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| The Date: | The Details:
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| April | |
| April 6 | Wendell & Wheat ride again. Down in Niagara-on-the-Lake at The Old Winery Restaurant. This is Steve Goldberger’s weekly gig and we’ll make it 'very weakly'. It’s Country Fried Friday’s and Wheat and I will do a myriad of songs. Not our standard folk repertoire but lots of fun and rocking’ tunes ... because we’ve got Steve, Dave and Mike backing us up. It starts around 9:00 or 9:30 and the food is AMAZING! Italian all the way. No cover either. Here’s their site: http://www.theoldwineryrestaurant.com |
| April 11 | I’m filling in for Mike McCurlie at the Coach and Lantern in Ancaster Ontario. It’s a lovely little English-style pub with fantastic pub food, great scotch's and a friendly staff. The entertainment is... The Audience! They all get up and guest star with the band for a number. The host is Judy Marsales and we start at 8:30 and go until 11:00PM. No cover and lots of fun guaranteed. http://www.coachandlantern.ca |
| April 19 | I’m filling in again for Mike McCurlie but this time at King’s Landing in Hamilton. 1900 King St E, Hamilton, ON L8K 1W1. I’ve never been there so I’m not sure what kind of gig it is? This gig also starts at 8:30 and we go to 11:00PM. I looked for an official web site but all I could find was a YELP one: https://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/Ontario/Hamilton/Kings-Landing/101379870.html |
| April 20 | Myself and my good friend Steve Briggs are doing a duo. We always love playing together and tonight we get to do a set in front of an appreciative audience as part of Bob Bales, Springfling in Sudbury Ontario. Also on the show are the fantastic Traveling Mabels (three amazing gals and a few tag-along guys) and the band Union Duke. Details will be available in the spring. |
| April 22 | If you were going to head down to the Horseshoe Tavern to catch Ed Smith and the Even Squares. Rethink that! Unfortunately we've been canceled! But not because they don't love us... someone in the music industry just passed away and they're holding a memorial service for them that evening. (Sad for whoever that was?) But the good news is they've renewed us for three more dates. I'll post those just as soon as we confirm them. Sorry for the inconvenience and cheers to all you real country fans! |
| April 29 | I’m back with Mulligan’s Stew at Mulligan’s. Kevin Phillips and the boys are up to their weekly shenanigans and I join them sporadically. This is a fun gig with great songs played with verve by awesome musicians. We start around 4:00pm and go until around 8:00. There’s no cover and the drinks are reasonable. The soup is either “Where’s the Beef Barley?” or Turtle Soup and make it snappy!” (No, hold the Turtle and make it pee.) Here’s the web site: https://www.mulliganspub.ca |
| May | |
| May 2 to 8 | I’m heading west to Kelowna to work on the CCMA Hall of Fame Recording Project, 'Now and Then’. We’ve taken the Hall of Fame artists like Sylvia Tyson, Russell deCarle, Murray McLauchlan, Ian Tyson, Michelle Wright, The Good Brothers and many more (including yours truly) and paired them with today’s radio-active acts like Brett Kissel, Jess Moskaluke, Chad Brownlee, The Washboard Union and many others to recreate the Hall of Famers classic songs. We already cut the tracks back in February and this session will be capturing the vocals. We hope to release it in the fall in time for Country Music Week. It is sounding fantastic. I’m so excited about this. |
| May 14 to 30 | I’m heading over to Europe to play bass (Yes you read that right) BASS for the Good Brothers. We’ve been friends forever and they thought it would be fun touring the continent with me along. The gigs are in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. I might have to check into de-tox for a week after this tour. Here’s hoping our days off are in Amsterdam. Haha! |
| June | |
| June 1, 2, 3 | It’s the CMAO’s (Country Music Association of Ontario) annual awards show and conference. This year it will be held in London ON. at Centennial Hall. For details check out their website: https://cmaontario.ca/awards/about/ |
