The Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival has announced the rest of its lineup for the 23rd annual event, Aug. 14 to 16.
Devon Coyote will be taking to stages at the festival site on both the Saturday and Sunday, dispensing his energetic and melodic roots-based rock sound with his trio, which will be augmented by special guest, Okanagan harp master Sherman “Tank” Doucette.
Singer-songwriter James Lamb and spoken word artist Mapgie Ulysses will also be performing. Both have been making strong contributions on the Nelson – West Kootenays scene for the past few years.
Arizona-based bluesman Tom Walbank, who is originally from England, will be making his first appearances in Canada during the Roots and Blues weekend. The singer, songwriter, guitarist and harp player will be ripping it up with his gritty approach to dispensing the blues.
Rounding out the younger contingent is Alberta’s folk-rock band The Hearts, who have won over large audiences at events such as the prestigious Edmonton Folk Music Festival.
The festival has also added three acts, who will deliver tunes from the songbooks of The Grateful Dead to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary.
Mark Karan, Jason Crosby and Edmonton’s Tacoy Ryde will come armed with a ton of material from the Dead songbook and will also be doing workshops and jam sessions.
The final addition to the festival is renowned guitarist Wendell Ferguson.
“Wendell was on his way to teaching at the Nimble Fingers camp in Sorrento so we had to grab him as he was headed that way,” said festival director Peter North, who will be using Ferguson on a honky-tonk workshop with Prairie Oyster’s Russell deCarle on the Saturday and as an emcee on main stage Saturday night.
For more info and tickets, visit rootsandblues.ca.
