Folk By The Sea organisers have added a charity preview concert at Kiama Leagues Club auditorium on September 11 to launch this year’s festival.

Folk By The Sea officially kicks off on Friday, September 12 at Kiama Showground Pavilion with a line-up including some of Australia’s leading Folk, Country, Celtic and Bluegrass artists.

But music fans will be able to get a taste of what’s to come over the weekend at the Thursday night charity preview show featuring Bluegrass bands Charley Castles and The Boys in the Well, Kiama’s own The Water Runners, local folk duo Square Pegs and South Coast Indie-Folk artist Kane Calcite, as well as a performance from Kiama High School students to start the night at 7pm.

Entry is by donation, with all proceeds going to Lifeline South Coast.

Festival director Neil McCann said the preview show was a chance for people who hadn’t attended Folk By The Sea in previous years to come along to a free night of music and get an idea of what Folk By The Sea is all about.

“We’re hoping this show will really ‘sell’ the festival to people who may not have been to a folk festival before,” he said.

“They’ll see three of the festival’s main acts, as well as a performance from Kiama High School students, and hopefully they will want to come along to the main festival over the weekend.”

The Folk By The Sea program has been finalised, with 40 acts and 100 concerts over the weekend.

The main festival program gets underway at 5pm on Friday with the Kiama Sea Shanty Club performing on the Pavilion verandah, then at 6pm The Humbuckin’ Pickups take to the main stage in The Pavilion.

Things really start to warm up after the official opening and Welcome to Country, with Victorian multi-Golden Guitar-winning Americana duo The Weeping Willows taking to the stage at 7.30pm.

They will be followed by celebrated Indigenous performer Jessie Lloyd at 8.25pm and Solomon Islands singer Charles Maimarosia at 9.20pm. Charley Castles and her Boys In The Well will round out the night with some foot-stomping Bluegrass from 10.20pm.

There will be two other venues operating with multiple performances at the Showground Pavilion throughout Friday night, while the nearby Kiama Uniting Church Hall will feature a Bush Dance at 8pm with the Southern Cross Bush Band.

Kane Calcite.

Saturday’s packed program kicks off at 9am, with headliner Darren Coggan sure to attract a big crowd at his only show at 9pm, which will wind up the day on the main stage.

A multiple Golden Guitar winner from Tamworth’s Country Music Festival with a large catalogue of original songs, Coggan has also famously toured shows in which he performs the songs of some of the late 20th century’s most popular singer-songwriters, including John Lennon & Paul McCartney, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, Glen Campbell and John Denver.

A popular Folk By The Sea tradition, Sirens of the Sea which features acoustic performances by many of the festival’s main female acts, will be held on Saturday afternoon at 2.45pm at the Anglican Hall. This year’s Sirens concert will feature Ally Row, Charley Castles, Chloe Roweth, Fly Little Sparrow, Jessie Lloyd, Karen Law, Oceanique and The Weeping Willows.

Sunday’s program again gets underway early, featuring acts like The Weeping Willows (9.30am), The Water Runners (12.05pm) and Jessie Lloyd (1pm).

The festival will wrap with another free concert on Sunday night at Kiama Bowling Club from 5.30pm featuring the Kiama Blowhole Buskers, Graeme “The Scotsman” McColgan, Marco and Rusty, Rhys Crimmin and Slippery John Sausage and The Swamper Domper Bayou Boys.

The full program and ticket information is available on the festival website folkbythesea.com.au.

FOLK BY THE SEA ARTISTS LIST: Alex Randles (ACT), Ally Row (VIC), Balkan Boogie, Charles Maimarosia (VIC), Charley Castles and the Boys In The Well, Chloe and Jason Roweth, Darren Coggan, Fly Little Sparrow (QLD/NSW), Grace Barr, Graeme ‘The Scotsman’ McColgan, Hand Over Hammer (VIC), Good Tunes, Humbuckin' Pickups, Jessie Lloyd’s Sing on Country, Kane Calcite, Karen Law (QLD), Kiama Blowhole Buskers, Kiama Pipe Band, Kiama Sea Shanty, Louzco Fouzco, Marco and Rusty, Noel Gardner and Alex Bridge (QLD), Oceanique (VIC), Oliver Roweth, Robyn Sykes, Rhys Crimmin (VIC), Russell Hannah, Sam Fletcher Trio, Scupriri, Slippery John Sausage and his Bayou Boys, Southern Cross Bush Band, Square Pegs, Stonybroke, The Butter Trackers, The Con Artists, The Lofty Mountain Band (SA), The Water Runners, The Weeping Willows (VIC), Whistle, Wood n' Hide.