The Back Forty Festival is drawing on a musical genre that a number of local performers are steeped in for its latest fundraiser.
A blues night set for Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the P.W. Enns Concert Hall will support the festival’s annual June festival and related programming.
The event will feature Link and the Moustaches, JP Lepage and Jayme Giesbrecht and the Soul Revue Band performing a musical lineup that will feature a variety of blues music.
“Between all three acts, they can represent a pretty wide variety of rhythm and blues and blues music,” said Back 40 president Scott Bell, who will also be performing that night.
“You’ll be able to hear everything from Muddy Waters to Big Mama Thornton and more … there’s just all kinds. The full gamut from traditional blues to some more modern electric blues,” said Bell.
“We’re taking advantage of having so much talent in the area and letting people see it and hear it,” he continued. “I think we’re very lucky locally to have this talent here … and I know, as a musician, I feel so fortunate to be able to play with them and also just listen and experience this music played by these local people who are so passionate and so knowledgeable about this form of music.”
Part of their inspiration to do this event came from having had an opportunity to do a similar show in Winnipeg last year, Bell noted.
“Our local lineup played this past summer at the Blue Note Park in Winnipeg, and it went over really well. So we wanted to do it again but this time do it for our audience out here in southern Manitoba.”
And the fundraising component is vital to the festival, he added.
“We’re a non-profit and completely volunteer run, so in order to put on our outdoor festival annually, we need to raise money and making music is the best way for us to raise money.
“It’s going to be a great night. This is already a proven show that was done in the city and went over really well.”
Tickets are available online at winklerconcerthall.ca or in person at the Meridian Exhibition Centre box office, but there should also be tickets available at the door as well.
Meanwhile, a number of local musicians are also looking forward to an event being put on by the City of Winkler.
The Return of the Eighties show planned for Nov. 24 ties in with the Back to the Eighties show of the Flatlands Theatre Company being put on at the PW Concert Hall.
“It features a pretty good list of local musicians again doing their favorite songs from the 80s,” said Bell. “They’re going to dress the part, and we encourage people who are coming to dress up in their favorite 80s clothes if they have anything in the closet that harkens back to that era … it’s fun when people get into the spirit of the event.
“The 80s music became more electronic, and it definitely had its own sound that made it stand apart from other decades … there’s a lot of fun music from that period,” said Bell. “It’s guaranteed that people should know pretty much every song … the poster will give you a hint as to what music will be performed that night.”
