THE final line-up for Southern Fried, Perth’s eighth annual celebration of American roots music, is now in place – with the return of the Outdoor Stage, a new all-day rockabilly event, free gigs in city centre venues and a programme of themed films.

Punch Brothers, Rhiannon Giddens, McCrary Sisters and The Fairfield Four headline this year’s Southern Fried Festival in Perth Concert Hall and other city centre venues from Thursday 30 July to Sunday 2 August.

Southern Fried, which won The Scottish Event Awards Small Festival Award in 2014, will also feature an all-women celebration of the songs of Dolly Parton plus a host of support acts, guest artists, late night gigs and free shows.

Festival director Andy Shearer said: “We’ve wanted to stage a major rockabilly event for some time and we’re very happy we can make it happen this year. That’s part of an extension of the programme to include evening gigs at two of Perth’s best-loved venues, The Twa Tams and Greyfriars Bar, for the first time.

“We also have another addition to the line-up with a great cinema programme in partnership with Perth Playhouse with a mix of feature films, music documentaries which all have links to some of this year’s festival artists as well as a couple of great kids movies with great American roots soundtracks.

“We’ve also now completed the line-up of singers for our fabulous Dolly Parton celebration on Saturday night with the addition of Mississippi blues-folk artist Lisa Mills and Oklahoma’s indie-American songwriter Samantha Crain, making for an amazing blend of voices and musical styles.

“Both artists will also play their own solo sets as part of The Songwriter Sessions at Late And Southern Fried at The Salutation Hotel, along with Willie Watson, a superb singer and former member of Old Crow Medicine Show and Dave Rawlings Machine.” Visit www.southernfriedfestival.co.uk or call 01738 621031 for all the festival info and tickets, and make sure you are a Southern Fried Facebook and Twitter buddy for all the backstage chat.