Stony Plain has invited a stellar line-up of feature artists again this year.

Ken Blacklock

Ken Blacklock hails from Wabamun and Glenevis, Alberta. He is a very prolific poet who composes hundreds of poems every year. He will write a poem at the drop of a hat, so don’t drop your hat or anything else when he is around. New friends are warned about his magic pen.
A dedicated traveler, his road rhymes form an atlas of his wanderings. Wherever he goes he looks for opportunities to share in the music and songs of the district. In 2002 he won a writing contest sponsored by the Dawson City and Yukon Tourist Bureaus with a poem about the “Spirit Of The Northland”. He has performed in most provinces and territories of Canada, every state in Australia, as well as Alaska, California, and Montana, at Gatherings, folkfests and community events.

Jake Currie

Jake is a modern day mountain man. Originally from south of the border, he and his wife and his animals live on a remote stretch of land near Athabasca, Alberta.
Jake loves music and good horses and has turned out his share of both. He’s no stranger to hard work, but likes a good party as well as anyone. So when you hear bird calls and “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…”, you’ll know Jake is in a party mood. In no time, you and everyone within hearing will be joining in. It’s just contagious! Jake’s multiple talents include playing the banjo, the jaw harp, the button box and a variety of fascinating rhythm instruments like you have never seen anywhere. A top entertainer you must see!

The Command Sisters

Charlotte and Sarah are sisters who have a love of music and performing. They began their journey about 4 years ago when someone overheard them practising a christmas song at their great-grandma's. That 'someone' asked if the girls could perform at a Women's Conference, and from there haven't looked back.
Charlotte and Sarah have performed for the Royal Alberta Museum, Big Valley Jamboree Family Stage, Bashaw Festival of Stars, Caritas Foundation, Rotary Carolfest, numerous cornroasts, jamborees, fundraisers and charities, and, of course, senior's events!
Charlotte is almost 13 and Sarah is 9. This has been a big year for the girls as Charlotte most recently learned to accompany them on guitar and keyboard. They are homeschooled and when they aren't singing they are writing poetry, songs and plays for anyone who'll listen.
They are excited and thrilled to part of this event!

Doris Daley

Award-Winning Cowboy Poet Doris Daley has been an emcee and featured performer at every cowboy festival in Canada as well as many in the United States, including Texas, California, Colorado, Nevada, Utah, Montana and Oregon. In 2004 she was named Best Female Cowboy Poet in North America by the Academy of Western Artists, the first time any Canadian, male or female, has won the cowboy poetry category.
Born and raised in Southern Alberta ranch country, Doris Daley writes cowboy poetry that celebrates the humour, history and way of life of the west. Her great grandfather came west with the North West Mounted Police in the 1870s; her family has been ranching in the Alberta foothills for five generations.
Doris comes from a gene pool that includes ranchers, cowboys, Mounties, good cooks, sorry team ropers, Irish stowaways, bushwhackers, liars, two-steppers and saskatoon pickers.
www.DorisDaley.com

Gary Fjellgaard

For more than thirty years Gary Fjellgaard has been making a living on the road with a guitar and a song. He delights his audiences throughout North America and Europe with his masterful acoustic guitar, gentle vocals, riveting yodeling, and tales of his life in the woods. Gary takes his music to the people with a rare sincerity.
Raised on the Canadian Prairies, this award winning singer/songwriter is a champion of vanishing values and the frontier spirit. Cattle drives, wagon treks, windswept prairies, rushing rivers and working folks with ties to the land have all been a source of inspiration for his songs. His western roots music has survived categorization, and a move to Canada's West Coast has brought a universal quality to his songwriting.
www.fjellgaard.bc.ca

Ol’ Ugly (John Glawson)

