Summer may be winding down, but the music festival season is just beginning to heat up in the Innisfail area, with two great events planned for the last two weekends in August.
First up, returning to the Daines Ranch and Rodeo grounds for the second year in a row, will be the Texas Connection Music Festival on Aug. 24. The festival is the brainchild of Adam Daines, who was a big fan of the Red Dirt and honky-tonk style music made popular down in the Texas music scene.
"We really wanted to introduce this style of music here in Alberta," said Daines. "We have this big ranch that sits empty a lot of the year and we wanted to do some fun things with it, so we got the idea to bring some of those talented Texas artists up here to play." Subsequently, the Texas Connection Music Festival was born.
Headlining the festival this year will be Jackson Taylor and the Sinners, a honky-tonk band from Texas who just recorded a new CD in Fort Worth, Tex., one of the popular "Live at Billy Bob's" series. The band's music emulates classic honky-tonk artists such as Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings.
Other headliners include the Red Dirt/Texas country band No Justice, and the rock band Big Casino, which was booked after front man Justin Ross gave an unforgettable acoustic performance at last year's show.
"Justin was definitely one of the highlights last year," said Daines. "After his incredible performance I told him that we were definitely bringing out the full band this year."
The festival will also feature local Alberta talent with the Texas flair. "We just signed up Claresholm artist Shane Chisholm. We are pretty excited about that," said Daines. "Shane is up for the Canadian Country Music Association award for Roots Artist of the Year."
Also returning to the ranch, hot on the heels of the recent Ivan Daines Country Music Pick-nic will be fan favourite Denver Daines and local media personality Tera Lee.
"We have something for almost everyone -- rock, country, honky-tonk -- you name it," said Daines. "It will be a great time."
Camping is also included in the ticket price. "We actually have The Curtis Glencross Invitational Charity Roughstock Event happening on Friday, August 23rd, so we encourage everyone to come out for that as well and stay for the whole weekend," said Daines. Tickets to the Texas Connection Music Festival can be purchased at the Black Knight Ticket Centre in Red Deer, or at the gate.
The festival spirit continues the following weekend with a slightly different flavour as the Alberta's Own Independent Music Festival arrives in town. 2013 marks the 12th year of the popular music festival, but the first year it has been held in Innisfail, also at the Daines Ranch and Rodeo Grounds.
"We were thrilled to find out that the venue was available," said Rob Bouvier of RGB Productions, the company responsible for bringing the festival to town. "It is a great site with a lot more capacity than our previous venues. We are really looking forward to it."
The focus at Alberta's Own will be primarily on independent artists, such as headliner Clutch, one of the world's top independent bands, from Germantown, Md. "They made their own record label and kind of just bypassed the corporate world," said Bouvier. "They really represent the independent spirit." Clutch will be headlining on Saturday evening.
For those looking for something more mainstream, popular rock 'n' roll recording artists The Trews will be headlining on Friday night.
Dominating the festival however will be local independent talent. "We had over 2,000 bands submit to play the show this year," said Bouvier. "We had to narrow it down to 34. It was really challenging. There's a lot of talent in our own backyard."
Bouvier enjoys giving local bands an opportunity to showcase their talents. "Every big band was a small band at one time," he said.
The selected local bands gracing the stage during the Alberta's Own Music Festival this year include the Black Mountain Outlaws, Dusty Tucker, Oldbury, Stranger Danger, and dozens more. A full lineup of artists and ticket information can be found on the Alberta's Own website at www.abown.com.
Tickets can also be purchased from the artists themselves. "We encourage people to buy the tickets through the artists, as some of that money goes directly back to them," said Bouvier.
It take more than just a love of music to pull off an event of this calibre, and Bouvier is very grateful for the many sponsors who have given their support to the musical cause. "There is a full list of sponsors on our website as well, too numerous to list here, though I wish I could," he said. "Without them, this event wouldn't be possible."
