Togather speaks to Gill Tee, co-founder of Black Deer Festival

Gill Tee is one of the co-founders of the legendary Black Deer Festival, the UK's largest Festival of Americana that's been taking place in Eridge Park since 2018. This year the festival is headlined by Joe Bonamassa, Sheryl Crowe and Rufus Wainwright.

Hi Gill, so what inspired you and your co-founder to set up Black Deer back in 2018?

I had been running events for a number of years, largely working in production and I'd learnt a hell of a lot from some of the best people in the UK scene about what it took to put on incredible events.

Black Deer was actually a case of site-first, as I was working with the beautiful Eridge Estate and they were looking to attract a festival there. For me, country music and Americana was one of the only true areas of growth that was happening in the UK music scene and we wanted to create a space where people could come and enjoy some incredible artists, with productions values that made them desperate to come back.

Of course, the music is right at the centre of what we do. I'm a huge, huge fan of country and Americana, stemming from my brother Chris. He got me into the likes of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and The Band at a very young age. Tragically, he passed away and each year is about celebrating his legacy - and we have stage, The Roadhouse, dedicated to his memory.

What is it about the production that makes Black Deer so special?

If I'm being honest, I'd spent years and years designing the perfect festival and Black Deer is ultimately mine and my co-founder's vision taking flight. The way I thought about it was 'What would I want if I walked in here, and how can we make this as real as possible', and that's what I think the production at Black Deer still encapsulates.

We want you to walk in and truly believe that you're entering another world, and that means incredible stages - for example the Roadhouse which is full of motorbikes and heavy music, or for young people there's Young Folk, where they can go and pretend to saw wood and play on a runaway train, our giant fairground, while for the people who are there to party there's Haley's Bar, which is dedicated to the memory of my incredible brother.

Furthermore we have set up the Supajam Stage, run in collaboration with the Supajam Music Colleges programme. This is a college to teach music to teach music to children who have slipped through the education system and their work is seriously impressive - we're completely honoured to be able to give them a platform at the festival and the stage is one of the most joyful place on site.

How important is food and drink guest's experience at the festival?

We take the food side of the event incredibly seriously, and as such want to give people the true Americana experience they've signed up for, while making it inclusive for those who don't just want to be eating barbecue. There are lots of low and slow options, and then fun activities such a chilli eating (I guess that depends on your definition of fun).

Personally I think getting food right at an event is just as important as the music line up these days. People want to feel like they're walking into a magical world where reality is suspended and food is such a key part of that - people now read into how seriously producers take their events by the quality of the food options that are there.

For us that means lots of food that fits our theme - which is of course largely American-based - but then providing some great variety for people who might want other options and have specific dietary requirements. Plus when people are at an event for multiple days, they need to have options because as delicious as barbecue food is, you don't necessarily want it every single meal of the day, although I'm sure a fair few of our guests would disagree with that...

So what's next for the festival?

Firstly, we're keen to keep building our profile and attracting the level of headliners that we've been able to this year and previously and ultimately keep the festival growing each year. We think we've created something beautiful and we want as many people as possible to experience it.

Outside of the festival though we're working on some incredibly exciting projects, Black Deer Live and Black Deer Radio. Black Deer Live is putting on some brilliant shows across the country, at stunning venues and we're growing this side of the operation.

Black Deer Radio has launched across DAB is available online, and is playing the very best of Americana music.