Ol' Ugly (John Glawson) is one of those Maritimers from Tufts Cove, NS, who headed west after trying life in Ontario. He's a country boy brought up by his mother, as well as an aunt and uncle who had a wild sense of humour. They looked upon the hardships of their journey through life by trying to find the funny side of things.
Ol' Ugly moved to Alberta in 1973 where he worked in a seed plant. He found those souls in the farming and ranching community with the same "back porch" sense of humour as he had been brought up with. He started writing humorous tales and was soon reading them for the writers in Calgary and area. This soon just slipped into tall tale telling and joking on stage. About 1989 people started asking him to come out to the cowboy festivals and other agricultural functions. For the last 16 years the number of shows he has done has accelerated as the word gets out.
www.country-comedian.com

Frank Gleeson

Frank Gleeson is a rancher, cowboy poet, humourist, and singer/songwriter from the heart of the Cariboo Country in Central British Columbia, Canada. He uses all of his own original material and has released five books, three cassettes, and two CDs. Frank has been nominated for the Academy of Western Artists "Male Cowboy Poet for Humour" on numerous occasions. He has made the top 10 several times. In 2003, he was in the top five!
Frank Gleeson has been featured at all major festivals and gatherings on both sides of the 49th Parallel including the "All Canadian Night" in Elko, Nevada in 1997 and 1998. He is the only Canadian to be invited to perform at Elko for a record fifth time for their 21th anniversary, in January, 2005! He has also entertained a variety of groups from school children to city councils.
Frank is known as the Fastest and Funniest Cowboy Poet in the West!
www.cowboy-poet.com

D.W. Groethe

If you don't think songs and poems can have magic, listen to a bunch of authors recite or sing their work and then ask to see it on the written page. That's usually when the craft of the thing is laid bare and you can't believe the performance took you in. That is strange magic. D.W. Groethe's poems and songs work both in performance and on the page. It may sound simplistic but that's rare, that's fine craftsmanship, and most of all, that's good magic. What makes DW peerless in today's big herd of cowboy poets and wannabe writers? He's 25 percent rainbow trout (colourful and quick), 25 percent draft horse (every line and every word has a job to do), 25 percent Sea Biscuit (totally one-of-a-kind) and 25 percent Painted Lady (relax-it's a breed of butterfly, quite delicate and sensitive). From Carhartt gals to cackleberry fruits, from empty loops to empty homesteads, he takes the ordinary and the extraordinary and wordsmiths it into art. He's a cowboy, a friend, a Westerner and a writer.

Brett Kissel

Seventeen year-old Alberta ranch kid and Honor student, Brett Kissel, is a talented and entertaining showman, who has already enjoyed many successes in the country music industry. In September of 2006, Brett was honored to be nominated for the Canadian Country Music Association’s (CCMA) Chevy-trucks “Rising Star Award” in Saint John, New Brunswick. This nomination made Brett one of the youngest nominees ever at the CCMA’s at only 16 years old!
In March of 2007, Brett even got his first #1 song on the 2006 CCMA Canadian Radio Station of the Year - 790 CFCW. “Dance With This Old Cowboy” was written by Gary Fjellgaard and he and Brett sang an outstanding version of the song. The song stayed in the number one position for over 7 weeks on CFCW, and is still one of the station’s most requested songs! Obviously folks love his performing too, as Brett continues to perform at over 200 shows each year. Simply put, Brett Kissel exemplifies the best of the rural Alberta lifestyle through his music and image while specializing in first class entertainment.
www.brettkissel.com

Mag Mawhinney

Mag Mawhinney’s been writing seriously for about six years and has had poems, stories and articles published in twenty-six magazines and newspapers. She also has had two chapbooks of poetry published through Poets' Podium in Ontario: Echoes of the Past: Old Times in Rhymes and Country Chronicles: Now and Then. She also paints old-time logging scenes on crosscut saws, six of which are displayed in a local museum. She is the mother of two.
In 1949, Mag Mawhinney's family moved to a homestead near Forest Grove in the Cariboo region of British Columbia and that is where she was introduced to cowboys and the western way of life. Many of her poems recall childhood memories, while others are stories about western people she's met and her experiences along the road. She writes with a humour that sometimes stretches the truth, but she also shows her sensitivity to the human spirit and her love for rural life.
http://members.shaw.ca/mvmawhinney/

