop, is being held in association with Empire Records, which has recently opened a store in Heritage Close, St Albans, selling new and second-hand vinyl and CDs.

To apply for the final performance slot at the Folkstock Festival drop into the shop and ask for application details. The closing date for entries is July 26 with the winners and runners-up announced on the following Thursday in this newspaper.

Further details can be found at www.folkstockfestival.com or www.empirestalbans.com.