Keep the third weekend of July free, if you like to rock in the great outdoors.
The Wild Mountain Music Festival has announced more than 20 musical acts that will be performing for this year’s event coming to play July 19 to 21. The Sheepdogs and Gord Bamford will take the main stage on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
“It should be a blast,” said festival producer Layne Seabrook.
Saskatoon-based powerhouse rock’n’roll revivalists The Sheepdogs are the headliners for the Friday main stage, extending their Backroad Boogie tour of their 2022 album “Outta Sight.” They were the first unsigned band to rock the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and have since gone on to multi-platinum album sales and four Juno Awards.
For Saturday’s big show, Lacombe-raised Australian-Canadian country music singer Gord Bamford will be bringing the twang to local audiences. This month, he’s just coming off the Canadian Dirt Tour for his tenth studio album, “Fire It Up,” released one year ago. Bamford is a big dog on the scene with more than two dozen Canadian Country Music Association awards and is one of only two multi-time winners of Nashville's Country Music Association Global Country Artist of the Year award.
The list of other acts that will grace either the main stage, the secondary stage, or possibly even the beer garden stage includes Celeigh Cardinal, Nolan-Cook-Nolan, Moira and Claire, Dylan Menzies, Romi Mayes, Raygun Cowboys, Scenic Route to Alaska, Bad Buddy, Red Hot Hayseeds, Gillian Moranz, Cynthia Hamer, The Mad Jacks, Ole Man Kidd, The Hearts and Catherine MacLellan.
“They’re all awesome,” Seabrook said. “It’s getting better and better.”
The full list also includes School of Rock hitting the main stage on Saturday afternoon.
“We definitely love having the kids come out, so it's School of Rock on Saturday, usually around noon start,” Seabrook said. “It’s kids from Jasper and Hinton that want to play on the main stage. A lot of times we'll have some of the performers available to hang out with the kids.”
After the last scheduled band plays on Sunday, organizers turn it over to an open mike setup. A popular feature, this might make many attendees decide to take the following day off as well.
“People will play until seven the next morning on Monday morning,” Seabrook said. “Love that.”
The festivities of the weekend will include an art market and food vendors.
“The artists’ area is a boatload of fun,” Seabrook said. “Some amazing, talented people from the hood come out. This year, we're actually going to have a skydiving person.”
There will be some slight layout changes but everything is pretty standard. After 14 festivals, the formula is pretty set and works quite well, Seabrook said.
Tickets are available through the Eventbrite link on the fest’s website at www.wildmtnmusic.ca.
A shuttle will be making runs to and from the ranch site located north on Highway 40.
Those interested in volunteering or having a booth at the art market can sign up for either one on the website.
