Announcements & Updates
The cancellation of the traditional 2020 Salmon Arm ROOTSandBLUES music festival, held annually at the Salmon Arm Fairgrounds, has generated the opportunity for an online festival experience to be hosted across Black Press Media website platforms August 14th – 16th, 2020. The online festival experience will present programming utilizing new material shot specifically for the virtual festival broadcast, new to the ROOTSandBLUES audiences, alongside previous year’s archival footage.
“While nothing is going to replace one's physical presence at a festival and the interaction that drives such an event, organizers at ROOTSandBLUES felt an online presence would shine a light on some of the artistic highlights of years past,” said ROOTSandBLUES Artistic Director, Peter North. Adding, “the unique identity that ROOTSandBLUES has created and is known for will continue in the programming, acting as a reminder to long time ROOTSandBLUES patrons that they've experienced many memorable musical moments in a terrific, safe and family friendly environment”.
The online ROOTSandBLUES festival experience will include 2 hours of programming each night and will be accessible for free to everyone, everywhere, across all 140 Black Press Media websites.
A preliminary list of artists pulling together new material for this special edition of ROOTSandBLUES includes; Bill Henderson, the guitar playing and vocalist of the legendary Canadian band, Chilliwack; Tom and Kalissa Landa of The Paperboys; Locarno and the B.C. World Music Collective; Steve Marriner of Monkeyjunk; Irish Mythen; Nashville singer-songwriter Sam Lewis; American harmonica ace Mark Hummel; and Bill Bourne of Tri-Continental. Organizers are expecting many more acts to be announced in the coming months including those booked for this year’s festival, as well as headliners from years past.
“The provincial directive to cancel all large events in British Columbia this summer has generated an opportunity for innovative ideas, rethinking the traditional festival experience,” said David Gonella, Executive Director, ROOTSandBLUES. Adding, “we are excited to be stepping up, putting together a program we can be proud of, introducing a broader audience to the authentic and quality product that ROOTSandBLUES has been proud to produce for nearly 30 years.”