Spotlight On
The Craven Country Jamboree 2015 in Saskatchewan, Canada
Story and Photos by Glen R. Forrester

The kickoff party at Craven Country Jamboree in Saskatchewan, Canada on July 9-12, 2015 started out on Thursday with Williams and Ree (Indian and The White Guy) hosting all weekend. After them, Blackjack Billy, a band based in Nashville, went on stage and played for quite a while in the beer gardens.

Friday at 1:00 Lisa Moen went on the main stage. Lisa and her band Full Throttle showed people what a small town Outlook, Saskatchewan girl can do. On March 10 her song "Test Drive" was the number 5 downloaded song on Canadian radio. At 2:00 Alex Runions came on who is based out of Regina, Saskatchewan, he will go far in the music business. Around 4:00 Wes Mack went on stage. Mack is an Alberta boy from the silver screen, television star to country music. What a treat it was to hear him perform. John Michael Montgomery came on at 5:30 with his great hits like, "I Swear", "I Love The Way You Love Me" and "I Can Love You Like That". This guy was born in Danville, Kentucky with amplifiers and drum sets in their living room instead of chairs and sofas. At 7:00 Dallas Smith hit the stage, a British Columbia boy.  He is making it big in the USA with his Tippin Point EP that has been certified Platinum already. The last act at 9:00 Florida Georgia Line came on. These guys are the only artist in history to join legends Brooks and Dunn in four back to back multi-work number 1 singles. They both take risks every day to make their own music work, and it does.

Saturday rolls in and Lindsay Ell goes on stage at 2:30. A Calgary girl that is so great that she went on tour with The Band Perry on October 2013 to March 2014 which included Europe and North America. Rick Skaggs began to sing at 4:00 and what a treat he was to the crowd. A 12 consecutive Grammy nominated and a 14 time Grammy winner now that was unreal to hear him sing. Brett Kissel started to play around 5:30 and he is a 23 old guy from Alberta. Brett became the youngest nominee ever for the Canadian Country Music Association Award nominations. Now that is unreal. 7:00 came and Craig Morgan went on stage. Now this guy is a multiple talented person with his great music on stage.  He also was a soldier before his music career, a sheriff's deputy, EMT, adventurer, TV host, motocross racer, outdoors man, farmer, Walmart manger and a family man. Now that is one talented man that we had at Craven. Blake Shelton the headliner for Saturday night stormed the stage at 9:00. Blake with his charm and talent, The Voice which is very successful and also his concerts. He holds 17 number 1 singles to his credit and he is also has the most number 1's in a row on the Country radio charts by any artist. Now that is a talented man

Sunday came and Bobby Wills was suppose to play at 3:00, but he was stuck at the Calgary Stampede because of the weather so Kal Hourd took his spot. Kal is from Estevan, Saskatchewan and he did such a great job in Bobby Wills place. Kal had one of his songs singing about cancer go up in the space shuttle. Now that is pretty amazing. The Bellamy Brothers (Howard and David) went on at 4:30. They live down in Darby, Florida on their 150 acres family ranch. They do about 200 plus concert dates each year. David is a very talented song writer and they paved the way for a lot of duos in country music today. You ask almost anyone today they would know a Bellamy Brother song, that is pretty good. Super great Colt Ford went on the stage and he is from Georgia. A song writer which he wrote number 1 hits for Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, and collaborating with Brad Paisley. To end the main stage at Craven Country Jamboree was Jason Aldean. A Georgia boy who moved up the charts very fast and is still going strong. Jason put on a very exciting show for us we all left satisfied with his show. The beer gardens Sunday night post show party ended with Jason Blaine. Jason is from Pembroke, Ontario a singer, song writer, husband and father. He brought the crowd together with his music ending the great Jamboree

Glen Forrester would like to thank the staff at The Craven Country Jamboree for making this article and pictures possible.

Thanks For The Music!