Planning out your festival itinerary and all the logistics that go into attending Salmon Arm ROOTS&BLUES is a job in itself, so we figured we’d give you the first of a few leads on what acts are playing our evening stages the nights of August 19, 20 and 21 at the Salmon Arm Fairgrounds.
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Main Stage Friday night features three acts that cover a lot of musical ground.
Kicking off ROOTS&BLUES main stage will be Digging Roots as led by Raven Kanetakta and ShoShona Kish. The Ontario-based crew will be followed by another critically acclaimed group from Ontario, Great Lake Swimmers and then Vancouver’s John Reischman and the Jaybirds, the finest bluegrass band in Canada.
Closing out the opening night on the ROOTS&BLUES ’16 main stage will be folk-roots icons Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle. The two will be delivering a 90 minute set that includes new originals like the powerhouse single You’re Right (I’m Wrong) and Happy & Free.
A recent Colvin & Earle show saw the two included covers of The Beatles Baby’s In Black, The Everly Brothers Wake Up Little Susie, and Townes Van Zandt’s classic Pancho and Lefty. Those choice interpretations stood alongside Earle classics like Galway Girl, The Devil’s Right Hand and Copperhead Road while the duo reached for a number of Colvin gems including Sunny Came Home and Another Long One.
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The Friday night Boogie Bar-N stage line-up will include what should be rousing performances from Celtic folk-rockers Tiller’s Folly, a Blues Jukebox Heaven set, as directed by David Gogo, who will be joined by a number of guests including Crystal Shawanda, Tim Williams and Sugar Brown. The night will close with Toronto’s kLoX and that duo’s pulsating electronica and roots-influenced grooves.
The Saturday night Main Stage line-up will close and reach a crescendo with a special ROOTS&BLUES tailored show featuring The Sojourners and special guests Jerry Lawson of Persuasions fame and Eric Bibb. Expect vocal pyrotechnicsof the highest order during this collaborative set. Little Feat’s Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett and the all-star band The New Orleans Suspects will kick the night off with a funky southern hit-filled show. Canada’s acclaimed classical yet folk-rooted ensemble Quartetto Gelato with virtuoso guest Joe Craven add a sultry and spicy mix to the evening before giving way to Canadian roots darlings Whitehorse, who are guaranteed to light up the Salmon Arm Fair Grounds before The Sojourners and friends bring it all home.
The Boogie Bar-N will rock until late Saturday evening with performances by some of this nation’s finest young electric roots acts, with The Bros. Landreth and Shred Kelly doing stand-alone shows.
Saturday will wrap with a fiery musical mash-up we’re calling Locarnoval! as orchestrated by Vancouver’s Locarno, who will be drawing on the considerable talents of Delhi 2 Dublin and kLoX.
Sunday night will feature Main Stage shows from both Amy Helm and her band The Handsome Strangers from Woodstock New York, and Canadian blues sensation Matt Andersen who will be closing the show with Joe Craven acting as emcee.
Meanwhile back at the Boogie Bar-N, ROOTS&BLUES will be going out with a bang as Samantha Martin, the New Orleans Suspects, American blues guitar playing sensation Jarekus Singleton and Delhi 2 Dublin promise to send patrons home physically and emotionally drained.
What’s Next?
Stay tuned, as ROOTS&BLUES will be announcing all the collaborative and thematic workshops and day side-stage concerts very soon.