Central Alberta’s reigning country music superstar Gord Bamford will take the stage with The Reklaws for Friday night’s free Canada Winter Games concert.
They will perform old and new hits from 6:30 p.m. in The Dome off Celebration Plaza in downtown Red Deer.
Bamford has received multiple Canadian Country Music Awards and has made tens of thousands of international fans since releasing his debut album God’s Green Earth in 2001.
With albums including Honkytonks and Heartaches, Day Job, Country Junkie and Neon Smoke, Bamford has amassed 17 Top 10 hits. Among them are Blame It on That Red Dress, Where a Farm Used to Be, When Your Lips Are So Close, Leaning on a Lonesome Song and Don’t Let Her Be Gone.
The singer, who lives near Buffalo Lake, was born in Australia, but grew up in Lacombe. After moving to Nashville for a few years, he and his wife returned to Canada, deciding that Alberta is where they wanted to raise their three kids.
Bamford has said it’s always special to perform for a Central Alberta audience.
The Reklaws are a brother and sister duo from rural Ontario. Jenna and Stuart Walker began turning heads in 2012m winning the CCMA Discovery Artist title.
They have since shared the stage with Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Brothers Osborne, Thomas Rhett and others.
The pair’s mix of pop and country has a “soundtrack-to-your-summer” vibe. The Reklaws’ debut single Hometown Kids made No. 15 on country charts. As a follow up, the title track from their EP, Long Live The Night, has been the most streamed song in all of Canadian country music in the past year. It was also made the official theme song for CFL’s Thursday Night Football on TSN.
The duo recently took the award for SiriusXM Rising Star at the 2018 CCMA awards and performed live in the national broadcast.
The concert is at 6:30 p.m., doors open at 6 p.m. Note there is a 2,000-person capacity in the heated tent, off Celebration Plaza, in downtown Red Deer (the former Central Intermediate Schoolyard). Entries are on a first-come basis.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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