The Merritt Mountain Music Festival has announced the bulk of its lineup for the 19th annual four-day festival scheduled for July 19-22.

Current headliners include Gord Bamford (Thursday), Gary Allen (Friday), Hey Romeo (Friday) and Creedence Clearwater Revisited (Saturday); although, there are two headliners still to be announced for late Saturday night and Sunday.

Other entertainers include Tonya Kennedy, Steve Gibson, The Washboard Union, Luke Isaac, David St. Germain, The Matinee and Steel Toe Boots as well as a host of up-and-coming B.C. artists playing the Little Big Stage. Topez, Christina Mauro, and The Kennedys are just some of the Little Big Stage performers.

"I'm working on it," says festival organizer Claude Lelievre of landing a headliner for the 10:30 p.m. slot Saturday night and day shows Sunday. "It's been a little tough getting the big guys," he admits.

The festival has landed some big names over its 18-year history, with headliners like Kenney Chesney, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Randy Jackson, LeAnn Rimes, and Alan Jackson—all gracing the festival mainstage.

Lelievre has had to rebuild the festival after he cancelled the show in 2010 due to declining attendance.

He says the 2012 festival will have the look and feel of previous years.

"It's the same as last year, just hopefully were going to have much better weather. It was pretty tough last year."

But different this year, the festival usually plays the second week in July; that has now been moved to the third week, which Lelievre says makes it a tougher sell due to festivals in the East happening at the same time. The festival was bumped a week in order to accommodate the 2nd annual Great Canadian Bike Rally in Merritt.

The festival will also revert to its more commonly known name "Merritt Mountain Music Festival" or "Merritt Fest," instead of MountainFest.

"It's looks like the MountainFest people didn't associate it with Merritt at all. So we had to go back and stick with Merritt in there." The festival has a new logo reflecting the name change.

Early-bird tickets are on sale until March 17. Tickets can be purchased at the new festival website http://www.merrittfest.com or by calling 250-378-0965 or 1-877.569.7767.