Among the Hunter Valley's most cherished cultural escapes, the event returns for three days of discovery over the school holidays, April 24-26, signalling its 15th year of operation.

Hosted at Dashville, an idyllic bushland property at Lower Belford, the family-friendly cultural jamboree brings some of the best musical acts from around the globe to showcase them in an intimate setting one by one, alongside a whole list of other bits and pieces, including comedy, pro skateboarding, markets, workshops, camping and more.

The Church enters their 40th year as a band in 2020 and, as fate would have it, will finally make their debut appearance on the hallowed soil of Dashville.

It will certainly be an occasion to remember when the haunting strains of Under the Milky Way, and other classics like The Unguarded Moment, Almost With You and Reptile roll across the starlit Gum Ball arena.

Hart Plays Hendrix sees one of the virtuosic rising stars of Australian music, Harts, pay homage to the greatest guitarist that ever lived, Jimi Hendrix.

As a scorching three-piece, Harts and his band channel the Jimi Hendrix Experience in such a pure unadulterated form that you'll believe Dashville has been transported to 1969.

As a tip of the hat celebration to 15 years of The Gum Ball, Dashville welcomes back one of their fondest headlining acts from the very first festival, the incredibly talented and four times Helpmann Award-winner iOTA.

This is a huge inclusion for fans of iOTA, with his renowned theatre career in full swing and mooted appearance as a Eurovision 2020 contestant.

Dyson Stringer Cloher returns to The Gum Ball, having reformed to record a long-awaited debut record.

The wait was well and truly worth it, with these three modern luminaries - Mia Dyson, Liz Stringer and Jen Cloher - delivering a stunning self-titled songbook.

Prepare for some sublime harmonies.

Celebrated Canadian songwriter Frazey Ford will make her Dashville debut.

With a soulful take on alt-country and Americana, she's forged an international career as one third of The Be Good Tanyas.

But, her solo work is equally impressive, with The Kids Are Having None of It being the first taste of her third studio album.

The Gum Ball also brings you the smouldering and seductive singing of Steve Smyth, Melbourne punk-blues growlers Cash Savage and The Last Drinks, Sydney's soulful RnB hip hop singer-songwriter Okenyo, the psychedelic alt-country soundscapes of Lost Rags and the sophisticated indie pop and sonic space rock courtesy of Cousin Tony's Brand New Firebird.

Rounding out the first announcement is the dream-pop of Coda Chroma, the enigmatic songwriting of M.E. Baird, rising Irish singer-songwriter Son aka Susan O'Neill, the funk-multi-faceted grooves of Eagle Eye Jones, Hunter-based rocker Tori Forsyth, Newcastle-based psych aficionado Lachlan X. Morris, pop-punk upstarts Jones the Cat, rockin' Port Macquarie trio Palomino, The Soul Movers and Buddy Dingo.

The Gum Ball kicks off from 2pm on Friday, April 24, and continues until noon Sunday, April 26, incorporating a special Anzac dawn service on Saturday, April 25.