Photo: Contributed
The first ever Boots N Boats music festival is coming to Lake Country this month, promising some great rock and country tunes being played by local artists as well as some well known musicians from around the United States.
Local to Lake Country but currently living full time in Nashville, Chris Buck, decided to bring the music festival to the Okanagan after some deep conversations with some musically talented professionals back in Nashville.
When his friends in the music industry were shown some pictures of Lake Country, they couldn’t believe how beautiful it was and insisted on joining him his next time north of the border.
“Basically, coming back this year I was showing a lot of my friends pictures of the Okanagan and they said they’d love to play there,” explained Buck, the organizer of the event and the lead for the Chris Buck Band.
“Next thing I know I was talking to my friends down at the Turtle Bay Marina in Lake Country and this just kind of organically fell into my lap, so I started inviting local artists, as well as some bigger songwriters from the US. Now we’re launching a three-day writers festival right down at Turtle bay.”
The music festival will rock Lake Country from June 21-23 and the music will be played on a floating barge in front of the Turtle Bay Marina and Pub, where approximately 300 people will be able to take in the groovy tunes.
Mixed between local talent and some bigger known names, the first annual Boots N Boats music festival plans to showcase a total of 24 different artists.
“Jason Blaine, who just had a top five single with his song called The Road that Raised Me Up will be performing on the Saturday night, I’ve got a Juno award nominee performing on the Friday night, and then myself and the Chris Buck Band will be doing a Sunday night after party jam at the Turtle Bay Pub,” said Buck.
Local artist Sheena Bailie has been asked to perform at Boots N Boats, along with a number of other local talents.
She tells Castanet she’s thrilled to see Boots N Boats happening in Lake Country and that she can’t wait to perform in front of a crowd later this month.
“What a fantastic setting to perform in and enjoy great music with all the amazing artists on stage. Additionally, they’ll be hosting songwriting events throughout the day. I’m excited to learn from other artists about their process and how they bring storytelling into their songs — something I’m really working on evolving in my own work,” said Bailie.
Working under James Miller, Bailie plans to bring a pop style to Boots N Boats, that adds a little acoustic flare for the special occasion.
Bailie will be performing on Sunday evening before attending the after party with other artists and locals alike.
The Friday night is a little more rock and alternative, while Saturday and Sunday will be a bit more country music.
Tickets for the event are already more than 80 per cent sold out, so head over to the Boots N Boats website to claim your tickets before it’s too late.
This festival will also bring artists together for two morning sessions of creative writing, where writers can talk to each other, pick each other’s brains about creative process and learn from one another as they write new music.
“I’m just a local Lake Country boy who wants to bring a little piece of Nashville to Lake Country. We want this to be an annual event with big songwriters and local artists. This is the first one but we are already talking about bigger action next year,” said Buck.
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