Summer Music in Frontenac – Mostly Country In Many Forms
Over the next few weeks, large and small venues will be alive with guitars and mandolins and fiddles as the summer music season in Frontenac County hits its stride.
From beaches to parks, Legion Halls, and local pubs, a variety of local and travelling bands will be performing.
This week is a prime example.
Not only does the Creekside Bar and Grill in Battersea have their summer regulars, Chris Jackson on Wednesday, Bently McKegney on Thursday, and Scott Owen on Friday there is also a concert by the Andrew Collins Trio at LeopardFrog Farm nearby on Saturday afternoon, July 25.
Collins, who is the co-founder of stellar Canadian bands including the Creaking Tree String Quartet and the Foggy Hogtown Boys, now presents the Andrew Collins Trio, featuring three of the finest musicians in North America.
They play mandolin, fiddle, guitar, mandola and mandocello, in jazz influenced bluegrass style. Tickets are $30. For information about this concert, go to leopardfrogfarm.com.
Meanwhile, up in Sharbot Lake, Saturday is the heart of summer as the Beach Bash returns. This year's performers include Genevieve Fisher from London, Ryan Landgon from Niagara Falls, Country Folk Band Schoolhouse from Ottawa, and local star Abby Stewart, who played at Revell Fords' 90th anniversary, and at Line Spike in Sydenham, in the past few weeks.
The Beach Bash is a marquee event for the Country Music Association of Ontario. Verle Nobbs from the Association has been working with Seeds Accounting and a local group of volunteers to make the Beach Bash a showcase for up and coming country music performers, and the beach venue and food on offer has made it an event that has grown year after year. Tickets are $30 and they will be available at the gate.
If that is not enough, Scott Owen is playing the Sydenham Legion on Saturday afternoon.
Next week, the monthly concert at the intimate Snow Road Hall takes place on Thursday, July 30, featuring another crack Bluegrass band, Crooked Creek who are based in Ottawa and Montreal and feature Tim Lotens on banjo and Jono Townsend on guitar. Tickets are $25. and are available by emailing [email protected]
On Saturday afternoon, August 1st, the Big Phat Horn Band is coming back to the Creekside for a show. Call now for tickets, $40 – 613-353-1102.
The Blue Skies Music Festival, which takes place just down the road from Snow Road at the festival site on Clarendon Road, is a complete vibe, from sun up to midnight, with morning and afternoon workshops putting some of the eclectic bands who perform at the evening concerts together in unusual combinations.
There are evening concerts for three nights, Friday July 31 to Sunday August 2, featuring global musical styles from performers from Ontario, Canada, and beyond. This year's performers include Jake Blount from the United States - Ottawa's best songwriter, Lynn Miles, the return of the Texas duo Trout Fishing in America, Turkwaz-Medusa, Kobo Town and Halifax duo Mama's Broke.
Camping pass tickets to Blue Skies sell out every year, but day pass tickets, $45, are available at the festival gate. Go to Blueskiesmusicfestival.ca for details.
As well as the festivals, Sharbot Lake has music at the Country Inn on Thursday nights, and the summer Open Mic's on Friday nights at Kick and Push Brewery fill the patio behind the brewery to the brim, and beyond.
Coming up in early August, the Hellhound Blues Band is at the Sydenham Legion on August 8th.
The Abrams Family is playing at the Snow Road Presbyterian Church anniversary on August 16th.
And this is just a sample of the music coming to the local region in the coming month.
