2024-25 Season

The Doggone Brothers

Irish Cultural Centre
Members Attending AGM:

Free!!!

Members:

$

20

Non-Members:

$

25

Get Tickets Here
Event Information

Foothills Bluegrass Music Society presents The Doggone Brothers Band live at The Irish Cultural Society in Bowness (6452 35 Ave NW, Calgary AB)!

Join us Sunday, January 26, 2025, doors at 7:00PM, show at 7:30PM.

The Doggone Brothers Band is still grinning ear to ear after a wonderful summer of festivals and shows in 2024. The band is anticipating their first full-length album as a 4-piece, Hard Luck Livin’, which is scheduled for full release on vinyl, CD, and streaming in April 2025. The 12-track album includes 11 road-tested originals and one traditional tune—currently getting mixed and mastered by legendary sound engineer David Travers Smith. Authentic and uplifting—this four-piece band feels grassy at a folk-fest, and folky at a grass-fest. Their sound is something in between: a nod to traditional instrumentation but an eye towards the future of acoustic music. Some bonafide Canadian Americana. The Doggone Brothers Band will tickle your ears, warm your heart, and give you a laugh along the way.

Band Members

Clayton Parsons (banjo, guitar and dobro), Michael Hepher (mandolin, octave mandolin, guitar),Leah Gardner (fiddle), and Rhonda Shippy (upright Bass).

Recent Festivals & Venues

2024: Canmore Folk Music Festival, Shady Grove Bluegrass Festival (Sundre, AB), Northern Lights Bluegrass at the Barn (Saskatoon, Regina)

2023: Cowichan Valley Bluegrass Festival (Vancouver Island, BC), SoulFest (Twin Butte, AB), Blue Heron Music Fest (Revelstoke, BC), Waynestock (Wayne, AB), BlizzardFest (Rossland, BC).

2022: Tiny Lights (Ymir, BC), Northern Lights Bluegrass & Old-Time Festival (Ness Creek, SK), Peak Music Fest (Cranbrook, BC), Shady Grove Bluegrass Festival (Sundre, AB).Venues: The Heatley (East Vancouver), The Ironwood (Calgary, BC), The Owl (Lethbridge, AB), The Duncan Showroom (Duncan, BC.) The Northern Bluegrass Circle (Edmonton, AB).

Open Mic & Pub Night featuring The Lost Prospectors

Irish Cultural Centre
Members Attending AGM:

Free!!!

Members:

$

10

Non-Members:

$

15

Get Tickets Here
Event Information

Calling all pickers (and grinners, too)! Join us for the annual Foothills Bluegrass Music Society Open Mic and Pub Night at Hickey’s Place Pub, located downstairs at The Irish Cultural Society in Bowness (6452 35 Ave NW, Calgary AB)!

Join us Saturday, February 15, 2025, doors at 7:00PM, music starts at 7:30PM.Enjoy a performance from The Lost Prospectors to start the night, then if you're feeling inspired you can hop on stage to take a turn yourself. Whether you're a veteran performer, a first-timer, or you'd just like to relax and enjoy the melodies, there's something for everyone down at the pub!

Open Mic Guidelines

Sign up for the open mic in advance via email (info@foothillsbluegrass.com) or at the pub. We would like to keep it “Bluegrass-y”, here are some guidelines:

  1. One to three songs (depending on how many people show up!)
  2. Besides your voices, only acoustic stringed instruments are allowed.
  3. We prefer groups over solo performances (The Lost Prospectors are there to back you up if you wish!)
  4. Feel free to ask anyone else who is there to join you - in fact, it's encouraged!

Hailing from the foothills of Southern Alberta, where the grass is blue and the songs ring true, The Lost Prospectors are here to share their tunes with the world!

These four country gentlemen have spent years panning the rivers of song in search of bluegrass gold, and have returned from the musical wilderness with only the most tuneful nuggets of classic and contemporary bluegrass for your listening pleasure.

Strike it rich with the Lost Prospectors!

https://www.thelostprospectors.ca/

https://www.instagram.com/thelostprospectors/

https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Lost-Prospectors/100089718034126/

John Reischman and the Jaybirds

Irish Cultural Centre
Members Attending AGM:

Free!!!

Members:

$

30

Non-Members:

$

35

Get Tickets Here
Event Information

Foothills Bluegrass Music Society presents John Reischman and the Jaybirds live at The Irish Cultural Society in Bowness (6452 35 Ave NW, Calgary AB)!

Join us Friday, March 14, 2025, doors at 7:00PM, show at 7:30PM.

Like the powerful mandolinist and composer at its helm, John Reischman and the Jaybirds fashion a stylish take on bluegrass that seamlessly blends original songs and instrumentals with Appalachian old-time music for a truly unique band sound. Now in their 20th year, with seven acclaimed albums and two Juno nominations, the Jaybirds are simultaneously innovative and unadorned, sophisticated and stripped-down, happily old-fashioned and 21st-century contemporary.

Reischman and the Jaybirds make effortless-sounding music that strikes its own balance of technical virtuosity and emotional honesty, and finds its own relaxed voice in a repertoire that comfortably embraces bluegrass and old-time classics, blues, gospel, original instrumentals and songs, and the Beatles.

The musical vision that propels the Jaybirds may be Reischman’s, but there is no singular star here that outshines the other.

https://thejaybirds.com/

https://www.facebook.com/johnandthejaybirds/

Regular Jam Session

Thursday Night Jams
7:00 - 10:00 pm

Irish Cultural Centre

‍6452 - 35 Ave NW

Traditional and contemporary bluegrass jam, bring your songs and instrumental tunes. Acoustic instruments only, with exception for electric bass, no percussion. Bluegrass adjacent styles such as old-time, classic country and folk music (typically in a bluegrass style) may creep in later in the evening…

September through June, except between Christmas and New Years.

Jam Session Etiquette