The Local Musicians Series is returning to the Water Valley Church Events Centre.
Jim Peace and Prairie JuSTuS are playing the venue Sept. 3.
The prairie-based singer/songwriter group, which features Peace along with Sandra Sutter, John Buckley and Tammi Henke, play original contemporary western, folk, and aboriginal country music.
“This is concert number three of our series,” organizer Kristine Sarsons said. “We’ve been trying to feature musicians from around the area because there is so much talent.
Sarsons – who is a painter herself – said, along with musicians, the events centre has been also trying to feature local artisans such as cake makers, photographers, painters, soapers, and more.
“There’s of course good music and art all across Canada,” Sarsons said. “We’re just really lucky to live in a place where so many artists and artisans are. There’s a huge concentration of them, it’s amazing the amount of talent that is here and I want to take advantage of it and enjoy it with friends and neighbours.”
Peace, who has been playing music and touring across Canada for 30 years, said this one-off show gives him and his group a chance to do something off of the corporate circuit for a change.
“We’re looking forward to it,” the Airdrie area resident said. “For us it’s really nice to see local singer/songwriters get support.
“We do an awful lot of corporate gigs, so this gives us a chance to do a concert venue while we’re working on a new CD project.”
Peace went on to say that despite everyone in the band having long musical roots in the area, such as John Buckley who played with famous country singer George Fox when he was starting out. The group has only been together for three and a half years.
“We’ve done around 100 shows,” he said. “Mostly private events since we’ve staying out of the bar scene, despite having played it before.”
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the concert series for Peace and his group is that it gives them a place to play publicly.
“There’s fewer and fewer venues,” he lamented “The number of places that have live music is shrinking, so it’s great for the Water Valley folks to have this series and give us a place to play.”
The show starts at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20, and Sarsons can be reached 587-226-7567.
For more information on the show and upcoming events, visit www.watervalleychurchevents.com.
