Shannon Johnson likes playing in small towns. Small towns have big musical followings. That’s why Johnson is coming to Valemount and Hinton with the rest of her band, The McDades, later this month.

The band is kicking off its latest tour in Hinton on November 16, and will play in Valemount the following night. Bringing some new songs with them that they have been working on in the studio for an upcoming album, the band of three siblings – brothers Solon and Jeremiah McDade and sister Johnson – will be joined by guitarist Yann Falquet and drummer Mark Wheaton – to bring a mix of jazz improvisation and folky, upbeat fiddling tunes which helped them win a 2007 Juno award for best roots/traditional group album for their album Bloom.

The McDades grew up in a house full of every genre of music, which has influenced them a lot, says Johnson. “We were exposed to tons of different styles all the time, it wasn’t like we only listened to pop radio or rock stations, it was definitely a huge mix. My parents have always been really open to every kind of music.”

To add to that, on this tour Falquet, who is the guitar player on Bloom, is from Quebec, and Johnson says has a lot of traditional Quebecois music in his blood, while drummer Wheaton, from New Brunswick, specializes in jazz drumming. Meanwhile, Johnson plays the fiddle and sings, while her brothers, who both studied jazz at McGill University, add vocals, bass, flutes and fiddles to the mix.

“There is a bit of a fiddling tradition throughout Canada. And each sort of area in the country has its each sort of history in its styles,” Johnson says on whether she thinks they have much of a following in Western Canada. Because of that, she says it’s not necessarily the instrumentation that sets them apart from other bands.

Somewhere the groovy, upbeat, traditionally bass music has set them apart, making them an award winning band that Johnson hopes will leave audiences dancing, clapping and stomping their feet.

Catch The McDades on Monday, November 16 in Hinton at the Hinton Alliance Church, or on November 17 in Valemount at the Valemount Community Theatre. Both shows start at 7:30pm.