Sorrel Nation plays Southdowns Music Festival ahead of second album

Off the back of a very happy time at the Wickham Festival, Sorrel Nation heads to the Southdowns Music Festival this September.

The gig comes at an exciting time for her as she counts down to her second album which will be released on October 23, Creeping Thyme, a follow-up to her acclaimed debut studio album Lost En Route which came out two years ago.

“It has been a huge three years for me really,” she says. “My career has been going since I was 13 when I was playing in folk rock bands, and then I started writing when I was 15. And then I moved to Australia. I went there when I was 19 and I was there for five years. I came back in December 2018.

“I split up with my boyfriend over there and I was feeling a bit homesick. I was playing lots and lots of pub gigs. I was doing three or four pub gigs a week and it was a brilliant apprenticeship. If you can play to a pub full of rowdy Aussies at 11 at night, then you can do anything but I was feeling homesick and I came home.

“I then started doing lots of pub gigs over here but I really wanted to start doing my own original music. Three years ago I got my manager and that's when things really kicked off. The last three years been fantastic. I've released 3 EPS and my debut album came out at the end of 2024, and now I am about to release my next album. In that time I've done six UK tours as well, and it just feels really buzzy for me which feels great.

“The debut album was so exciting. I have been writing since I was 15 but I'd never released a full album until then. It was so exciting to put it together. Some of the songs are older and some of the songs were written in the same year as the album but it was really telling the story of my career so far at that point. Also I was just wanting to make something of my music.

“And now the second album... If anything I was a little bit more nervous about the second album. You hear so much about the dreaded second album especially when the first album did well. I loved every track on that first album and we had some wonderful feedback so doing the second album felt a bit more nerve-racking but then as soon as I started writing it and I got into the studio, it just all came together. The second album is less about my music and more about my connection with nature, with people and with places that have helped shape my life. I'm at a point in both my career and my life where I feel really grounded and content though obviously for music you have to have a certain ambition!

“But it's about my life and about nature and about learning from nature and finding out how to be courageous and resilient and just finding out about yourself. Each song is about a particular place or a particular person in my life.

“We have got the masters back now and I am loving it. I love the rootsy sound of the album. It's very much an Americana album with lots of country and roots and folky influences and I love that rootsy folky album feel. I feel that we have created something really good.”

The main events at the Southdowns Music Festival this year will be live at Venue 24, The Pier, Bognor Regis.

Friday, September 11 offers Phil Beer and Megson; Saturday, September 12 offers Roving Crows and Sorrel Nation; and Sunday, September 13 offers 3 Daft Monkeys and Ed Goodale. Tickets are one night £20, three nights £45 available online at www.southdownsfolkfest.co.uk