Organizers of the 7th annual Kemtpville Live Music festival are pleased to announce that Blue Rodeo will join us on Friday July 21, 2023 as we celebrate the 7th edition of Kemptville Live Music Festival, Kemptville, Ontario.

In the 35 years since forming, Blue Rodeo have sold over 4 million albums, received dozens of JUNO Award nominations and wins, played over 2000 shows, been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame, been named to the Order of Canada and have been honoured with the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award.

Canadian country rock band BLUE RODEO performed a sold out show at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto, Canada.

The definition of a rebel is someone who goes against the grain. For over thirty years now, Blue Rodeo has taken the road less travelled – and succeeded far beyond anyone’s expectations.  The band emerged in the early 82’s as a countrified rock band in the era of hair metal and glossy pop. Despite sticking out like a sore thumb (or maybe because of it), their single “Try” became omni-present on radio across Canada and set in motion a three-decade long career of headlining every club, theatre and arena in Canada.  In 1993, when grunge rock was squeezing commercial rock off the radio, they recorded their most acoustic album, Five Days in July, and scored their biggest hit selling over a half million copies of the one record alone.

Now, with their 16th Warner Music Canada studio album – Many A Mile – Blue Rodeo’s successes are measured in terms that include induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame (2012), receiving a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award (2014) and acknowledgement that the band has steadfastly defined itself by its own terms. In the years that ensued, sold in excess of four million records.

Canadian country rock band BLUE RODEO performed a sold out show at the Budweiser Stage in Toronto, Canada. In picture: JIM CUDDY and GREG KEELOR

Reflecting back on three decades of successes and those early Blue Rodeo days, both Jim and Greg are able to fully appreciate where the band sits in the pantheon of music. “Success seemed really real when we were entertaining people at The Horseshoe. That was the top of the heap for us,” Cuddy says.  “When you look back, you realize that it has just been this beautiful dream.”

Kemptville Live Music Festival takes place on the grounds of the Kemptville Campus, Kemptville, Ontario July 20-23, 2023. Tickets are on sale now at Kemptville Live 2023 – Tickets (kemptvillelivemusicfestival.com)