 | | Dusty Rhodes Band, Wolvestock 12 |
It's said to be the UK's largest free entry country music festival, and it's now in its twelfth year. Click the link to see our photos from Saturday at Wolvestock. We may have snapped you, especially if you were line dancing... Jim Duncan has been involved with Wolvestock's organisation from the start. We spoke to him as Lazy Dog played on stage on Saturday afternoon:
 | | Dancing to the Zydeco Brothers |
"I think we had about five and a half thousand attend today. There's a lot stayed - we've had about 240 caravans come in and a load of tents." said Jim. "It's been absolutely brilliant! We've had Wolverhampton's first citizen down here, the Mayor, Councillor John Davis and his wife. He was fascinated by the whole thing - I don't think he'd been to a country music festival before.
 | | Just part of the festival... |
"It's been very international this year. We've had a band from Holland who were superb - Savannah, they backed a man from Texas called Billy Yates. Savannah are a number one band in Holland - they did very well. "We've had a young lady fly into Heathrow at 10 o'clock this morning, and she came on stage here at one o'clock - her name was Maren Morris - a 16 year old Texan - she did a good set, country blues, went down extremely well. "We've had all sorts of different acts coming on. We've had Joe Sun, he came on with a British band behind him.
 | | Jim Duncan on stage |
"We've had a couple of new country bands, left-field these are, they play at the Little Civic, places like that - they were called Additional Moog and Sequoia. Hardly good old boys from Texas - but they sounded extremely good. "We've also got a Zydeco band from Burton Trent, probably one of the best Zydeco bands in the country. "We seem to have done that this year - only picked up the very best of the bands.
 | | Line dancing at Wolvestock 12 |
"The star of the show was Billy Yates today - he was superb, but just about equalled by a band called the Swing Commanders - they play Western swing - old time crooning stuff. We had more jivers than line dancers, to them. "We've had line dancers aplently on stage. We say to the bands "We recognise line dancing" and we'd like the music to be up-tempo. "The response has been good. We've had rain a couple of times today - but people turned their parasols into umbrellas and didn't move!
 | | Adele in front of stage three |
"It's now a pleasant evening and we're looking forward to tomorrow - because it's going to be another great day." The Country fans Adele Mincher, from Wednesfield, was watching the acts on stage three. She said: "I've been watching the bands and enjoying it. Everything I've seen has been excellent. This is my third year at Wolvestock."
 | | Diesel Cowboys at Wolvestock |
Pete Mincher came to see Kenny Johnson. "He's just been on, he's from Alabama. He was really good - excellent guitars and that. It's a really great atmosphere." said Pete. His friend Jake Williams said: "I've been for the last two years - it's brilliant, a brilliant atmosphere." Johnny Holland, singer
 | | Cowboys at Wolvestock |
Headlining stage two was country singer Johnny Holland, originally from Sedgley, he now lives in Derby when he's not touring. "This is the first time here for me. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks to Jim Duncan. Thanks to Alf Roberts, he's put a lot of work my way - I've got to sing his praises." said Johnny "It's been wonderful apart from it raining when I went on. There's no better reason to play than for these people - they are really lovely people on the country scene. I'd love to come back!.
 | | Johnny Holland on stage |
Other acts on the bill he'd recommend? "I've heard the Diesel Cowboys before - they're a good country band, a nice bunch of guys. John Douglas was on earlier, I know him from when I first started. Donna Wilde on tomorrow is a good friend - she always does a good show." Mocwah and Snowbird Among the cowboys (and girls) watching the bands were two people dressed in traditional American Indian dress:
 | | Snowbird and Mocwah, Wolvestock |
"She's a half-bred and I'm four times removed Cree. I'm of Swan river, she's of Snake river" said the gentleman in the large feather headdress. "My name is Mocwah - that means a bear and my partner is Snowbird - we're distant cousins. My English name is Frank, we live in Shrewsbury. "We dress like this as often as we can - we talk to the people and tell them things that they'll never learn on the movies. We talk about the real original stories - the camp fire stories. They were used to teach the children how to do things.
 | | Watching the bands |
"Over the years we've changed hundreds of people's opinions. We're hoping, next year, to bring our teepee." Wolvestock 13 - 2007? Will Wolvestock be back next year? Jim Duncan, Wolvestock Organiser: "At the first Wolvestock we had about 500 people come to Hickman Park, and we thought we'd had a great day out. The reaction was so positive that we've gone on. Each year it gets bigger and better.
 | | Zydeco Brothers on stage three |
"As the Mayor said in his speech - the amount of people from out of town that it brings into the City of Wolverhampton who then learn about Wolverhampton is really important, it's great for us, we love that. "All the signs are very good for us being back next year - we've booked half the acts, let's say that!" Text and photos by Ciarán Ryan. WERE YOU AT WOLVESTOCK? DID YOU ENJOY YOURSELF? WHAT WAS THE HIGHLIGHT? ADD YOUR REVIEW TO THE COMMENT BOX, BELOW: | 
