The Beach Bash in July, featuring the Abrams

Jeff Green | Jul 17, 2024

Three years ago, the Country Music Association of Ontario (CMA Ontario), and their partners at Seeds Accounting, put on their first event in Sharbot Lake to showcase some of the best country music artists who are making their mark across the province.

Now in its third year, the Beach Bash has made some further changes. Taking place next weekend, on July 27, its new date, the week before the August long weekend, the Beach Bash is in peak cottage season now. It kicks off at 6pm at the Sharbot Lake Beach, with the best in local food available at the site, including Seed to Sausage (BBQ Chicken and Ribs), Frenchies (Burgers and Hot Dogs), and Cardinal Café (Ice Cream, Donuts, and Treats, as well as a beer garden, featuring local brewers

There are five acts performing at the bash this year, each with its own unique take on country music.

Spencer Burns is very new to the music business. He turned professional only a year ago with the release of his debut single “Wanting You’. His roots in the Toronto music scene bring a sharp edge to his country sound. His latest single, “I Don’t Get It” is a good example of this musical direction.

Charissa, who comes from Burlington, grew up on the music of Stevie Nicks, Queen, Whitney Houston, and cites Alison Krauss as an inspiration for the acoustic based Americana sound.

Her latest single is the haunting, “Lonely Lately”. It is a song that she has been playing in front of live audiences for the past few years. “It’s a real fan favourite that speaks of the emotional pain of missing someone,” she says. Characteristic of her earthy sound, Charissa is pleased to have finally recorded it. “Lonely Lately” was co-written with Chelsea McWilliams, a member of the Hamilton-based band, The Redhill Valleys and produced by fellow bandmate, Tim Allard.

Alexa Goldy is from Kingston, and has relocated to Nashville, and her independent releases “Set In Stone” and “He Would” have helped her get established, and have been featured on CMT (Country Music Television) and the BBC. She has been performing and recording for over 10 years and in 2023, she was awarded the Artist of the Year, and Record of the Year awards at the Oshawa Music Awards.

Karli June is originally from Listowel where she started singing in church and at local fairs. In 2023 she was nominated for four CMA Ontario awards for her debut EP “Where You Come From”. Her music fuses a contemporary country rock sound with big hooks to catch the attention of listeners every time. Her latest release is called “Still Make Cowgirls’, which she describes as a track “that is about unapologetically being a woman who is proud of her country roots”.

The Abrams (John and James Abrams) have been performing around the world for 20 years both as headliners and opening shows for artists including John Hammond, Feist, Dean Brody, The Dixie Chicks, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Luke Combs. They won the 2022 Award for Duo/Group of the Year at the CMAOntario Awards.

They have a new single, “Something New,” from their upcoming EP expected later this year.

If the Abrams look a bit young to be 20-year veterans of the music scene that’s because they started young, playing with their father and grandparents when they were child phenoms.

Some of their earliest shows took place north of Sharbot Lake at Snow Road in the old Thomson Hall (across the Snow Road Community Centre), where they played Bluegrass and Gospel shows with the likes of fiddler Joe White, mandolin player Bob Burtch, their grandparents Wayne and Mary Abrams, and their father Brian, among others.

But the Abrams boys were the stars of the shows. The hall is small, so the crowd would spill out of the building, where they would lean in to hear the music through the open windows and doors of the hall. The shows always ended the same way, with James on fiddle playing “Orange Blossom Special” as fast as he could, and all the rest of the players hanging on.

They have recorded 4 studio albums, two EP’s and released numerous singles over the years, as they continue to develop their country sound.

It will be a homecoming of sorts when they take the stage to bring Beach Bash 3 to a fitting finale.

Tickets ($30) are available at Grays Grocery, Sharbot Lake Home Hardware, K&P Brewing Company, Sharbot Lake Pharmasave, Seed to Sausage, and Sharbot Lake Chiropractic.