Blues, country, African and Celtic are a few of the sounds that will be heard at Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Country Fest’s newest show.
Spencer Creek: Live Musical Showcase is a performance of five diverse bands on July 29 at Country Fest.
The five bands are local talent coming from areas surrounding Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows.
Luca di Prata, Country Fest marketing and social media coordinator, said the show is to foster local talent, with an added twist – the chance to receive studio recording time.
Di Prata used social media to gather applications to play at Spencer Creek: Live Musical Showcase and sat down with Country Fest directors to choose the line-up.
“We had a wide variety of applicants, which I liked. We decided it’d be cool to have very different bands all from here, that are representing different cultures,” said Di Prata.
Each band will receive $300 for their show, funded by the Canadian federal grant, Building Communities Through Art and Heritage.
One band will be chosen to receive two days of in-studio recording at the Studio Downe Under in Abbotsford. Country Fest is providing one day of studio recording, and Studio Downe Under matched it with an additional day.
Soren Lonnqvist, audio engineer from Studio Downe Under, will be present at the show to choose who recieves the recording sessions.
Di Prata said the showcase is appropriate for all ages, and covers multiple genres.
“If I had to identify a particular style we’re looking for, I wouldn’t be able to. Spencer Creek is really just to foster local talent and part of doing that is representing how diverse that talent is and can be.”
Spencer Creek line-up:
• Blue Strange, a blues-rock band from Ladner;
• Bored Décor, a rock band from Vancouver;
• Small Town Runaway, a country-blues singer-songwriter from Whistler;
• Happy Hour, a Celtic-inspired acoustic band;
• Bouna Vedere, a South African rhythmic artist.
The name Spencer Creek was chosen in honor of the previous name of the Albion Fairgrounds, when it was owned by Maple Ridge’s Spencer family.
This year’s Country Fest is held on Saturday, July 28 and Sunday, July 29 at the Albion Fairgrounds, on Jim Robson Way.
Spencer Creek: Live Musical Showcase is on July 29th from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Admission is free.