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International Festival of Country Music Returns

Asleep At The Wheel, Charley Pride just added to lineup

Promoting the World of Country Music Around the Globe

After a 20-year break, the International Festival of Country Music is returning to Wembley Arena in London on Sunday, February 26, 2012. The festival will feature artists in Country, Roots and Bluegrass music, including headlining acts Reba, Lonestar, Charley Pride, Ricky Skaggs and Asleep At The Wheel (pictured below).

In addition to the five U.S. headliners, the festival hosts an impressive array of supporting talent, including Country and Rockabilly legend Narvel Felts, the “King of Cajun” Jo-El Sonnier and Texas-born George Ducas. George Hamilton IV, Will Banister, Raymond Froggatt and John McNicholl are also scheduled to perform. After the Wembley date, the festival will travel to

Belfast’s Odyssey Arena on Feb. 29.

“I’m bringing the International Festival of Country Music back after twenty years due to popular demand,” says International Festival of Country Music founder and CEO of MM Events Ltd., Mervyn Conn. “The regard for Country music has grown significantly in the UK since the first year I promoted this event, and I believe that now is the time to reintroduce this once hugely popular event to converted fans of Country music and to a new and emerging group of Country music lovers. I have also brought back Trisha Walker-Cunningham, who worked with me for ten years in the early days and is my company president in the USA.”

The popular festival originally ran from 1969 through 1991 at Wembley Arena. The shows, promoted by Conn, were the first to introduce Country music to the British public. Visit www.FestivalOfCountryMusic.com for more info.

Multi-platinum singer-songwriter Dierks Bentley is extending his Country & Cold Cans Tour into 2012 with shows booked in Canada and Australia. With a performance described by the New York Times as “the musical equivalent of buying a round for everyone in the bar,” Bentley kicks off a run of Canadian dates starting in Vancouver, BC, on Feb. 15, then travels Down Under for five headlining gigs with Australian country star Lee Kernaghan.

“You can find hardcore Country music fans all over the world, and I love being able to tour other countries and bond over that music we all love,” said Bentley. “The fall leg of the Country & Cold Cans Tour has been crazy and really exceeded all my expectations. I'm looking forward to taking it to Canada and Australia in 2012…they do make Labatt and Fosters in a can, right?!”

Bentley and Aussie star Kernaghan became friends after meeting on Dierks’ first trip to Australia in 2009. That association led to

their No. 1 hit duet “Scars,” which went on to top the charts in Australia.

“It’s great to have Dierks back in Oz and this will be the first time the pair have performed together live,” said promoter Rob Potts. “Fans have a unique opportunity to see the two acts up close in the more intimate theatre venues, something that doesn’t happen often with the big U.S. Country stars.”

Country & Cold Cans Tour international dates: Vancouver, BC (2/15), Kamloops, BC (2/16), Prince George, BC (2/17), Dawson Creek, BC (2/18), Edmonton, AB (2/19), Calgary, AB (2/21), Saskatoon, SK (2/22), Winnipeg, MB (2/23), Toowoomba, QLD (3/9), Brisbane, QLD (3/10), Melbourne, VIC (3/13), Canberra, ACT (3/15), Hunter Valley, NSW (3/17).

Dierks Bentley Takes ‘Country and Cold Cans’ Tour Overseas

Aussie gigs planned with Lee Kernaghan