The last, laid back day of the thirtieth annual South Country Fair began bright and early at 11 a.m. on the South stage with Blackfoot Medicine Speaks and a workshop including Nomadic Missive and Ryan McNally. 
I arrived in time to catch a bit of Nomadic Missive’s workshop. They had trimmed their numbers to a trio for an acoustic set focussing on their powerful, soulful voices.
Over on the east stage, after the Big Grass Jam, Boots and the hoots with special guest Megan Brown playing fiddle were a “hoot ”as usual.
“She’s never played with us before and she knows our songs better than I do and I wrote them, ” quipped Boots, one of his many golden one liners, which had the relaxed crowd chuckling.
Their songs were a hoot as well, especially the whimsical “Country Music Superstar.” “Pinecone Cowboy,” featured Boots’ yodelling.
“This is the song that made us famous or infamous. We made maybe 30 bucks off of it,” he quipped as an intro. He introduced “ Born To Lose,” as “ another song about sucking at life.”
I had to leave that set early because I didn’t want to miss reunited folk trio the Fates, who will be touring again.
They sang a gorgeous set of acoustic guitar, percussion and the spine tingling harmonies of Jenny Allen, Lori Reid and Lin Elder, with each of them taking turns singing lead vocals.
They took the opportunity to play some brand new songs as well as plenty of old favourites including “
So Sad.”
They put their own spooky stamp on Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle.” An original highlight was a song off their “Therapy CD” about “invoking the power of Jesus on your worst enemy.”
Another highlight was the haunting harmonies and gentle strumming of “Let It Go.”
Workshops are a great place to catch some of the performers you may have missed or catch them again if they impressed you, so dozens of people were flaked out in front of the stages enjoying a beautiful July day — the soundtrack great music of all styles.
On the east Stage, Scott Cook and some of his band mates hosted an excellent songwriting workshop featuring Cook, Robt Sarazin Blake and Carter Felker.
Cook had the chillaxing crowd grinning on “Carving Stone.” Felker showed some spry picking on “Francine,” noting “ this isn’t a happy song, but it sounds like one.”
The South stage featured an eclectic workshop.
While Amelia Curran supplied the more serious side of songwriting, Lance Loree and South Country Fair mayor Washboard Hank embraced the more light-hearted side of the spectrum, while Ryland Moranz’s songs, including several brand new ones, were supremely earnest.
On the east stage Edmonton folksinger Billie Zizi and a band including her dad Cam Neufeld on fiddle entertained a growing crowd with a tough of Celtic music and whole lot of soul and R and
B music. I only caught a couple of their songs, but they were true to the laid back vibe of the East Stage on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
At a festival, Tweeners are always a great way to keep an audiences’ attention while the next band is setting up at a festival. So I was pleasantly surprised to see Keri and Devin Latimer of the band Nathan, playing a mid-afternoon tweener on the South stage.
Keri strummed rhythms and looped them and then played theremin over them as her husband payed acoustic bass.
One of the songs that stood out was “Virtual Machine.”
Australian instrumental duo The Imprints finished off this year’s fair on the South stage. They made quite the impression at a surprise post show show the night before, taking the stage for a long jam until 3 a.m. after Nomadic Massive’s set.
This set was subdued , yet trippy set of dance, and pop music with a touch of a reggae groove.
Most of the sound came from Willow Stahult looping a variety of sounds with her violin while Lester Linden pounded out a steady beat on the drums.
Stahult was impressive. She reminded me of Kytami of Delhi 2 Dublin. She not only played intricate violin solos, but also looped catchy riffs which sounded live everything but violin. She was building bass sounds as well.
By the end of their long set they had a number of folks getting in their last dances before the end of this year’s fair.
