The Lethbridge community came together in music and art to raise money for the Red Cross to help  the victims of last week’s floods in Calgary and High River, June 27 at CASA.
 It was really gratifying to see such an outpouring of support from Albertans  who really care  when their own are going though  tough times.

  The event, put together at the last minute by local musician Dave McCann raised a whopping $8,405 and featured a steady crowd coming to CASA,  from 5 -9 p.m. and a lot of great music.

  I caught the  end of the show which featured John Wort Hannam, Shaela Miller, Karen Romanchuk, Curt Young and Jamie Medicine Crane, Steve Foord and Rancho Deluxe and an acoustic version of Paul Kype and Texas Flood, who wound up the show.

There were a lot of families and little kids running around for the show, so Rancho Deluxe‘s George Arsene looked a little sheepish as he dropped an F-bomb in the midst of a strong set of  country and roots music.

He had a crack band behind him including Tyler Bird on bass, Ryan Dyck on lead guitar and drummer Brad Brouwer.

They drew a lot of cheers and even a handful of dancers to the front of the  band, playing on  the floor instead of a stage, which nobody seemed to mind.

An all acoustic Texas Flood closed down the show with a strong set of blues and southern rock classics like “Simple Man and “Wagon Wheel,” plus one of lead guitarist Greg Gomola’s songs “Keep it Real,” he and Paul Kype traded hot leads on acoustic guitars.

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor