Talented and diverse musicians of national acclaim will visit Rimbey’s Beatty House during the next few months as the historical landmark has been selected as a venue for Home Routes, a non-profit house concert organization.
Home Routes was created to promote talented musicians in the folk-blues-roots-instrumental-alt country music genres by pairing them with volunteer hosts who stage small concerts in their homes.
“In Rimbey it’s our Beatty House that will be the venue for these events,” said Bronwen Jones, a member of the Beatty House Society Cultural Committee. “We are one stop on one Alberta route called Big Horn.”
The other stops on the Big Horn route are Camrose, New Norway, Red Deer, Priddis, Water Valley, Spruce Grove, Valleyview, Manning, Grande Prairie, Sherwood Park and Edmonton. Six performers are included in the route and will perform each month in Rimbey.
The first concert to be held at the Beatty House as part of Home Routes will be performed by Matt Masters, a talented Calgary singer and guitar playing songwriter who has performed throughout Canada and internationally.
His album All-Western Winners was on the national folk/roots/blues charts top ten, peaking at number four.
As well as being a talented musician Masters also has been featured in film and television and had a supporting role in the feature film, A Legend of Whitey, directed by Canadian director Dave Lawrence.
In 2008 Masters premiered his first full-length musical play, Don Coyote. He took the show to London, England, Calgary’s High Performance Rodeo and also performed a live radio broadcast on CIUT, Radio Toronto.
In 2009, Masters was awarded the Telus Arts Award for Artistic Innovation at the mayors evening for business and the arts in Calgary.
His international tours have included Mexico, Qatar, Germany, Turkey, England the U.S. He performs frequently on the west coast along with the Grand Cariboo Opry.
He has shared the limelight on stage with such musicians as Corb Lund, Paul Brandt, Blue Rodeo, Prairie Oyster and many others.
On Tues., Oct. 21 Last Ditch on the Left will perform at the Beatty house. On Wed., Nov. 19, David Celia will perform, Thurs., Feb. 5 will see Mel Parsons on stage and Fri., March 6 Kim Dunn will be featured.
Cassie & Maggie MacDonald will be the star performers on Sat., April 11, 2015.
All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. and tickets can be purchased at Stationery and Sounds in Rimbey or through the Beatty House Society (call 403-843-6497).
Only 40 tickets per concert will be sold and space is limited.