| June 22 - 24 | I’m heading back to northern Alberta to play the North Country Fair. It’s been taking place since 1978. This is an excellent festival in an idyllic spot called Driftpile. This is where all the old hippies ended up. Not only was the site beautiful… the crowd made use of the many trash, recycle and compost bins around the grounds and the place looked just as spotless Sunday night as it did on Friday morning. Mighty responsible and environment conscious people out there. And four smells rocked my world. Wood smoke, cannabis, sweat and patchouli oil. It was Woodstock all over again. Or maybe just an acid flashback? Either way you’ll love this festival. Great people and a great vibe. Here’s their site: http://lslncca.ca/current/ |
| July | |
| July 6, 7, 8 | Apparently I’m going to be performing at Mariposa Folk Festival again this year. This festival is one of Ontario's finest and I had a run where I did it 7 years in a row! They must’ve got tired of seeing this old face because I haven’t been asked back in ten years. But the wheel turns slow and I’m heading back up there. Details and a full line-up will be available on their website. http://www.mariposafolk.com |
| July 13, 14, 15 | I’ll be returning to the Canterbury Folk Festival in beautiful downtown Ingersol. This is a fun little festival that operates with the total support of the town. It’s a free festival so no cost to get in and a great lineup of entertainment and vendors. Here’s the Facebook web-site: https://www.facebook.com/canterburyfolk/ |
| July 28-August 1 | It’s my 14th time hosting the Songwriter’s Circle in Manitoba at Dauphin’s Countryfest. This festival attracts about 35,000 people with all the top names in modern and traditional country. I get the MainStage for about 90 minutes on Saturday afternoon to showcase some of the finest songwriters in the world. And I also host and often join the after hours acts appearing in the VIP Lounge. This year some of the announced headliners include Paul Brandt, Florida Georgia Line, Eric Church, Dallas Smith, Lindsay Ell, Aaron Pritchett, The Road Hammers and many more. Here’s their website: http://countryfest.ca/page.php?id=72 |
| July 30-August 3 | I’ll be back teaching another course at the Haliburton School for Art & Design in Haliburton Village for Fleming College’s Summer Program. The course is called ‘Songwriting for the Guitarists- Concepts and Chords’. I’ll show the students the standard chord progressions and how to understand them and utilize them in your songwriting. We’ll have plenty of examples and they’ll all learn a lot of new songs as well as write their own. For full details email askus@hsad.ca, call them at: (705) 457-1680 and to enroll visit their website at: https://flemingcollege.ca/school/haliburton-school-of-art-and-design/course-calendar |
| August | |
| August 24 | I’ll be playing with the great Lou Moore ("Every day you love me Les, each day I love Lou Moore”) for a one hour set at the Newmarket Music Festival from 6:00-7:00PM. Here’s their web-site: Or at least ‘A' web-site: https://www.simcoe.com/events/8366074-683410-newmarket-music-festival-2018/ |
| September | |
| September 1 | I’m heading up to White Lake in the Kawartha’s to do a show for a cottager’s association. Details when they’re ready. |
| September 6-9 | I’m heading to the CCMAs. The Canadian Country Music Awards. And this year it’s nice and close. Hamilton. No flying and paying for extra baggage. Ahhh. That feels nice already. More details on what I’ll be doing as we get closer to the event. https://www.ccma.org |
| October | |
| October 5 | I’ll be heading over to Burlington Ontario to the Black Bull British Pub to do a show of my stupid songs and fancy finger-style. Opening is the Niagara whiz kid, Evan Rotella. I’m not sure if this is an evening or an afternoon show but check back closer to the gig and I should know. 2475 Mountainside Drive, Burlington. Here’s their web-site: http://www.blackbull.ca |
| November | |
| December | |
| December 2 | I’m joining my old pal (well she’s not that old actually) Marie Bottrell for a set of country and perhaps a few Christmas songs in Wingham Ontario. No venue or time details yet, but stay tuned. |
| December 4 | Again Marie Bottrell and I are doing a show but this time in Niagara Falls (NIAGARA FALLS! Slowly I turn, inch by inch, step by step…”) Details closer to the gig. |
| E-mail: wendell@wendellferguson.com |
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