Over 3000 music lovers converge on the Cobargo Showground over the last weekend in February to enjoy a weekend of great music, workshops, spoken word events and to reconnect with family and friends, in a beautiful rural setting. 

The Canberra Launch of the festival features performances from Black Mountain String Band and Michael Menager. Entry is free. 

Black Mountain String Band is a fantastic celebration of old time string band music: where twin fiddles and voices harmonise with the infectious rhythms of claw hammer banjo, guitar and double bass. This superb group of well-known Canberra musicians gather around a single mic and share tunes and songs that draw from the well of old time tradition, and the inspiration of original material. Black Mountain String Band is Donal Baylor, Jacqueline Bradley, Matt Nightingale and Pablo Shopen, who are reviving Pablo’s father’s band from the 1970’s.

California-born singer/songwriter Michael Menager has an ear for the common threads in our human experience: pitfalls and disappointments, insights and epiphanies. After singing and playing his way through coffee houses and bars around the world, Michael is now based in Candelo in the Bega Valley, where his debut album, Clean Exit, was recorded in 2014. With a folk ethos and a blues gospel feel, Michael delivers Clean Exit with the authority of an early John Prine, his guitar style reminiscent of the late Reverend Gary Davis. Michael’s upcoming second album, Not the Express, has been produced by Candelo’s Heath Cullen and recorded in LA with an all-star cast.