It’s less than an hour away, but most of the Lethbridge roots music community look at the annual South Country Fair in Fort Macleod as a chance to get away from it all for the weekend, if not the entire week.
The 29th annual South Country Fair takes place in the Fort MacLeod Fish and Games Park July 17-19.
“I love watching all of the hard work come together,” said artistic director Jana McKenzie who always looks forward to the Fair and who is booking the South stage again.
“When I’m booking, a lot of it is lonely work, but when I get amongst my Fair people everything is fine,” she continued.
“Even if things don’t quite work out, they work out anyway because people are so accepting,” she continued.
As in the past few years, you are only allowed to drive into the campground once, otherwise you have to pay a reentry fee.
“That’s to reduce traffic in the campground,” she said.
While there is a variety of different types of music scheduled from traditional folk to blues to electronic dance music there are a couple subtle changes this year.
“We wanted more performing artists. So we have three additional acts on the grounds— a dance group, the Desert Wind Dancers, a hula hoop group and a magician, Ron Pearson from Calgary. I love sleight of hand, it blows my mind,” McKenzie said.
“He does a lot of private and corporate shows. So when I booked him, I told him a wanted him to accost people and blow their minds,” she said.
There is also a more prominent First Nations component to this year’s fair as Blackfoot Medicine Speaks will be officially opening the fair at 5 p.m. on the south stage at 5 p.m.. on Friday.
“It was tough to get them because there is a pow wow on the same weekend,” she said.
She is excited about a lot of the south stage, which features familiar faces and Fair newcomers.
“I’m really excited to see Oka. They’re from Australia. They are a fusion band who combine electronic music with didgeridoo and horns and Aborigine music,” she enthused.
“And we’ve got Sean Rowe (performing on the south stage at 1:40 p.m. ). He’s from New York and doesn’t have a tour or anything. He‘s flying in just for this,” she said, “He’s been getting a lot of play on CKUA since we booked him,” she continued.
“I’m looking forward to seeing Rachael Cardiello. I booked her personally. I’ve never seen her. But she has such a unique voice and her music is haunting,” McKenzie enthused, adding she is also excited about seeing NQ Arbuckle as well as Edmonton blues band Blue Moon Marquee and the Misery Mountain Boys.
“They’re a bluegrass band and you can’t go wrong with bluegrass,” she said.
This year’s South Country Fair songwriting competition winner Cathy Hawley performs her winning song at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday night. It will be her second appearance as winner of the annual competition.
“ And we’ve got Wendy McNeill. She’s been here before but everybody loves her,” she continued, noting she is also excited to see Edmonton horn and bass powered dance/ rock band The Wet Secrets as well as Winnipeg blues/ musician Romi Mayes on Friday night. She is also excited to have Brock Zeman closing off the fair on Sunday.
Another Fair tradition, the Mayor of South Country Fair continues this year.
“It was started by Willie P Bennett. He always called himself the mayor of South Country Fair, so we decided to continue it. Linda McRae is the mayor this year and Mark Sadlier-Brown was the first mayor. We’ll be announcing our third mayor, but it’s a secret. Even they won’t know until Sunday,” she said.
“It’s person who has had a long career in the music industry.”
There are more workshops this year as in other big folk festivals where artists perform several times.
“But We could only get Romi Mayes and The Wet Secrets for the one night. They can only stay on Friday,” she said.
Apart from music, there is poetry on the Lotus Land Stage, where a variety of spoken word artists will be performing their works.
Gillian Moranz, who is booking the East Stage for the fifth time this year noted people like to got to South Country Fair to get away from it all and celebrate summer and music with like minded individuals.
“There’s always great music and it’s always great to see all those beautiful faces,” Moranz said.
There are a few changes on the east stage this year, which opens at noon on Saturday with young Calgary bluegrass band Rotary Park.
Due to decreased funding the east stage will feature some subtle changes.
