Rudyard Musicians Festival Preview, A New Solo Video, And Much More!!

As promised, our extended preview of a major returning music festival is leading off today's post, but we also have a recent video upload and a few recent news and notes, so here's what you should know!

The second annual Rudyard Musicians Festival goes down TOMORROW, where 13 regional music acts will rock out at Rudyard Township Park (18725 South Mackinac Trail) all day long, and despite the earlier indication of "NO METAL", there will be some hard rock acts to help close out this sophomore installment! Harbouring a largely similar lineup to last year (only Stoned Ape Evolution, Second Offense, and The Gaskins aren't back), this year's Musicians Fest will be headlined by Sault Michigan hard rock quartet Project 906 at 11:00 PM, fresh off of their recent Moloney's Alley gigs, while classic rockers and festival organizers Steelhead (with guest performer Jimmy Bishop) will co-headline at 10:00 PM. Online page-less experimental hard rockers and festival newcomers The Karstens will return to the stage at 9:00 PM, while classic rock band The Whole Shabang will also debut here at 8:00 PM. Remaining acts are largely country or bluegrass-centric unless otherwise stated, and they include The North Country Band at 7:00 PM...

...The Wednesday Night Headliners at 6:00 PM, Robert & Bob Malaski at 5:00 PM, Jimmy Williams at 4:00 PM, pop singer Hayley Malaska at 3:30 PM, the solo festival debut of Kevin Blakeney at 3:00 PM, Crossroads alum Denny Verrett at 2:00 PM, Traverse City experimental outfit The Neighbourhood Dogs at 1:00 PM, and The (New?) Jazz Trio opening the day's musical entertainment at 12:00 PM. In a related musical note, TONIGHT will see an open mic "free for all" at Rudyard Township Park, as organizers feel that they might as well use musical equipment that's already set up, so keep that in mind if you love open mic nights and jam sessions! As was the case last year, the Rudyard Musicians Festival is a charitable event with all proceeds going to Rudyard Area Schools' music and band programs, which is a great gesture on their part! An ALL AGES event, admission is $5 tomorrow save for kids 10 years old and under, who will get in FREE.

Concessions will be available all day, including a $5 pig roast (again, kids eat free here), while camping on site will be available free to festival patrons today through Sunday, so keep all of these details in mind! This is shaping up to be another entertaining installment of this E.U.P. festival, and it could serve as a fine sequel to the musically similar Sugar Island Festival last week, so visit the official Facebook event page and the above links for more details, stay tuned for potential fallout, and here's Project 906 live at last year's Rudyard Musicians Festival!



Next up, here's a new video of Sault Ontario hard rock/experimental guitarist and Audiofumes podcast host Mike Cliffe, courtesy of his YouTube channel on Tuesday, and it's of a work in progress guitar track named "Afro Shuffle". With a name inspired by the backing African drum tracks, this song is less heavy and honestly has a bit of a progressive/world music vibe that even has some country-ish tinges. Hard to explain, but well performed and melodic, so give it a look below, and check out more above!



Finally for today, here's three assorted shorter news items from the last while, and as usual, these are in alphabetical order by artist or event name:

• Apologies for the delay in this making a proper news post ("Where Are The New Albums?" aside), but the title and cover artwork for AlgomA & Shit Liver's upcoming split cassette tape were each revealed via both bands' Facebook pages on August 1st! Entitled "Trading Faces", the artwork (by frequent AlgomA collaborator) puts a sludgy spin on the movie "Face/Off", I'll say that much! No word yet on the release, other than a tease that it will be posted on Bandcamp before tapes themselves are put out, but stay tuned for updates on this anticipated split in any event!
• Nova Rex bassist Kenny Wilkerson was interviewed by Brian Kelly for a Sault Star article yesterday, where Kenny discussed the Florida hair metal band's first Canadian tour in 2 decades (including their Rockstar Bar show on August 30th), their new album, past tour memories, and more. Nice interview overall, especially to prime fans who may not be familiar with Nova Rex, so give it a look above or in yesterday's paper! Unfortunately, it also appears that local classic rock openers Nikkfitt have disbanded, as per the deletion of their Facebook page, and the above article indicates that the opening act is now "to be announced".
• The Oh!NO 2017 Music Festival at "Robbie's Church" in nearby Leeburn on September 9th has one more confirmed act, as DJ Seith will now close the night with a set of his turntable mixes. Solid choice, and some added variety, so look for him to wrap things up in three weeks! Also, despite earlier advertising in the affirmative, plans to have a shuttle bus to get fans to and from the event have been cancelled, with co-promoter Jamie Vincent citing the bus' cost for the change in plans, though he encouraged ride-sharing or Union Cab as alternatives. Good to know in advance, and see above for more festival updates as we approach the 9th!

That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and notes on the site next week! Thanks everyone!