4 NIGHTS OF TRADITIONAL COUNTRY AT ANE
Published Thursday August 21st, 2008
Local, world-class entertainment will take the stage at the Atlantic National Exhibition, Aug. 26-29, in Saint John with one small change this year. Admission to the ANE grounds is free next week (in previous years it was $5). But admission to the shows in Building One is $5. So music fans pay the same amount they always did to hear great live music.
The opening night New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame Concert on Tuesday, Aug. 26, at 7 p.m. features more than 20 of the province's greatest performers.
There will be a few new and some seldom-seen faces from the Port City. These include Miramichi's velvet-voiced Jimmy Lawlor, multi-talented Grand Lake instrumentalist Winston Rees; the Minto area's recording and touring star Joey Knight; Sackville area's Maritime Express band mates Tom Johnson and Del Wheaton (who enjoy a double life as the comedic duo the Grubb Brothers); Art Marr Jamboree star and recording artist Rick Russell; the last surviving River Valley Boy, accordionist Art Merritt; a third member of the Maritime Express, keyboardist Vivian Hicks; veteran pianist and sax player Maurice Fleming; Cumberland Bay's Ray Phillips, who with brother Erdie and sister Lorraine were the first act to record bluegrass in Canada; 2006 inductee Derek Knowles; country gospel recording artist Hazel Marie Robertson; and three-time North American fiddling champion and RCA recording artist Ned Landry. Former Saint John mayor and MP Elsie Wayne is expected to join them on stage with her spoons.
The backing band includes MC Gary Morris, Terry Patterson, Tammy Feeney, Wayne Hachey, Bubs Brown, Francis Goguen and Ivan Hicks.
A New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame booth will offer the latest CDs by Hall of Famers for sale during the ANE's four nights of music.
On Wednesday, a Gary Morris Valley Jamboree gets underway on the Building One stage at 7 p.m.
A star attraction will be two of the original Diamond Trio, Wayne Nightingale and Al Sherwood, joining host Gary Morris to recreate that trio's fabled Sons Of The Pioneers harmony. The Diamond Trio, with the late Duain Pond, did a weekly telecast over CHSJ-TV in the 1950s, and in the early '80s were runners-up in a Nashville You Can Be A Star TV competition. Other special guest acts include two teen singing sensations, Madison Dupere of Rothesay and Brianne Chase of Chipman; favourite fiddle master Allison Inch; teen keyboard and accordion wizard Shelby Murray, country and bluegrass vocalist Angela Curran; local recording artist Garth Jones and the Bonny Killman Dancers. The Jamborees regulars will all make a spotlight appearance: Cheryl Ellis, Tammy Feeney, Jeannie Clark, Eunice P. Doolittle, Dale Butland, the Jamboree Band and, oh yes, I'm supposed to be on it, though I don't know why, yet!
Thursday is a double bargain night with two shows. Shanklin Road and band take the stage at 5:45 p.m. and Randy Vail and Lost Highway perform at 7:45 p.m.
Shanklin Road, the powerhouse comedic trio of Joyce Miller, Lisa Bennett and Dawn Ellis, has released several albums both in its present guise and earlier as Black's Mountain, a quartet with Lisa's sister Donna Bennett.
Randy Vail and Lost Highway's concert at 7:45 p.m. will feature all of that band's superb regular cast: Steve Lyons, Mike McNamara, Anna-Marie (Burke) Golding, Jennifer Hazen, John Somerville and Randy. Their guests are: John Jeffries, Reggie Gallant, Paul Bright, Cyril MacNeil, Hazen and Eileen Kennedy, Joe Ness, Bobby Burke, four-year old Chelsea Golding, Bruce Golding, Matthew O'Connor, Beth and Jillian O'Donnell.
Closing night, Friday, is another double concert bargain for only $5. In concert 6-8 p.m. will be rising national star Steve Waylon and his Rebel Ridge Band. Then from 8 to 10 p.m. international favourites Ivan and Vivian Hicks, the Sussex Avenue Fiddlers and their singers and dancers perform.
BLOOMFIELD FESTIVAL SATURDAY
Don't forget the free Bloomin' Roots Festival on Bloomfield Station Road is this Saturday from 10 a.m. to dusk. It features the Saint John Chapter of the Comhaltas singers, musicians and dancers, the Living Water Quartet, Southern Flavour Bluegrass, Kim and Jeff Matheson, Ruth Dunfield, Gene and Matthew O'Connor, P.E.I.'s Cynthia MacLeod, Ivan and Vivian Hicks and Shanklin Road. There's no admission but a donation would be appreciated. Visit www.BloominRootsFestival.ca for details.
WOODSTOCK COUNTRY SATURDAY
A fiddle and country music tribute in memory of Teresa Woodward, Saturday at Knights of Columbus Hall in Woodstock, features music and vocals from 2-5 p.m. Afterward, there will be a potluck supper and country music concert from 6:30 to 9 p.m. featuring Jack McAffee, Mike Wheeler, Victor Morrell, Ob Abernethy, Donnie Cluff, Hope Anderson, Howard and Joyce Ross, Bob Smalley, Bonnie Rairdon and Dale McElwain, Art Estabrooks, Tina Oviatt, Sam and Dolores Collier, Noel Nason and Cora Morrison. A donation for Sandy Cove Bible Camp is asked. For details, call 328-6210.
KIRKLAND GOSPEL SUNDAY
St. David's Presbyterian Church in Kirkland hosts The Gospel Concert Of The Summer Aug. 24, 2 p.m., by 4Given, the trio of Darlene Lemmon, Mark and Evangeline Inman. They were 2007 ECMA nominees for Gospel Music Group of The Year. This event is part of the church's 132nd anniversary celebration. There is no admission but a free-will offering is asked.
RHONDA ON GRAND MANAN
Missouri-born, internationally famous Rhonda Vincent and The Rage, appear in a Rotary Presents concert, Monday, Aug. 25, 7:30 p.m. at Grand Manan Community School. Rhonda, who has been International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist Of The Year seven times, has appeared on mainland New Brunswick concerts and headlined at Virgin Hill Bluegrass Festivals often enough to be referred to as a Rogersville's honourary citizen. She has backed Dolly Parton on recordings and had Dolly return the favour. It is her first concert on Grand Manan, so it's an event no bluegrass lover or old-time music fan should miss. Tickets are $20 advance or $25 at the door. For advance tickets, call Sheldon Frost at 662-8329. There are special room rates at Surfside Motel, 662-8156, or Marathon Inn, 662-8488.
Gerry Taylor cgtaylor@nbnet.nb.ca has covered folk and country music for over 30 years.
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