The community is invited to attend a special 50th Anniversary Celebration Party & Concert on Friday, Aug 10, 5–7pm, when guests can visit Atkinson Park, celebrate the Festival, enjoy a glass of wine or beer and listen to country-folk artist Sarah Jane Scouten perform a free outdoor concert.
The Center’s Junior Patrons Circle (JPC) will also host fun lawn games for all—FAMILIES Welcome!
Festival hours on Fri, Aug 10, are 10am–6pm; weekend hours are 10am–5pm.
About Sarah Jane Scouten
With flavors of Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffiths and Iris Dement and a wealth of early country music, the three-time Canadian Folk Music Award nominee and Western Canadian Music Award nominee’s songs are faithful to a long-standing folk music tradition. Often spilling over into modern themes that are outspoken and edgy, her songwriting tackles issues from poverty and midwifery to tongue-in-cheek heartache songs and unabashed Canadiana.
A traditionalist at heart, Sarah Jane Scouten shows her signature flair for the roots of roots music. With respect for these roots, she writes from her own perspective, playing with style to create her own distinct voice. This songwriter is known for hitting hard and close to home, then laughing it off.
Scouten released her third album, The Bloom Falls From the Rose, in 2017. The album includes ten original songs, ranging in style from classic honky tonk to indie-folk rock, and two virtually unknown traditional Western Canadian songs, discovered on crackly recordings in university archives and given new life through Scouten’s haunting arrangements. Developing a big, lush sound on the album, Scouten comes into her own as a songwriter and performer, drawing from such modern approaches to country music as Sturgill Simpson and Emmylou Harris’ iconic album Wrecking Ball. If you think you have Sarah Jane Scouten figured out, you haven’t heard anything yet.
Somewhat of an itinerant musician, spending much of her time on the road, Sarah Jane has called Bowen Island, Vancouver and Montreal home. She now lives in the neighborhood of Parkdale in Toronto with two cats named after Cajun musicians.