SUNDRE – A blend of acoustic instruments from fiddles and stand-up basses to banjos and guitars is delivering a weekend-long dose of bluegrass music in Sundre.
The Shady Grove Bluegrass Music Festival returns to Sundre July 18-20 for round six. The outdoor concert has a decades-long history that reaches back to a Nanton-area farm, but in 2020 relocated to the Sundre Rodeo Grounds.
A genre of roots music inspired by blues and jazz with heavy influences from Irish and Scottish folk melodies, bluegrass also features vocal harmonies and high-energy tempos.
Eric Holt, an organizer and the president of the Foothills Bluegrass Music Society, said just about all of the proverbial ducks have been lined up in a row with just a few last-minute details to work out.
“It’s a festival that’s put on by mainly amateurs and therefore there’s always something that ends up piling up for the last minute,” he said during an interview last week.
“But it’s going good … the lineup is great; everything is kind of set to go.”
This year’s headliner is a five-piece band called Missy Raines and Allegheny. Raines is a vocalist who also plays bass and has along the way been recognized multiple times by the International Bluegrass Music Association as bass player of the year.
Among the other acts are several Canadian groups, including The Barrel Boys, Passin’ Through, the Tone Rangers, and a homegrown Alberta performer called John Wort Hannam as well as a band from New York called On The Trail.
The three-day affair’s format is similar to the past few years and features the first round of performances on Friday night followed by a Saturday morning music workshops with both afternoon and evening performances afterwards.
Sunday gets started with a gospel hour and open mic with an afternoon show winding everything up.
Asked if organizers might have plans to unveil any new elements this year, Holt said, “We’re just working hard to make the ones that we have go.”
While he added some thought has been given to the possibility of adding a second stage, that for now remains an idea under consideration for the future.
“Maybe next year,” he said.
And organizers endeavoured to grow the event’s reach by expanding their promotions through social media in a months-long campaign that started in March. As well, the outdoor concert has received additional support this year, he said.
“We have a couple more sponsors and the sponsors that we have had are chipping in a little bit more money.”
Advanced ticket sales available online, which are offered at a reduced cost from the fee at the gate and include weekend passes, were approximately where they were at for last year’s event, which has the organizers optimistic about welcoming a sizeable crowd.
“We were happy with last year’s turnout; we had about 800 or something like that,” he said.
Of course as an outdoor concert, a large part of it depends on the weather, he said.
The stage is covered so the music festival is expected to go “rain or shine.”
Given the unpredictable nature of Alberta weather, people who plan to attend should come prepared with not only an umbrella but also lawn chairs and anything else they may want to make the experience more comfortable.
Holt said the bands and players are well known within bluegrass circles but perhaps not as widely recognized by the public, and that he hopes the event might entice folks who aren’t as familiar with bluegrass music to see what it’s all about.
“People who have come to the show before realize that the music is going to be good, even if they don’t know who the players are,” he said.
“You’re going to see some fantastic musicians.”
