Abby Stewart shines in front of smaller Cold Creek County

The last time I saw Abby Stewart perform was as part of Brett Kissel’s Ice, Snow and 30 Below tour stop in Ottawa. When her team invited me to come to Kingston to catch her perform in front of Cold Creek County I didn’t have to think twice.

I’ve been following Abby’s career for a number of years now. I can’t recall if we were first introduced to her as part of the She’s The One emerging artist competition or if it was the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist competition, but I can tell you the first time I saw her perform was at Calabogie Country Fest about 4 years ago and she was brilliant.

Abby has had a busy year this year with a single that had a solid run on country radio as well as a slot in the lineup for Trackside Country Music Festival in London, a choir performance with the legendary Foreigner and shows all across Ontario. Still just 17 Abby has come a long way since we joined the party and watching her tonight showed that she’s still on track to become one of Canadian country music’s hottest female artists.

Abby took to the stage with confidence and prowess, she took control of the stage as if she was born to perform in the spotlight. The hometown crowd loved every second of her performance and likely would’ve stayed to listen to her all night long if she would’ve stayed on stage…I know we would’ve. You can catch Abby later on today at the Tweed Stampede and then again in November in Athens, Ontario at the Joshua Bates Centre, hopefully she’ll add a few more shows in between! www.abbystewartmusic.com

The headliner for the evening was Brighton, Ontario’s own Cold Creek County. Although no strangers to the music scene these boys first got me hooked when they performed during the JUNO Awards week in Ottawa last spring. After that I was lucky enough to catch them several more times, once at Country Wild Music Festival and again at Boots and Hearts. Their new frontman, Ches Anthony, owned the stage and his charisma and vocals made the band exciting to watch.

When the band took to the stage last night there was something obviously missing. Only 5 members took to the stage and one of them was not Ches. At first the thoughts turned to, ok maybe there was an illness or something came up and the band decided to go ahead with the show in his absence but as the night went on it became clear that the 6 piece Cold Creek County was now down to a 5 piece band, at least for now. (at the time of writing this Ches is still listed as a member of the band on the official website and on their Facebook page, we believe that a formal announcement is imminent until that time this is unconfirmed)

Naturally we don’t know what went down and why the band changed things up a second time in less than two years, nor does it matter. We’re not a tabloid and what goes on inside the tour bus stays inside the tour bus. I won’t sugar coat this, losing Ches is a major blow to Cold Creek County.

The performance last night was solid, each of the guys is a rock star in their own right, but you could tell that something was off. Josh handled the vocals with ease but clearly felt restrained by the mic stand, you could tell he wanted to move around the stage but kept having to come back to the mic. It will be interesting to see if Josh simply steps up and takes on the lead vocals permanently, I think the changes are still fresh and Josh hasn’t had much opportunity to break into his new role so time will tell. Trevor and Jordan picked up the energy in their performances tonight which made it fun to watch and Doug, as always, knows how to rock the drums.

In the end the Kingston crowd would leave happy, perhaps only the diehard country fans would’ve even noticed the change. I left a bit rattled, shocked and honestly at a loss for words. For the entire drive home I was running this review over and over in my head debating how best to write it to show respect to all of the band members but still express my disappointment in seeing yet another lead singer gone in such a short period of time.

I’ve always believed that Cold Creek County is one of the top country music groups to come out of Ontario and I truly hope that they find a cure for whatever is infecting their dynamic so that they can continue making music and playing rocking festivals. But if I had one word of advice for the five guys who remain it’s this: “if it’s not fun anymore, maybe it’s time to call it a day and move on. It happens, no one would judge.”

With a bit of a break in their touring schedule the boys will have some time to do some serious soul searching before hitting the road for several fair appearances, including in Spencerville, Ontario, this September. Will they hit the studio and work on new music? Will they audition for a new front man? Will they call it a day? Time will tell and sometimes time heals old wounds, perhaps that’s all they need right now. Time to regroup, find the spark that made them special and relight it. Whether it’s with Ches or without.

Whatever path they choose, we’ll be here and we wish them all the very best. I’ve reached out to both the band and Ches for comments after the show but have not received a response from either by my deadline. Should I get a formal response or update I will update the post at that time with their comments.

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