American blues and country icon Bonnie Raitt will headline a star-studded line-up at next year's Black Deer Festival.

Promoters have announced the "first wave" of artists for the Kent festival, with Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats also due to grace the stage at Eridge Park near Tunbridge Wells from June 16 to 18.

The festival has produced increasingly impressive bills in recent years and this year's show looks to be once more packed with big names from the world of blues, country and Americana.

Singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams, Aussie blues rockers The Teskey Brothers, Canadian songsmith and activist Allison Russell, and Arizona indie outfit Calexico have also been announced, along with Elles Bailey, Amythyst Kiah. Robert Vincent, Bella, White, and Dylan Earl.

Hailed for its friendly, community-based atmosphere, the festival sees artists play on stages large and small in tents around the historic grounds of Eridge Park, surrounded by fields and woodland, with a larger main stage area providing a more traditional festival set-up.

Last year's line-up saw the main stage headlined by Wilco, Van Morrison, and The Waterboys – although the latter was forced to cut their set short when a thunderstorm hit the park.

Promoters will be praying that lightning doesn't strike twice but fans and musicians alike are bound to flock to the show on the strength of its bill.

Bonnie Raitt in particular is sure to attract punters – billed as "one of the defining faces of Americana", Bonnie's 50-plus-year career has seen her pick up 10 Grammy Awards and release 18 studio albums, the latest 'Just Like That' being nominated for the 'Americana Album Of The Year' at the Grammies.

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats are also sure to draw a crowd, having won millions of fans with their barnstorming brand of R&B, rock n' roll and folk.

High energy live shows and TV appearances on Later with Jools Holland and The Tonight Show have seen The Night Sweats stock rise in both the US and the UK, capitalising on the marker set by 2016’s Billboard Number One, ‘S.O.B.’

The Teskey Brothers' ride to fame has been more recent, with the band winning the 2019 Levi Music Prize – a prize to financially assist Australian and New Zealand acts to help their global endeavours. And it's clearly helped – with the blues rockers winning legions of fans and now a top spot at one of the UK's fastest growing festivals.

Speaking about the festival, Bonnie said: "I'm really looking forward to coming to Black Deer Festival. I hear it’s a real home away from home for American musicians. See you next summer!"

Founders of the Black Deer Festival, Gill Tee and Debs Shilling, add: “We are thrilled to reveal the first names for Black Deer Festival 2023.

"Bonnie Raitt, Nathaniel Rateliff, Lucinda Williams, Allison Russell… it reads like a who’s who of Americana music past and present.

"We can’t wait to welcome our community back into the deer park to enjoy it all!”