Local country music fans won't want to miss out on the Canadian Country Music Legends, set to play Rimbey on April 27.
The concert, taking place at the Peter Lougheed Community Centre at 2 p.m., will feature Alfie Myhre, Joyce Smith, Rick Morgenstern, Eddie Chwill, and Ryan Snow.
Advance tickets ($30) are available at Stationery, Stories, and Sounds and Bronco Feed and Farm Supply. They can also be purchased at the door for $35.
"It all started as a 'millennium' project back in in 2000," explained George Myren, who launched the entire initiative and is husband to Joyce Smith.
"I had been in rodeo a lot, and so I got to know a lot of musicians over the years. I would invite them here during Country Music Week in Edmonton. I had artists like Ian Tyson, Ray Griff, and Sons of the Saddle - who were big back in the 1940s and 50s, too.
"So there was quite a mix. I thought, this is great! I went and registered the name 'Canadian Country Music Legends', and we've been doing shows ever since."
Myren serves as emcee at the shows.
"When I was about seven years old, I got a guitar. We had a neighbour who played in a band, and so by the time I was nine, I was playing for school dances - that type of thing," he recalled.
Besides being president and founder of the group and band manager, Myren also serves as bassist and booking agent.
"I'm a jack of all trades," he added with a laugh.He's also got a pretty lengthy list of accolades himself, including being inducted into the National Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame in the U.S. back in 2007.
In 2015, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ivan Daines Friends and Heroes Country Music Pick-nic Reunion.
Myren also holds a Lifetime Gold Card membership in both the U.S.A. (PRCA) Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and the (CPRA) Canadian Professional Rodeo Association, having been in rodeos all around North America.
Other honours include being named the Canadian All Around Champion on two different occasions, plus he was inducted into the Canadian Professional Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame back in 2004.
For her part, Smith has released six albums, and a slate of singles, among other projects over the years.
She has performed at the Grand Old Opry and the Midnite Jamboree in Nashville, toured throughout Canada, the U.S. and Europe, and was inducted into the Alberta Country Music Hall of Fame in 1991.
In 2004, Smith was also honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award by the Alberta Women of Country Music, and then in 2007, she was inducted into the National Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame’ in the U.S.A.
The accolades just kept coming. In 2018, she was inducted into the North American Country Music Hall of Fame International in the U.S. and then in 2020, she was inducted into the Country Music Alberta Hall Of Fame.
"I was raised on country music," she said.
"My parents liked it, and mom had a babysitter for us when we were kids who played the guitar and yodelled," she said. "I was so amazed at what she could do! So I started singing a bit, and I was about eight or nine at the time.
A band came through town one day, and Smith begged her folks to let her go see the group.
"They said, yes for awhile. Some of the people there knew I sang, and they said to get that little girl up there to sing! I was on stage for three or four songs, so they must have thought that was okay," he added, chuckling. "I was hooked!"
Meanwhile, Myhre is described as a 'fiddler supreme', and he has snapped up honoures such as the Grand North American Championship twice, as well as dozens of other championships.
He has toured in Europe, Asia and the U.S., released several records, and was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grand North American Fiddle Association.
In 2020, he was also inducted into Country Music Alberta Country Music Hall of Fame
Morgenstern is the quintessential Canadian country singer, entertainer, pianist, and impressionist.
The audience responds with laughter and applause to his humorous impersonations. He has taken his music all across Canada and the U.S.
Chwill has also been in country music almost all his life, and has performed all over Alberta with his brothers playing and singing traditional country music.
He has also released several projects as well.
Newer to the group is Gary Okrainec, described as, "One of our foremost steel guitar players, and a veteran of the music scene in Canada.
Rounding out the band are drummer/singer Paul Martineau who has many years of experience playing throughout North America and Europe with the Laura Vinson band.
Again, advance tickets ($30) are available at Stationery, Stories, and Sounds and Bronco Feed and Farm Supply.
They can also be purchased at the door for $35.
