With C2C less than 2 months away and all the artists as part of the line-up now announced, we’re laying out our ultimate guides to the festival, starting off with the UK artists performing as part of C2C 2023.

Kezia Gill

Kezia Gill is a leading light on the UK country scene, having supported a slew of talent including The Shires and her own headline tour.

Listen to: Whiskey Drinkin’ Woman

See her at: BBC Radio 2 Stage at Indigo, The Saloon – All Bar One

Two Ways Home

Well known and beloved characters on the UK country scene, Two Ways Home have continued to host their renowned London based writers round The Roundup for years. Now, they will bring their slick Americana and rock-edged sound to the stage at C2C.

Listen to: Broken Hearts Club

See them at: The Wayside, Icon Stage      

Remember Monday

Since their appearance on The Voice UK, Remember Monday have been honing and refining their sound with pure class, delivering one stellar track after another. The trio are a formidable force who continue to demonstrate their immense potential through their tight harmonies and compelling friendship.

Listen to: Nothing Nice to Say

See them at: The Saloon – All Bar One, The Barrelhouse at Town Square, Big Entrance

Ward Thomas

Ward Thomas are one of the most well-known faces on the UK country scene, since their debut album Carry Me Home. The duo continue to showcase that spark of polished talent and are a joy to witness.

Listen to: Carry You Home

See them at: The Saloon – All Bar One

Megan McKenna

If you just think of Megan McKenna as a well-known personality on The Only Way is Essex, then don’t underestimate her. She’s a poised talent who inherently understands the depths of country music and her own craft.

Listen to: This

See them at: The Barrelhouse at Town Square, Big Entrance

First Time Flyers

Composed of four known figures in the UK country scene, including Tim Prottey-Jones, this new quartet have already proven with their first two releases that they are a talent poised for success.

Listen to: Happier

See them at: The Barrelhouse at Town Square, Big Entrance, The Wayside

Eric & Jensen

Listen to: Beer Brave

See them at: The Barrelhouse at Town Square, Icon Stage

Jade Helliwell

With one of the biggest voices in UK country music, Jade Helliwell is a talent not to be missed during the festival.

Listen to: Lead Me On

See them at: The Barrelhouse at Town Square, Big Entrance, The Wayside

Paris Adams

Though she has not released a single yet, Adams has already made a name and buzz around her with her slew of performances across the UK country scene – want to know what the buzz is about? Catch her at the festival to see her perform thoughtfully composed and tear-jerking melodies.

See them at: Big Entrance, The Wayside, Icon Stage

Jolie Harvey

Announced recently on Instagram, the duo Emma & Jolie have parted ways to begin their career as solo artists – C2C marking their first performances as solo artists.

Listen to: How Do I Choose – Emma & Jolie

See them at: The Wayside, Icon Stage

Thomas Kavanagh

Listen to: I Can Be Your Superman

See them at: The Wayside, Icon Stage

Emma Walker

Announced recently on Instagram, the duo Emma & Jolie have parted ways to begin their career as solo artists – C2C marking their first performances as solo artists.

Listen to: Cry for You – Emma & Jolie

See them at: Icon Stage

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Jade Helliwell seeks out authenticity in all aspects of life, writing and releasing her truth. Hot on the heels of her standout headline performance at Buckle & Boots Festival, she reminds us to trust our instincts with empowering new single Smoke. Inspired by moments of uncertainty from previous relationships, Smoke is a fictional tale which will ring true for many who have experienced a relationship where things don’t quite add up. The lyrics tell the story of a relationship filled with rumours and doubt, when you’re told that somebody has been unfaithful but they pass it off as gossip. 

“It’s about trusting your instincts and realising that rumours don’t come from thin air. I hope people will relate to the song and that feeling of needing to be strong when you know people aren’t sincere. It’s unfortunately a feeling many of us have felt in life but hopefully people can connect with the message of Smoke and feel empowered by it.” 

Recording Smoke was a fun and very different experience for Jade who laid down her vocals at Chamber Studio in Edinburgh, working remotely with Grammy winning writer and producer Femke Weidma (Seth Ennis, Sam Palladio, Jess and the Bandits, The Adelaides). With a clear vision, the production builds upon the strong foundation of Jade’s recognisable country-pop sound to showcase her powerhouse vocals and honest performance.

To bring Smoke to life visually, Jade is excited to have collaborated with Viktrs, an exciting new brand who are using innovative technology, set to be the future of music videos. In a celebration of sisterhood and female empowerment, the video sees Jade and her friends light a “Boyfriend bonfire” to purge themselves of unwanted memories from their exes. The video can now be viewed on the Destination Country website ahead of its release.

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The UK country media collective, Destination Country, have announced the launch of their ‘UK Songwriter Showcase’ series on May 25th, featuring some of the UK’s finest singer-songwriters. Artists included in the inaugural show are Kezia Gill, Gary Quinn, Tim Prottey-Jones, Jade Helliwell, Jake Morrell and Katy Hurt, who will be sharing their new tunes and giving us the lowdown on the making of the songs, in the style of a writers round.

