Music is about to reverb off Vernon Mountain with a one-day concert set to take place in the upper BX area of Vernon.
The inaugural BX Soul Dance, June 24, is an outdoor concert sponsored by Spinners Sound Centre, featuring six acts – three full bands and three acoustic side-stage acts.
“It’s a family event. The stage overlooks all of Vernon and is quite beautiful,” said one of the organizers, Moot Murphy, singer-guitarist with local reggae band Chipko Jones, who will be one of the bands playing.
“A group of us who are hosting the event intend to invent new venues and new creative experiences for the Vernon music scene. We feel there is a need for more outdoor spaces to have art and music. We’re attempting to fill that need.”
Headlining the dance is Vancouver’s Jack Garton and the Demon Squadron, who have recently released a new album, Move the Mess Around, and play a mix of rockabilly, rock-steady, country and Cajun.
“Jack might be familiar to many people from his previous project Maria in the Shower as accordion/ trumpet player and lead singer,” said Moot.
Named after his grandfather’s special operations flight squadron in the Second World War, Garton and the Demon Squadron headlined the Walk of Terror barn dance at Caravan Farm Theatre in Spallumcheen in 2014.
They have played around Western Canada, Washington State and Alaska on festival main stages, concert halls, theatres, clubs and cook-outs.
With the Squadron, “Every show is roots music mayhem executed with classic showmanship and wry humour,” reads Garton’s website (jackgarton.com).
Besides Garton and Chipko Jones, Soulstice Creation, also of Vernon, will take the main stage, while Foak Tree from Armstrong, Kamloops’ Deandra Dey and Jack Blaue, from Williams Lake, will perform on the side-stage.
The dance takes place Friday, June 24 at 4603 Briggs Rd. (located off BX Road, above The BX Press Cidery). Gates open at 5 p.m. and the show starts at 6 p.m. Pre-sale tickets are $20 each at the Bean Scene, Spinners Sound Centre, Bean There Bistro, and the Wild Oak Café in Armstrong.