Come By The Hills Music Festival

The Battle River Music Society is very pleased to announce our first performer for the 2012 Come By the Hills Music Festival,  Andrea House!

Andrea House is a singer with a penchant for melody whose writing floats beautifully between the hits of Patsy Cline and Billie Holiday, Willie Nelson and Irving Berlin, Allison Krauss and Norah Jones. Whether the influence is obvious or ambiguous, the focus is clear: this is a impassioned voice reminiscent of the great singers of the 1940’s and 1950’s telling stories of depth and meaning. Her songwriting is a dedication to compositions of the past, full of melody and thoughtful lyricism.

Visit www.andreahouse.com

The Battle River Music Society is very pleased to announce our second performer for the 2012 Come By the Hills Music Festival,  The Orchard!  We are very excited to have this up and coming country act return to our festival.

The Battle River Music Society is very pleased to announce our third performer for the 2012 Come By the Hills Music Festival,  Terry Morrison!

As a singer – songwriter, Terry is a well loved member of the Canadian music scene.  She has been described as “…one of the most intellectually compelling songwriters in town…” by Edmonton music reviewer Roger Levesque.  An accomplished guitar player, Morrison’s unique sense of melody and phrasing create her own inimitable brand of contemporary roots music.  Delivered in a rich sensual voice, her songs reflect a compassionate and innate intelligence.  Spanning the range from jazzy folk to country, her music both soothes and cuts to the quick.

For more information on Terry, please visit http://terrymorrison.net/

The Battle River Music Society is very pleased to announce our fourth performer for the 2012 Come By the Hills Music Festival,  The Bergerud Sisters!

After an exceptional performance at last year’s festival, we are thrilled to have The Bergerud Sisters start off our Saturday schedule.   This Olde Time fiddle act has been playing with keyboard player Mark Perkins for many years and have taken their craft all over Alberta – and even to Scotland!

Brianne plays both the piano and fiddle; Kari plays the fiddle, guitar and Bodhran (Irish drum); Mark plays the piano, keyboard, djembe (African drum) and just recently has picked up his own fiddle!  Mark has been playing the piano for 52 years, Brianne has played the fiddle for 20 years and Kari the fiddle for 18 years.

The ‘Sisters have played for various local events (mostly charity organizations or local venues) but of note, they have taught at music camps both at Camp He Ho Ha, at Lake Isle, west of Edmonton; Silver Creek Ranch fiddle camp; and Barrows, Manitoba – where they taught fiddle lessons to children on a Metis settlement there.  The group also travelled to Scotland in 2005 and performed at various impromptu shows there. The group’s travelling is often inspired by their music.

Brianne had a great experience representing Alberta in the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddle Championships in Ottawa, Ontario in August 2011.  This group is sure to shake out the ‘cob webbs’ from Friday evening…

The Battle River Music Society is very pleased to announce our fifth performer for the 2012 Come By the Hills Music Festival, Bardic Form!   We are very fortunate to have this exciting band back at our festival – they were requested by a number of our fans from 2011.

Bardic Form is comprised of two friends, Reece and Justin, who flat out love playing music.  Their performance and sound is something you won’t want to miss. It is incredibly unique.

Both Justin and Reece draw inspiration from intense and exciting melodic riffs in folk and power metal, beautiful and lulling passages in classical and global music, as well as the inexplicable and untraceable expression that comes from playing an instrument. These elements become fused in what has been agreed to be a unique playing style and presentation.

More recently Bardic Form have begun to show the world their voice as well, and will continue to incorporate vocals and lyrics into their compositions, while keeping a strong melodic focus on their instruments. They found that the expression of an instrument can contain so much more flexibility of interpretation and context, which allows them to get something a little different from each melody depending on how they feel. The majority of their music thus far is instrumental, however each of their compositions can be followed by their audiences once the process and context has been established. It allows everyone to take away something different and unique from their songs. It is this intimate and dynamic connection with music that they wish to share with their audiences.

To read more about Bardic Form, or to sample some of their beautiful music, please visit their website at www.bardicform.com/

The Battle River Music Society is pleased to present our sixth entertainer and opening act for the 2012 Come By the Hills Music Festival:  Mr. Scott Cook. 

Edmonton, Alberta’s prairie balladeer Scott Cook is a tirelessly traveling songwriter who brings honesty, humour, years of roads and a deep love of humanity to his songwriting and storytelling. His straight-talking tunes weave together folk, roots, blues, reggae and soul influences, whether stripped down to fingerpicked acoustic guitar, banjo, ukulele, and foot percussion, or backed by his 5-piece band The Long Weekends. He has been making a full-time living at music since 2007, traveling the continent while living out of his van, and is currently touring in support of his third solo album, Moonlit Rambles, which Edmonton reviewer Fish Griwkowsky likened to “a conversational bottle of Jack passed around a dawn fire, everything burning just right.”

