Whoop Up Days opened with a whole lot of barbecues and pancake breakfasts after the parade, Aug. 23.

 One of those was the mayor’s barbecue outside City Hall featuring local country star Trevor Panczak, who was in full swing by the time I arrived. He was playing a song called “When Daddy was a Go To Church Man,”

Panczak  and his band were playing a set up uptempo modern country music, and while he had a a captive audience lining up for grub, decided to try out a few new songs on them.

 It’s been a while since I’ve seen him, but he had a mostly new set to go with his mostly new band of  steel guitarist Darren Sillito, drummer Ben Montgomery, lead guitarist Trevor Christensen and long time bassist Ray Banman.

He played several Panczak favourites like “ Blame It On the Whiskey” and  “Cheap Shades,” which he noted was played on Country 95.

A couple new songs including  the catchy “Winnebago” were well received by the audience.

He took the opportunity to introduce  his band and let them solo during a hot version of Ronnie Dunn’s “Singer in a Cowboy Band”

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor