The Filberg Festival musical lineup for 2011 is almost complete.
Highlights to date include one of North America's top roots bands leading off the four-day festival July 29 at the beautiful Filberg Lodge and Park.
Friday, July 29: Weekend entertainment begins with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, showcasing singer-songwriters Colin Linden, Tom Wilson and Stephen Fearing.
Following that will be a double set of the blues with Tim Williams, Lester Quitzau, Little Miss Higgins and nine-time W.C. Handy Blues Award nominee Eric Bibb.
Saturday July 30: The day start with a return to Filberg by Lunch At Allen's, an extraordinary musical revue by internationally renowned Canadian singer-songwriters Murray MacLauchlan, Cindy Church, Marc Jordan and Ian Thomas.
"Lunch At Allen's were at Filberg a couple of years ago and nobody knew who they were and were quite blown away when they discovered that Marc had written hit songs for Rod Stewart, Cher, Natalie Cole, Bette Midler and Diana Ross and that Ian had written hit songs for Santana, America, Manfred Mann, Chicago and Anne Murray," comments festival entertainment director Bobbie Blue. "Ian also spent six seasons on the Red Green Show as character Dougie Franklin.
"After the group's appearance at Filberg a couple of years ago, I had more e-mails asking me to book them again than I have ever had, so here they are — I booked them again."
The man known as the poet laureate of the folk and roots music world, James Keelaghan, will be featured in the afternoon.
Sunday, July 31: The Bentall family starts the Sunday entertainment. First set of the day, father Barney Bentall will be featured in a solo performance. Next set, his son will showcase his group, the Dustin Bentall Outfit. Also performing their heartfelt folk music, are husband and wife duo Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart.
Monday, Aug. 1: Boogie woogie blues and jazz piano player Michael Kaeshammer will start the day, followed by the annual Great Canadian Songs Concert, with talented musicians Jake Galbraith, Todd Butler and Valdy performing some of their favourite great Canadian songs.
Stay tuned for more announcements of the annual celebration of crafts and music during the B.C. Day long weekend.
The principal objective of the festival is to raise the money needed to restore and maintain the nine-acre Filberg property and Lodge throughout the year.
Please remember that admission to the festival is to the overall event, not any particular musical performance.
For more information about some of the 2011 Filberg headliners, find it at the following website links:
• Blackie and the Rodeo Kings — http://blackieandtherodeokings.com;
• Eric Bibb — www.folkloreproductions.com/EricBibb.html;
• Lunch At Allen's — www.lunchatallens.ca;
• James Keelaghan — www.keelaghan.com/more.html;
• Michael Kaeshammer — www.kaeshammer.com.
For more information about the festival, go to www.filbergfestival.com.
— Filberg Festival