Valley First Music in the Park is bringing music straight from the Turtle Valley tonight at Armstrong’s Memorial Park.
Named after the small valley located south of Chase in the Shuswap, Turtle Valley got its start as the house band at the small festival Turtlestock, and plays a mellow yet lively combination of classic rock and country, from CCR to Blue Rodeo, Willie Nelson to Garth Brooks, early Beatles to classic Elvis.
“(There’s) no karaoke backtracks, no synthesized loops, no irritating drum machine. Turtle Valley gives the audience easy-listening songs that often form the soundtrack of their lives and will make them want to get up and dance,” reads a release from the Armstrong Spallumcheen Chamber of Commerce, which hosts Music in the Park.
On lead vocals is Alfie Huston who does his best Phil Collins, fronting a band from behind the drums.
Leaving behind a career as an electrician and working musician in the Lower Mainland, Huston now raises cattle in Turtle Valley.
On keyboards, vocals, harmonica, bass, guitar and fiddle is Joan Southworth, who conducted the school bands at Enderby’s A.L. Fortune Secondary for 13 years and now teaches at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
Turtle Valley takes the stage at Memorial Park tonight at 7 p.m. Admission is free, however, non-perishable food donations for Valley First’s Feed the Valley program will be accepted.