Music, photos and hobo travelogue can be found on www.scottcook.net.

The Battle River Music Society is pleased to present our seventh performer for the Come By The Hills Music Festival:  the AwesomeHots!

The AwesomeHots are an Irreverant Parlour Folk duo from Whiskeytown, Alberta. They invent musical instruments like the Hamperwriter (half laundry hamper, half typewriter) and spend a lot of time writing songs about their real friend Norm and the fictional town of Breathless.

Check them out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/The-AwesomeHots or take a listen below!

The Battle River Music Society is very pleased to announce Tenille as our 8th Come By the Hills Music Festival performer.

Selected for both the September 2010 CCMA (Canadian Country Music Association) Songwriters Cafe and New Artist Showcase, Grande Prairie’s Tenille experienced her first taste of national media attention at age 9 when she was hoisted on to an Edmonton stage and performed in the spotlight with Shania Twain. While her mother looked on, Tenille declared, “I really want to be a singer – that’s my dream.” And so her dream unfolds……

Having opened for acts such as Aaron Pritchett, Emerson Drive, Gord Bamford, The Wilkinsons, Sean Hogan, and Sue Medley, Tenille was selected to perform when the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay went through her hometown. She has taken the stage at Bud Country Fever festivals, performed The National Anthem prior to the Edmonton Eskimos Canadian Military Appreciation football game and was selected as a Royal Bank of Canada Emerging Artist to perform at West Edmonton Mall’s Newcap Stage. She has also taken the stage for Canada Day celebrations at The Edmonton Garrison, struck chords with new audiences at Calgary Stampede as well as the festival in Manitoulin Island.

To learn more about this young and very talented country music performer, please visit Tenille’s website http://www.tenille.ca/.

The Battle River Music Society is very pleased to announce our ninth performer for the 2012 Come By The Hills Music Festival, The Amanda Harrison Trio.  This group is returning to our festival by popular demand!

Amanda Harrison:  Amanda is an accomplished musician who has been singing and playing the saxophone most of her life. From school and church choirs and second chair sax with the Prince Albert City Band (at the age of nine!) to regular appearances with various blues and R&B acts at Lloydminster’s Mardi Gras festival, she`s a seasoned musician with years of experience.

Simon Harrison:  Simon studied jazz at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton but still likes to play the guitar. He’s toured in rock bands from Houston to Dawson City and still likes to play the guitar. He teaches music and produces indie bands and still likes to play the guitar.

Chris Bradley:  Chris took what he learned playing bass in British punk bands and decided to throw it all over in favor of R&B bass playing. He’s always got his oar in somewhere there’s music happening and, while not a frustrated guitarist, owns a 6-string bass. He says it makes jazz sound better. He’s been on so many stages it’s pointless trying to keep them all straight.

As the only jazz act in our line-up this year – be sure to be around Mistahiya on Saturday afternoon to get your fix!  You will be more than happy that you did.  Their sound will take you back to that Montreal club you remember from back in the 80′s…

The Battle River Music Society is pleased to announce Lizzy Hoyt as the 10th performer to join the Come By the Hills Music Festival.

Lizzy Hoyt is a Canadian fiddler, singer, songwriter and step-dancer from Edmonton, AB. This Canadian ‘east-meets-west’ performer combines the energetic and rhythmic fiddling from the maritimes with country-folk songs from the west.

Lizzy is a gifted vocalist and musician whose music has been recognized on both the national and international level. She is a 2011 Canadian Folk Music Award Nominee for Traditional Singer of the Year and has been named a finalist in both the John Lennon Songwriting Contest as well as the USA Songwriting Competition.

Lizzy released her album HOME in 2010. Produced by Juno-award winner Jeremiah McDade, the album has received “glowering praise from a number of media outlets, with emphasis given to Hoyt’s burgeoning songwriting talent” – Johnathan Milke, The Fort Saskatchewan Record. The album’s interesting acoustic arrangements are delivered by some of Canada’s top folk musicians. It is currently receiving support from radio stations across the country.

To learn more about Lizzy, visit her website at www.lizzyhoyt.com

The Battle River Music Society is pleased to welcome Wild at Heart to the Come By the Hills Music Festival.

Wild At Heart is a seven-piece band, with members from Innisfree, Mannville, Vermilion and Lloydminster. With varied musical tastes, Wild At Heart can rock out at Mardi Gras, or perform for a small intimate audience. Genres include rock, classic rock, blues, jazz and any variation of the above! Members of Wild At Heart are: Karen Fawcett – Vocals; Carmela McDonald – Vocals, Saxophone; Greg Plant – Vocals, Keyboards; Dennis Gerik – Lead and Rhythm guitar, Saxophone; Reid Bergman – Vocals, Bass Guitar; Rob Baron – Vocals, Rhythm and Lead guitar; Barry Sherwood – Drums.