SOUNDS of the Shire Festival is a brand new event presented by Hereford Live, born around 18 months ago with one simple goal - to get more live music in Herefordshire.

Having steadily built up relationships with artists and venues in the county, they decided there was no better way to celebrate the scheme's success than by holding their own festival.

Running from Saturday, July 25 to Sunday, August 2, there's a different event every day, with a wide variety of venues and genres to make the festival as inclusive as possible.

The latest Hereford Live Showcase gets things started at The Venue in Gaol Street, with music from indie group Linerunners, electro-acoustic singer-songwriter Bren Haze, young punk rockers Fault Line, acoustic solo artist Jak Raven, folkster Mark Stevenson and popular local duo Meg and Mog.

Sunday sees some of the most promising female singer-songwriters in Herefordshire at Shack Revolution in Bastion Mews, with pop princess Natalie Holman and rock goddess Claire Perkins already confirmed.

Also on the line-up for the nine days are Puma Creek, Heymoonshaker, an evening of folk presented by the Beer in Hand Acoustic Session, featuring Christina Kulukundis and Ben Church; an evening of metal, rock, punk, industrial and everything in between, presented by Hereford Noise; rock and indie from local lads made good Raptor at The Victory and to wrap things up, a skatepark gig featuring the best of local rock, punk and hip hop artists including The Delinquents, Glue Foot, Rope & Field, Another Band and Gio.

For full details of line-up and venues, go to soundsoftheshire.com