“At such an unpredictable time for the live music industry, we wanted to get behind our incredible homegrown UK talent by giving them a platform to showcase their new material in a special 30-minute online special, which we hope to continue frequently as we move forward. The level of quality we have in the UK needs to be heard, and we hope this initiative will give artists a different opportunity to get their work out there” – DC Team

The UK Songwriter Showcase will premiere at 8PM BST on the Destination Country Facebook page, and you can also catch the show across the Your Life In A Song, Lyric Magazine, Entertainment Focus and Off The Record socials.

https://www.facebook.com/destcountry

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Gosh, it already feels like a million years ago since the last time I saw you!

I know! It’s crazy.

How excited are you to get this single out into the world?

Yeah, I feel like with everything going on, it’s something good to focus on.

Yeah, it must be nice as something to talk to people about that isn’t coronavirus as well!

Yeah (laughs), definitely. 

What was the story behind the new single? 

So, I wrote it with Kaity Rae. When I went in to write with her she had this idea of feeling like you’ve missed your chance to make your move on somebody. I could relate to that, because when I started spending time with Luke – I always joke to him now – he walked me back to my tent at Buckle and Boots and I was like ‘he’s going to kiss me, he’s going to kiss me.’ Then he didn’t. (laughs) Afterwards, I was like ‘maybe I was supposed to kiss him.’ It all worked out in the end!

I love the fact that it all ties back into Buckle and Boots and the UK country scene… 

(laughs) Yeah heart of the song…. I was like, yeah I’ve got experience where I can sort of relate to that as well. It all sort of fell out. 

You guys have been so ingrained in the UK country scene, so it does feel kind of fitting that some part of the story is that. Can you talk about what the scene has meant to you, in terms of your growth as an artist? 

Yeah, so I started coming onto the scene in like 2016, I released my ‘Forget the Night’ – EP, but that year leading up to it, I started going out to gigs and I noticed that more UK country gigs were cropping up around Manchester and stuff. I used to travel to Manchester and basically blag Pete Woodhouse and Luke to get on a gig, try and get into the scene. So I released my EP and then got a little more into the scene. Then I got booked for the first year of Buckle and Boots and then throughout those years the scene itself started to take off, you could see a lot of Americans coming over, more festivals cropping up, more opportunities to write with other UK artists. I think I was just in good timing, then I quit and went full time. I released more music and I’ve been able to get involved in a lot more gigs that are going on, and meeting a lot more people in the scene, and travelling a lot more as well. There’s a bit of scene down south, then in the North and Manchester, so it’s cool to be able to travel between the two and make friends in both. 

It’s nice to be able to do that and have audiences everywhere, it’s kind of nice that we’re in that position that I don’t think we would have been in four or five years ago.

Like I say, when I first started going out to gigs, the only UK artists I could remember seeing were Laura Oakes, Gary Quinn, Luke and Mel. I used to go to those gigs in Manchester and see the stuff they were doing with W21 Music. When the world returns to normal, I think you could find a country gig each week. 

How have you been finding your inspiration in quarantine? 

To be honest, I think I’ve been quite lucky. I’ve got a little set up at home, so I’ve been able to record demos for things I’ve been writing. I’ve done a whole load of co-writes and I’ve done a couple of collaborative things, so I did the video with Tim Prottey-Jones. I’ve been pretty busy, I’ve kept writing and doing the recording. Now, with the single coming out I’ve been focussed on promoting that.

I’m glad you’ve continued to release music. I’m listening to music now more than ever, so I’m glad you are continuing to do that.

Yeah definitely, hopefully I’ll see that people are at home more than they would have been, so they might be more likely to tune in.

The last single you released was ‘Stay’ and honestly I feel like your vocals just get better and better with every track. How have you felt with the response to that one and ‘Stormchaser’?

Yeah it’s been really good, both of those were put on the ‘Wild Country’ playlist on Spotify, so that was really cool to see on such a big editorial playlist. The fans of the music, people seem to request them. We’ve been doing a livestream every Thursday, and those two are definitely the ones that people seem to ask for every week. It’s nice that people ask for it, and a lot of people say they relate to them as well, so that’s really cool.

That’s one of the things about your music is that it is immensely relatable, even you as a performer are very relatable. What are your plans after this release? 

I changed my plan to the current situation, because I didn’t just want to not do anything – we don’t know how long it’s going to be like this. The original plan was to go into the studio in April and then release something in the summer to coincide with festival appearances, but then when we got put into lockdown we couldn’t go into the studio so I decided to release this song instead. This song wasn’t going to be the one I released yet, so we decided to release this. I think this worked so well, even just the demo of it just being a vocal and a piano I really liked. I knew that it was something we could do remotely, so we just went along with that. Hopefully, we won’t still be in this situation in summer, but the good thing about it is I have a lot of writing now. 

