---

The Stray Dawgs (Alberta)

The Stray Dawgs are Al LaMonaca on guitar, Bruce Leinan on violin and fiddle (they're really two different instruments), 'Tess Bassie on string bass and Brad Lindberg on 5-string banjo. The Dawgs have an eclectic focus, depending on who's available. Primarily a bluegrass band, when the banjo player is AWOL, as is typical of banjoists, the remaining players have been known to slip into western swing, and even gypsy jazz! Featuring plenty of hardcore traditional bluegrass, some twists on contemporary country stringband tunes, and with a few originals thrown in, The Stray Dawgs bring a fresh take to a familiar sound.

to read more visit Stray Dawgs

---

It takes a lot ambition for a band to stay together for over 25 years, but the award-winning Lonesome River Band continues to amaze their loyal fans every step of the way. Longtime band member and driving banjo picker, Sammy Shelor has put together a wealth of talent - all the while keeping that distinctive LRB sound. With two strong lead vocalists, Andy Ball (mandolin) and Brandon Rickman (rhythm guitar), along with Mike Anglin on bass and Mike Hartgrove on fiddle, the group continues their reputation as one of most respected names in bluegrass music.

The Lonesome River Band received well deserved recognition in 2009 by the International Bluegrass Music Association with a nomination for 2009 Instrumental Performance of the Year (Struttin to Ferrum), nomination for Gospel Performance of the Year (Darkness Wept), and Sammy Shelor’s nomination for Banjo Performer of the Year. The group also opened the 2009 IBMA Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium in 2009 with a tremendous and well received performance. The previous year, LRB had been selected as an official 2008 IBMA Showcase Artists and the band regularly performs at the popular IBMA Fan Fest at the yearly convention.

to read more more visit Lonesome River Band

---

Hungry Hill is a contemporary acoustic bluegrass unit with a focus on original material. Based in northwest Canada, Hungry Hill features five seasoned musicians with a with a desire to create a fresh sound while staying true to the roots of bluegrass and old time music. Lush vocal harmonies resonate from three singers around one microphone in the traditional acoustic setting of oldtime music. Behind the powerful delivery of voice and instrument is the critically acclaimed song-writing of Jenny Lester (vocals, fiddle, guitar) Bob Hamilton (vocals mandolin), and Mark Thibeault (resophonic guitar, guitar, vocals). Ross Nickerson (banjo) and Nadine Landry (upright bass vocals). "

to read more visit Hungry Hill

---

Muddy Road is rooted in early American bluegrass and string roots mountain music. The group was founded in Calgary, in October 2004 and has played at the Calgary Stampede, weddings, retirement homes, churches, public and private venues. All of the members have a long history of performing music and have released a CD called �Traveling�. Members of the band are: JR Galts-Goldsmith (Fiddle, vocals), Lorne Thompson (Guitar, vocals), Laurie Scheer (Mandolin, harmonica, vocals), Tess Bassie (String Bass, vocals), Rod Thompson (Guitar flatpickin�, vocals).

---

I grew up in a small village in southern Ontario called Sharon about thirty-five miles northeast of Toronto. Saxophone was my first instrument but I started playing guitar when I was 19 while working in a bush camp in northern Ontario. I learned a few chords that summer but didn't really start to play tunes until after I went to university in London, England in 1976. A friend played me a recording of "Stack O'Lee" by Mississippi John Hurt and I was totally knocked out by it. I was amazed by how much sound you could get out of an acoustic guitar. Over the next three years I taught myself to play a few rags and some country blues with the help of recordings from Stefan Grossman's Kicking Mule Records. One of my favourites was a ragtime guitar sampler called "The Entertainer" that featured Bob Evans and Jim McLennan. I listened to these guys as much as I could. It was pretty heady stuff and way beyond what I could play at the time. Some of it still is!

After getting a B.A. in English Literature, I moved back to Calgary in 1979. I was in a local folk music store one afternoon and noticed an ad for ragtime and fingerstyle guitar lessons. The teacher was none other than Jim McLennan who had moved here from Edmonton a couple of years before. For the next couple of months I would show up at Jim's place for the best half hour of my week. I learned some great rags, 'Blue Finger' by Jerry Reed and a bunch of Bruce Cockburn tunes and was quite disappointed when Jim announced one day that I'd learned enough and really just needed to go out and play. I didn't take his advice at first because law school intervened but I still managed to receive the "Slowhand Award" from my classmates for 'the best musician masquerading as a law student' in the class of '83.

A few years later I started learning about bluegrass music and playing fiddle tunes with a flatpick. If you had a bluegrass band in Alberta and B.C. in the late 80's, work was easy to find. The money wasn't always great but the playing experience sure was. On my first trip to the Peace Country Bluegrass Festival near Chetwynd, B.C., I had the pleasure of meeting Roland White who was there with Country Gazette. I remember him graciously joining our band at a late jam where we played all the Kentucky Colonels tunes we knew and a few that we didn't. After that I had the bluegrass bug and over the next twenty years I played many of the clubs and festivals in the folk and bluegrass scene in Alberta and British Columbia with bands such as Rocky Road, the Hot House Bluegrass Band and the Sheep River Rounders.

to read more visit Steve Fisher

---

At the tender age of eleven, this Calgary native began playing guitar in the hopes that playing Monkees and Beatles songs would prove to be a cool and effective way to meet the chicks.

Al fell in love with the acoustic guitar, discovering the music of Gordon Lightfoot, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills and Nash in the 70's. One listen to Doc Watson was all it took to begin the conversion to bluegrass guitar. Studying flatpicking guitar led Al to win a few Calgary Flatpicking Contest trophies as well as a second place in Ontario to Richard Gully, who later that year would be crowned 1979 Winfield National Flatpicking Champion. Al has been a member of Wheatland County, Northwind, Hothouse Bluegrass Band, Rock Bottom Bluegrass, and now... The StrayDawgs.

A founding member and past president of the Foothills Bluegrass Music Society, Al has consistently been a part of the Bluegrass scene in Alberta.

---

Since 2003 Back Porch Swing has been writing songs and performing at festivals and clubs across western Canada. Their hot licks, tight harmonies, and funny lyrics are delivered in ever-changing musical styles that will have you wondering "what don't they do?" From square dancing to western swing, from bluegrass to folk, their "cowjazz" flavor will surely leave you a fan.

to read more visit Back Porch Swing

---