“We’ve reduced the number of slots from nine to seven, but we’re adding two workshops,’ Moranz said.
The first East Stage workshop is Tom Waits For No-One July 18 at 2:10 p.m.
“It will feature Linda McRae, Scott Duncan, Rachel Cardiello, Ben Rogers and Blue Moon Marquee who will be playing Tom Waits songs,” Moranz said, adding the 75 minute workshop will give each group time to play three songs each and perhaps something special with all of them laying together at the End.
“When I was in Nashville staying with Linda McRae, she expressed interest in doing a Tom Waits workshop and said she’d spearhead it. So I just ran with something she started,” Moranz said. McRae is also performing the mayoral address workshop at 6:30 p.m. on Friday with Lance and Toby Loree and Jenny Allen.
The other East Stage workshop will be all about dancing away a Sunday afternoon at 2:10 p.m. with the Dance ’Till You Drop Sunday Funday Workshop.
“It is also 75 minutes. it will be all about high energy dancing,” she continued.
“It includes the Good Ol’ Goats, the Derina Harvie Band and Brock Zeman, who closes off the east stage,” she said, adding she is also looking forward to seeing Jenny Ritter on the East Stage at 1:05 p.m., July 18.
The feeling is mutual.
“I tried to get the Gruff into the South Country Fair for 10 years,” observed Vancouver based songwriter Jenny Ritter speaking of her folk trio the Gruff which amicable parted ways in 2010. But she is excited to not only introduce her solo music, but her new band as well.
“I have a new album coming out in September, so I’ll be playing a lot from that and a few from my last solo CD,” she said.
“I moved out of Victoria to Vancouver to do some soul searching for a couple of years,” she said adding she decided to get back into music again with solo material.
“I’ve been working with two of the the guys from Fish and Bird,” she said adding she will be bringing Adam Iredale-Gray, bassist Wynston Minckler plus Ryan Boeur and his sister / fiddler/ vocalist Elise Boeur.
“We’re all multi-instrumentalists so there is a lot of switching around,” she said.
“I’m also playing a workshop with Washboard Hank, so I guess I’d better learn some country music,” Ritter chuckled. That workshop is Sunday on the south stage at 4:20 p.m. with the Misery Mountain Boys and Washboard Hank.
“I’ve moved away from country music and I don’t want to be left hanging,” she said.
“We use drums, bass and electric guitar, so the music doesn’t really fit into the folk category,” she said.
Ottawa area songwriter Brock Zeman is excited to make his South Country Fair debut with guitarist Blair Hogan.
“I never get to rub elbows with other musicians unless Blair is in town. Blair plays guitar, and I play guitar and bass pedals so we’re calling ourselves a two man trio,” Zeman said, who is excited about his hot off the press eleventh CD “Pulling Your Sword Out of the Devil’s Back.
“I’ve never played the South Country Fair before, but I’m really familiar with the area because I play there a lot. Of course I usually play there in October when there is risk of snow. But summer is when you really want to tour,” he said. Zeman has booked off two days in the middle of a busy summer tour to play the South Country Fair.
“I’ve got a lot of great friends playing there like Romi Mayes and Washboard Hank, so I’m really looking forward to the backstage atmosphere,” he said.
Winnipeg based blues/ folk musician Romi Mayes is excited to make her first South Country Fair appearance in many years. She is also including South Country Fair her tour for her brand new CD “Devil on Both Shoulders.”
She is excited to introduce her new band including Ontario wunderkind Jimmy Bowskill on lead guitar, drummer Jesse Miller and bassist Micah Bell.
“I haven’t been to South Country Fair since about 2005 when I played there with Dan Walsh,” she said, adding she will be focusing on new material as well as select cuts from her previous albums.
Mayes plays Friday night, July 17 at 11:30 p.m.
“It’s like the biggest family reunion, all of the greatest holidays and your birthday all rolled into one,” Moranz enthused.
