The Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music Festival takes place at the Ness Creek Festival Site, August 16-18. (submitted photo)

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Family friendly music festival

A unique music experience for the entire family

Jun 11, 2019 | 6:16 AM

Are you looking for a unique musical experience the entire family can enjoy?

Consider the Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music Festival located in the splendor of the Ness Creek Festival Site, August 16-18.

Nestled into the lovely boreal forest, this festival boasts days and nights filled with some of the greatest Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music to be heard in North American.

It is a time when multi-generations gather together to not only soak in the finest bluegrass and old- time music, but to soak in the culture of the genre: the music, the dances, the fellowship.

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The music harkens to days of old with a modern flair and revives the traditional dances that many have forgotten.

This is a festival where you see seniors teaching younger generation two-steps, jigs, schottische, reels; where babies happily clap away to the music while children twirl and couples sway.

The music comes from bands who gather from throughout Canada and the United States, including many local performers.

Bands such as T’Monde, the headliner of this year’s festival, come to us all the way from Louisiana to bring festival goers a taste of their brand of early country music to ancient French and Creole ballads to present day Cajun music.

The Ruta Beggars, formed at Berklee College of Music in the American Roots Program, feature high-energy and hot, tasty, bluegrass licks which draw in audiences from down in the valley and over yonder!

Viper Central displays virtuosic chops on fiddle, mandolin, guitar, banjo and dobro, ripping through classic and original bluegrass pieces at barn-burning tempos.

A combination of youth and beauty, veterans and virtuosos, Nomad Jones draws on an extensive repertoire from traditional bluegrass and travelling across the acoustic music spectrum.

Zachary Lucky and Ivan Rosenberg come together to, unapologetically take their audiences back to classic bluegrass music style.

Playing and spreading the good news of Appalachian old-time and other acoustic roots music is what The Strawflowers do best. They perform an array of music from traditional tunes to Hazel Dickens and John Hartford.

Jess and Jer allow the intimacy of married life: the loving and unloving, the affection and distractions to seep into their duo performances. Together, they play original bluegrass numbers that sound antique and have toured Canada from Halifax to Vancouver and the US from New York to Seattle.

Local favorite is Eliza Doyle. This feisty international and award-winning Saskatchewan artist has a unique way of captivating audiences around the world with her charismatic performances, stylistic clawhammer banjo playing and sophisticated song-writing.

Other fantastic Saskatchewan performers will include The Creeland Dancers, Dean Bernier, Lucas Welsh, Gopher Broke and Sunday Morning Gospel with Ken Olsen and Friends.

For those who want to learn the art of bluegrass and old-time musicianship and dance, registration is now open for the annual music camp, which runs August 12-16th.

The incredible performers for the Festival are the instructors of the classes for all ages in guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, upright bass, dobro., singing and dancing. There is even a children’s music program called Fungrass.

Go to their website for specific information on classes, festival and performers and teachers.

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