Final Few

If someone created a biopic about your life, what would be the opening track?

I’d say Whitney Houston’s ‘Greatest Love of All,’ because that was the first song I sang in front of anyone when I was 9.

Wine or whiskey?

I would say neither, but today I’ve decided to become a wine drinker in lockdown. I asked Instagram Live what wine I should drink, so I’ve got a list now to try out.

Would you rather give up songwriting or performing?

Oh that’s awful. I’d probably say songwriting, can I trade it in for poetry.

What’s your favourite song you’ve ever written?

Right now, it would probably be ‘The Moment.’

Record you couldn’t live without if you were stuck on a desert island?

Taylor Swift’s ‘Fearless.’

Complete the sentence…

Music is… life.

Country music is… healing.

Jade Helliwell is… annoying.

Follow Jade Helliwell on Instagram / Twitter / Facebook

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Following her performance on the Icon stage at this year’s C2C festival, and more recently as a main act at last week’s Buckle and Boots festival, the UK has seen Batley-born, Jade Helliwell take centre stage with the release of her latest single ‘Storm Chaser’ and her first headlining show at Hoxton’s Zigfrid Von Underbelly.

Fellow Yorkshire gal, Jess Thristan opened the show with a bunch of new songs such as ‘Return’, ‘Aiming For Me’, and a song that depicted the heartbreak in her parent’s divorce  – ‘Made For Each Other’. It can be quite a risk for an opening act to be so vulnerable and open to sharing their struggles, but for Thristan it just made me want to get to know her all the more; a sense of comfort that Thristan was able to quickly achieve, with the many fans that spoke to her after her set.

One of Thristan’s songs that caught my ear was a track called ‘Ruined It’ – a song that Thristan revealed she has never performed live before; but I hope that she will soon release as a single. ‘I haven’t worn that little black dress in just over three damn months / Cause it’s the one I wore to impress you at our first date restaurant’, her near rhymes and near closure exposed in the song sound perfect for the opening of perhaps a sophomore break-up album. While the singer disclosed in the track that there’s been many things she had to quit, her closing song had Thristan wanting to return to ‘The Old Me’; a title that she tells us to pay close attention to – I can only assume this might be the title of her next project.

With the anticipation building for Helliwell’s arrival, Jade burst onto the stage with her hit ‘Boom Tick’. With everyone immediately on their feet, we were reminded that Helliwell doesn’t require a microphone to sing; that girl can make Adele’s belting vocals sound like a whisper. Boom Tick is currently Helliwell’s 5th most listened-to song on Spotify, and is by far her most energetic track.

A video of the 26 year old performing Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah with a fellow Leeds busker, was uploaded by a friend back in 2017. Following it’s virality, Helliwell was able to release two EPs, go on to win Vocalist Of The Year at the BCMA awards, and Outstanding Artist at the Yorkshire Roots awards; the rest is history. ‘They say it happens when you least expect it’ is true to the Yorkshire lass’s stardom and the first line of her second song of the night.

‘By My Side’ and ‘Numb’, two other tracks from her 2018 EP ‘Infatuation’, showcase those trembling, raw sustained holds that reminded us of both Helliwell’s heartbroken and heartbreaker sides. Showing her love for other fellow female country singers, the artist spoke about seeing Cassadee Pope’s CMT Next Women of Country Tour and performed ‘Take You Home’ in homage to Pope. There are as many layers to Helliwell’s character as there were frills on her jumpsuit that night, a great balance between taking influence and tribute as she transitioned into back into her own track ‘Ask Me To Stay’.’ This last had an intimate feel to it, despite being supported by a full band. It was as if Jade was pleading her case all by herself.

Another sister salute came shortly after with Danielle Bradbery’s ‘Hello Summer’. Delivering the same level of sass as The Voice winner, Helliwell seemed to interact more with her band on this one; bouncing off guitarist and boyfriend, Luke Thomas’ energy for the summer romance song.

It’s easy to forget that Helliwell has not (yet) had a full album to her name – the 19 song set list was just hit after hit after hit, coursing through car sing-along tracks ‘Drive’ and March’s release ‘Storm Chaser’ (the artist’s first experiment with poppier vibes and synths). Helliwell may well be planning to release her first full album soon with the hint of her new song ‘Put It On You’. Using this new and sassy sound, Helliwell sings ‘I ain’t got the time to be acting like a lady, and you don’t have to be a gentleman/ If you don’t put it on me baby, I’ll put it on you’, a track so catchy that the audience were already singing along to the chorus, having only previewed the song that night. Jade Helliwell is an incredibly high energy performer, combined with a real vulnerability and spirit and it is my hope that this her first headline show is just the first of many more to come.

Be sure to listen to Storm Chaser on Spotify.

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