It features folk, blues, world, acoustic, roots, Celtic, bluegrass and gypsy music, as well as poetry, spoken word and dance.

The event features more than 45 artists, including Christine Anu, and 70 concerts at six venues centred around Kiama Showground and Hindmarsh Park.

The festival, which replaced Jamberoo's Folk in the Foothills, is presented by volunteers from the Illawarra Folk Club.

One artist to watch will be Steve Wilson - The Man with the Concertina.

Wilson is one of the finest exponents in Australia of song accompanied by concertina.

He is on a quest to restore appreciation of this now somewhat underrated but wonderful little instrument.

His songs, an eclectic mix of trad and contemporary folk, popular, country, jazzy, bluesy and original material, will bring a smile or a sigh and get toes tapping.

The Settlement are a five-piece alternative/folk outfit, sticking to their southern stomp roots.

Their journey is to develop and spread an Australian folk/roots sound, never to be pigeonholed.

The Tinkers specialise in performing traditional Irish music with a twist - rebel songs, reels, jigs, ballads, hornpipes, polkas.

Evelyn is from County Cork and Alan from Dublin, and they are luminaries on the Irish music scene here.

Seamus and Bird are from Midnight Oil and Mental As Anything respectively and share a love of Irish music.

Lagoon Hill Zydeco is a fun and lively dance band strongly influenced by the distinct musical culture of Louisiana and the pet project of the dynamic Hobartian accordionist Dave Elliston.

Prepare for some accordion/washboard magic.

The infectious indie-folk outfit Nova and the Experience are making waves across Australia and the world.

The band pride themselves on their live show and crowd interaction, while their recorded material will surely get stuck in your head for days.

When asked to describe their music, they often say it is like Angus and Julia Stone after drinking 10 Red Bulls.

Best known for their career-defining songs such as Hey Rain!, and Where the Cane Fires Burn, Penny Davies and Roger Ilott have been together for 40 years, and released 20 albums of high-quality Australian contemporary folk music.

Dane Overton is a blues musician from Gerringong, a one man band using harmonica, percussion and guitars.

While resting firmly under the blues blanket, he manages to showcase a wide variety of emotions and styles in his music.

Originating from the Illawarra in 2013, We Came for Dinosaurs has ventured to Sydney.

They performed at the Folk by the Sea festival last year and had such a wonderful time they had to come back again.

We Came for Dinosaurs also have a couple of other folk festivals under their belt, including the Majors Creek Festival. This year they have enjoyed gigging in Sydney as well as returning to their hub in Wollongong to support other local bands.

Tickets and the program are available online at folkbythesea.com.au, or by phoning 1300 887 034.