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Weekend - Live and laid back

Open mics and kitchen parties serve up some music and fun


Even musicians comfortable in front of an audience need a place to relax and try out new stuff now and then.

Okotoks country-music singers Tanya Ryan and Maddison Krebs, both former nominees for Canadian Country Music Association’s Discovery awards, sang their week-old co-written tune In Another Life for the first time in public at the Open Mic night a Rylie’s Cattle Barn on Feb. 18.

“It was a little flawed but that’s okay,” Ryan said. “This is where you want to try things out.”

Rylie’s Cattle Barn is just one of several places in the Foothills where pros and amateurs alike share a few laughs, a few beers and most importantly, music.

Michela Sheedy, 20, first participated in an open mic performance when she was 15.

“I walked into Rylie’s with my dad and he said: “make it quick – we have to go to bed at 8:30 p.m.,” the 2013 Holy Trinity Academy grad said with a laugh. “I sang my three songs to an empty bar and Jay Burns was the host – and he told me I should keep coming back.

“These open mics have really sparked my career. This is where I got my start and helped push me to the next level.”

It’s the ideal training ground for Sheedy, who is auditioning for the Country 105- Ranchman’s Rising Star competition – which Ryan and Lindsay Butler, who was at Thursday’s open mic, have won in the past.

“It (open mic) is someplace I can come to every week and showcase new things,” Sheedy said. “I can figure out if some things work and if some things don’t. It’s given me a lot of opportunity to work on myself as a musician.

“It’s made me this beautiful little Okotoks open mic family which has been a support for me forever.”

New faces are more than welcome to open mic.

Samantha Wyatt, 15, hit the Rylie’s stage for just the second time when she sang an a cappella version of You Can Let Go Daddy.

“My dad brought me down (on Feb. 11) as a surprise to watch Samm Smith and I decided to give it a try,” she said. “I like how you can just go out have fun and there is no pressure. It’s a very friendly place.”

The young lady sounds just like the more veteran Ryan in regards to open mic.

“I feel it’s a great opportunity to get your feet wet as a performer, build your confidence and meet people that are as passionate about music as yourself,” Ryan said. “They (open mic nights) are such a great building block for any musician — whether aspiring to be the next Taylor Swift, or someone that just picks a few tunes in their basement every now and then.”

At the Twin Cities Saloon in Longview, there’s plenty of noise coming out of the kitchen.

Musicians circle around a table playing instruments from guitars, harmonicas and mandolins in an acoustic setting at the saloon’s kitchen party from about 3 - 6 p.m. every Sunday.

“It’s acoustic so we’re not competing with volume on stage and we get everybody involved, from professional pickers to amateurs,” said organizer Cody Follis. “We try to make sure that everyone gets his or her turn.”

The songs played at the kitchen party are selected by the musicians as they go around the circle one at a time.

“The idea is we don’t need eight guitars banging away at one song,” Follis said. “If we get a cowboy off the ranch who wants to play an old cowboy tune, we’ll just sit back and let him do his song… You let everybody have a chance to play without being run-over by another musicians.

“When you are on stage that is hard to police.”

The music can range from the classic melodic Long Black Veil to an acoustically countrified Meatloaf’s Paradise by the Dashboard Lights.

Of course, sometimes you might get a more raucous tune at a party. Joe Gore got up and did a mini-Peter Townsend impression on the mandolin while Jeff Desjarlais sang an Ozark Mountain Daredevils ditty.

Desjarlais played a rocking set with the Roamin’ Cadillacs at Twin Cities the night before the Kitchen Party on Valentine’s Day.

“This is just fun to sit around and have different instruments and to practice harmony – instead of being a lead singer in a band, I get to harmonize with other musicians,” Desjarlais said.

The 50-something year old Desjarlais said the Kitchen Party provides a different outlet from his younger days.

“I like Ozarks Mountain Daredevils, Steve Earle and the old-traditional bluegrass stuff that I never got to learn as a kid,” he said with a laugh. “I was into Zeppelin, Black Sabbath an AC/DC in those days.”




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