It is the wee hours of the morning as I sit here in my hotel room in Kamloops, doing final packing after the festival.   It’s been a real adventure and I’ve met loads of cool people.  The festival was truly a “WESTERN” festival, much different from country music events I’ve been to.  I was here to help out Allen Christie – who hired me to sing harmonies and play accordion with him.  It has been a long time since I played much accordion, but I had fun picking it up again – it makes a beautiful sound, and I really love hearing it.   Also, since the music aspect of this festival was pretty much all acoustic guitar players, it was great to have an accordion to add colour to the mix.   Allen has great guys in his band, and they are smooth like butter….so of course it was easy to just add my little touch.

I especially enjoyed meeting really interesting people this week – like Jean Prescott (awesome yodeller), Mike Fleming (amazing songwriter) and Liz Masterson (cowgirl singer/emcee – a real charmer!).  I even met very cool lady name Donna who’s in her late 60’s and sings just like a bird….but what really also amazed me was that she was building her own home and doing all the carpentry herself – and she’s a tiny little thing!    These Western-music people are sure good and tough!

I also have to say it was the first time I’d spent any length of time in Kamloops, and I think it’s a really cool place.   The geography is so unusual…dry brown desert-like mountains.  Everywhere you go, you’re on a hill.  As a person more accustomed to the flat prairie land, I did get really lost though, because there’s no grid-arrangement of the streets!   I’m used to lefts and rights,  but not ups and downs….every road is weirdly twisty and diagonal…and the views are spectacular!

While I’m at it, I want to commend the festival organizers for the excellent treatment of the artists!  They had shuttles for us wherever/whenever needed (literally several of them were waiting to be beckoned – one even ran me to the drug store, and waited while I shopped!) and the rooms they provided here at the Coast Hotel are top notch.  They didn’t even bunk me in with the guys in Allen’s band (whew – ha ha!  No offence guys!).    And, not only that, I sold out all the CD’s I brought because they had volunteers manning the merchandise wherever we went – and the emcees (thanks Liz!) made sure to tell everyone there to buy them.

Anyway, thank you to everybody who bought my music this weekend – I hope you’re not expecting accordion tunes – ha ha – but I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!   Hope to be back next year!  Yodelllaaaaaeeeeeeooooooo…..  Jacquie Drew (maybe next year I’ll get to sing you my Yodel tune –:), I just can’t yodel and accordion at the same time.  Now, If Ed Peekeekoot heard that I bet he’d say “you just didn’t try, candy-ass!”  Tonight I saw that fella play a banjo and guitar at the same time!!   Yes, Western folk are tough indeed!