Jake Peters

Musician, Singer, Songwriter, Teacher, Luthier. The small town of Didsbury, Alberta houses the talented Jake Peters. As an accomplished, award-winning flat-picker, banjo wizard and mandolin virtuoso, anything with strings is fair game to Jake. He is an amazing teacher, an inspiring mentor, a singer song-writer, an incredible musician and a gifted Luthier. He can make music with anything placed in his hands. Jake’s creative ability includes bluegrass, blues, celtic, classical, folk, gospel and spanish. Although his main focus is on designing and building guitars and mandolins, his repair work is also well-sought after, with many people bringing their vintage instruments in for the careful attention he gives to restoring each piece to original detail.

His ability as a musician is a delight to watch, hear and feel, especially the spontaneous interaction that evolves when he works with other musicians. He is a “musician's musician”. A well-known name among professional musicians both sides of the border, he has worked with such artists as Cindy Church, Dick Damron, Eli Barsi, Ben Crane, Pam Tillis, Lisa Brokop, Randy Travis and Randy Bachman.

Harry Rusk

Harry Rusk is a full blooded Indian from a remote Indian Village of Khantah River, which is 100 miles east of Fort Nelson, BC. He is a member of the Slave Indian Treaty Band in Ft. Nelson. Harry developed a huge interest in Hank Snow’s music and began to sing and play the guitar. He has played dances and shows all over Canada and the U.S .
Harry has appeared on most of the top country music radio and television shows in Canada and many in the United States including Hawaii. One of Harry’s most cherished achievements was to perform on the Grand Ole Opry’ in Nashville Tennessee. His good friend Hank Snow is one of the people he credits with being instrumental in his pursuing his dreams.

Windi Scott

Bio to Come.

B.J. (Betti Jo) Smith

BJ Smith, aka Bettijo, was born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming. As a teenager, she was always in the saddle, whether roping, barrel racing or as pony girl at the Cheyenne Frontier Days races. Moving to Canada to marry and raise her family has been a wonderful transition. Her husband Bob, is a top cattleman, judge, herdsman and former foot trimmer.
Their family of six children were raised Southwest of Calgary in the Priddis Area. They bought the farm in Jarvie in 1978 and have been raising purebred Simmental Cattle ever since. The family has expanded with 10 grandsons and four granddaughters, the boys are starting to marry, so the trauma of becoming a great grandmother is looming.
There is no end of stories coming from the last several years about kids, cattle and the land, what better way to express is than cowboy poetry??

B.J. (Bryan) Smith

Bj draws upon his experience as a retired Mountie, Packer, Horse Trainer, Ski Patroller and Back Country Guide to feed his appetite for poetry. His heart's in the Rocky Mountains, summer or winter on horseback, snowshoes or skis. He's consulted outdoor recreation courses at the College and University level and is a strong advocate of therapeutic riding. He and his wife Tina operate Diamond Hitch Adventures near Diamond City, Alberta offering all sorts of equine services including a Bed, Bales and Breakfast accommodation for people traveling with horses. His book’s 'Mounties, Mountains and Memories' and ‘A Legend of the Nahanni’ are proving very popular. His CD, 'A Cowboy Collaboration', in partnership with singer songwriter Ed Brown, won the Academy of Western Artists Will Rogers Award as top Cowboy Poetry CD of the year. Bj is featured at major Western Festivals and Gatherings on both sides of the Medicine Line and on the occasional cruise ship.
www.diamondhitch.ca

