Impressive line-up featured at Frenchman River Gospel Jam
Apair of entertaining evenings, along with 10 hours of free performances, have been lined up for the 2013 edition of the Frenchman River Gospel Jam set for August 2 to 4 at Shaunavon’s Crescent Point Wickenheiser Centre.
The three day jamboree kicks off on Aug. 2 with twotime Canadian Country Music Association Male Artist of the Year George Canyon opening for country music superstar Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder.
Canyon was recently nominated for the Canadian Country Music Association’s Fans’ Choice award, along with Album of the Year for Classics II which was released in Nov. 2012. Classics II picks up where he left off with his 2007 release Classics, where Canyon salutes his musical inspirations with a recording of real country classics.
Canyon released his first worship album “Believe” earlier this year, the ninth over a recording career which dates back to 1999 with his self titled release George Canyon.
He vaulted onto the music scene in a big way following his runner-up showing in the televised Nashville Star 2 series in 2004.
Canyon has earned Juno Awards for Country Recording of the Year in 2005 for One Good Friend and for Somebody Wrote Love in 2007.
He has collected 10 Canadian Country Music Awards awards over the years, including:
2011 - Record Producer of the Year: George Canyon/Richard Marx (Better Be Home Soon)
2008 - Humanitarian Award.
2006 - Male Artist of the Year; Single Of The Year (Somebody Wrote Love).
2005 - Male Artist of the Year; Single Of The Year (My Name); SOCAN Song Of The Year (My Name, written by George Canyon and Gordie Sampson); Fans’ Choice Award; SOCAN Songwriter(s) of the Year (My Name, written by George Canyon and Gordie Sampson).
2004 - Chevy Truck Rising Star Award.
Canyon, a resident of High River, will be lending his talents to the Helo High Water benefit concert and telethon scheduled for Aug. 4 in support of the Alberta flood rebuilding efforts. www.halohighwater.ca.
Country Music superstar Ricky Skaggs, who turned 59 on July 18, has been a professional musician since 1971 and has earned numerous musical accolades and is a 14-time Grammy Award winner.
Skaggs will be performing in Shaunavon with Kentucky Thunder, with the combination having teamed up for five traditional bluegrass albums: Bluegrass Rules! (1997), Soldier of the Cross (1999), History of the Future (2001), Brand New Strings (2004), and Instrumentals (2007).
Skaggs has also recorded a pair of gospel albums over the past number of years, performing a number of gospel standards on his 2009 release Solo: Songs My Dad Loved, but his first all-gospel recording project was Soldier of the Cross, which contains 14 gospel favourites.
He released a dozen country music chart topping hits in the 1980s, but his true passion lies in the classic country sound. Now recording on his own Skaggs Family Records label, he boasts 12 consecutive Grammy-nominated albums with Kentucky Thunder, winning eight of those nominations.