Carnival of Soul

Five acts have been revealed for the 2020 Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival, which will be held in the Shuswap community from Aug. 13 to Aug. 16.

Corb Lund, the alt-country singer and songwriter from Alberta, will make his first appearance at the festival since 2007. Since releasing his breakthrough album Five Dollar Bill in 2002, Lund has released a string of critically acclaimed record, including Lately Losin’ Gambler and 2015’s Things That Can’t Be Undone. Lund was in the studio recently with producer Harry Stinson of Marty Stuart’s Fabulous Superlatives and a new batch of song will be released in 2020.

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Lúnasa, Ireland’s pre-eminent instrumental band, will also be performing. The all-star quintet has become one of the most popular bands on the international Celtic music scene, selling more than a quarter-million albums. Lúnasa is comprised of Seán Smyth (fiddle and low whistles), Kevin Crawford (flute, low whistles and tin whistles), Cillian Vallely (uilleann pipes and low whistles), Trevor Hutchinson (double bass) and the group’s newest member, Ed Boyd (guitar).

Also taking the stage will be B.C. World Music Collective, which includes a number of musicians who are no strangers to the festival over the past few years. Ostwelve and Tonye Aganaba were at the 2019 festival and will be joined by Tom Landa and his fiddle-playing wife Kalissa from the Paperboys and Locarno. Also part of the Collective are Adonis Puentes (Cuba), Celso Machado (Brazil), Kurai Blessing (Africa) and Pedro Mota (Mexico).

Blue Moon Marquee will be making its first appearance at the festival. Blue Moon Marquee is a Gypsy blues band comprised of A.W. Cardinal (vocals/guitar) and Jasmine Colette, also known as Badlands Jass (vocals/bass/drums). The duo writes and performs original compositions influenced by anything that swings, jumps or grooves. Artists such as Lonnie Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Blind Willie Jonson, Charley Patton, Howlin’ Wolf, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Tom Waits, Memphis Minnie and Django Reinhardt are deeply infused in the soul of their music.

From Nashville, Sam Lewis has collaborated with everyone from Leon Russell to The Wood Brothers, while Chris Stapleton dubbed him “a modern Townes Van Zandt.” Lewis’ latest album, Loversity, is a powerful return from his three-year studio hiatus. The album landed Lewis a spot on Rolling Stone’s 10 New Artists to Watch list, with writer Marissa Moss describing the album as “… seventies psychedelic soul, with a storyteller’s eye, a swampy Southern groove and an emotional, political punch,”

More acts will be announced in the new year. For ticket information, go online to rootsandblues.ca.