Billie-Jo and Micki-Lee Smith

Passionate about music and performing both girls have been entertaining audiences across Alberta with their old time fiddle playing and country and western singing. Both started violin at the age of four and now have added piano, guitar, mandolin, yodelling and clogging. Billie-Jo (AGE 13) and Micki-Lee (AGE 11) have enjoyed playing at many oprys, jamborees and competitions. Both have won numerous trophies for their fiddle playing abilities. In 2006 Billie-Jo joined the Edmonton Youth Orchestra and 2007 is Micki-Lee's first year. Also in 2006 they completed their first cd called Grandma's Favorites, including some original compositions Prairie Waltz and Rainbow Reel. They continue to create original pieces with the last one called Country Livin'.
www.myspace.com/billiejoandmickileesmith

Randy Smith

Randy had a solo career in Southern Alberta from ’87-’93, where he traveled all over Southern Alberta playing Clubs, Weddings, Private Functions and Volunteering his talents for various Charity events. By the middle of ‘93 Randy joined forces with a country rock band ‘Wild Frontier’ and set out to tour Western Canada until early ‘97.
Through his many experiences Randy has written songs about everyday issues in life like love, death, falling in love, abandoned children, falling out of love, human survival and just plain having fun.
Randy recorded five songs back in ‘91-‘93, and had them released on compilation CD’s to radio stations through out the world. In ‘94 he had three songs in the top 20 in Denmark and two songs in the top 50 in England, one of which was a self penned song titled ‘Forever Friend’.
In the last 3 years Randy has had the opportunity to go down to Nashville and write a couple of songs with fellow Canadian ‘Tim Taylor’, not to mention a life long dream to meet some of the stars of the ‘Grand Ole Opry’. Randy has always said that if he continues to write songs his way, from the heart, laced with soft spiritual undertones people would respect that. His love of the ‘Classics’ and his passion for the survival of the ‘Traditional Country’ sound is what sets him apart from other artists.

Tim Williams

Tim Williams is a blues-based singer / songwriter / multi - instrumentalist. He is a 40 year veteran of the 'Roots' music scene in North America, roots which stretch back to the coffee-house scene of his native California in the mid 60's.
Settling in Canada in 1970, Tim is a studio musician, producer, and a performer in constant demand. He has played Folk / Blues / Jazz festivals and concert halls and clubs from Halifax, to Vancouver Island, to the Yukon.
Inspired by the Hillbilly and Western Swing music he heard as a child, Tim absorbed late Fifties Rhythm & Blues and Rock & Roll, Hawaiian and Mexican music, early Sixties Folk, and Bluegrass “like a sponge” before discovering a passion for traditional blues styles which was fueled by seeing many first generation blues musicians live during the “Blues Boom” of the mid and late Sixties."
www.go.to/twilliamsblues.com

Don Wudel

A native Albertan...born in September of 1955, Don Wudel has been telling stories and reciting poetry for many years. He learned early on of his ability to make people laugh and think at the same time! He has combined this natural talent with his life experience as a cowboy and rancher and the result is an entertainment that is extremely well received. His mother introduced him to rhyme as a young boy, and his grandfather "Papa" was recognized as a fine horseman from Central Alberta. The combination of these two influences set the stage for the talents that Donald developed later in life. Over the years, Don has worked on several ranches in the U.S. and Canada. He and his wife Colleen now live on their own place where they run about 400 steers every spring and summer.
He speaks routinely at poetry gatherings as well as events such as banquets and conferences. His entertainment is refreshing, very funny and thought provoking all wrapped together.
A keen student of life in many ways, aside from public performance, Don is a well-respected rawhide braider and has had many students. He has an ability to take the complicated and break it down into small understandable parts. Don also teaches ranch-roping clinics, and trains stock dogs, as well as stock dog owners.
Practical common sense, keen observation skills and the ability to communicate have made Don Wudel a sought after entertainer for close to 30 years.
He is a man of his word and genuine to the core.
www.cowboypoet.ca

Top Of Page