Russell Dickerson, Robyn Ottolini and local favourite Francis Degrandpré pack them in at Festival Country Lotbinière

The midway point of Festival Country Lotbinière has arrived and, for once, not a rain cloud to be seen and even our old friend the sun made an appearance in the afternoon to welcome thousands of country fans to the grounds behind the Saint-Agapit arena. But not before another full afternoon of performances on the KIA stage which featured up and coming country acts from across Quebec.

Nicolas will have a full review of the festivities on the KIA stage but I wanted to take a minute to give a shoutout to a couple of acts that you really need to be paying attention to. First off, my friends, The Wild Palominos. This trio from east Quebec first came on my radar at the festival back in 2021. Although they weren’t performing at the event themselves several of the band members were part of a cover group called Four Wheel Drive. We got to talking and they mentioned that they were part of an original band who had just released their debut single days before. This was the first time I’ve seen them perform and, let me tell you, these boys are on their way. On stage they sound as good as they do on their studio recordings. If you’re a fan of artists like Dwight Yoakam and that classic country blues sound give these guys a listen. You won’t be disappointed. You can find more about them here: https://linktr.ee/thewildpalominos

Another artist you want to get on your radar is fresh new face out of the Montreal area, Andie Therio. I was lucky enough to be her first EVER English interview this weekend and then even luckier to watch her first ever full band performance. Writing songs since she was 13 she’s now decided it’s time to share them with all of us and boy am I ever glad she did. Andie is just starting to breakout in Quebec but I think it’s just a matter of time before she starts to expand her borders into Ontario, the Maritimes and beyond. Her latest single, “Golden Wings”, just came out last Friday. If you didn’t make it to Lotbinière this year you can still catch Andie in July at Les Rythmes Tremblant New Country in Tremblant, LASSO in Montreal in August as well as twice at St-Tite in September. If you want to know more about Andie be sure to listen to our interview which will be up on our SCE Sound Bites podcast shortly. You can also visit her website here: https://andietherio.com/

On to the main event for day 2. The PNS Stage is the mainstage for this festival and features three performers each night. For Friday night Quebec favourite Francis Degrandpré kicked things off. All of my Quebec friends have been raving about Francis for years so I finally had a chance to see what all the fuss was about. While a good chunk of his set was English country covers, which he hit out of the park each time I might add, he also performed a number of his original songs (worth mentioning that his singles have been streamed almost 2 million times on Spotify). If you want to see what the fuss is all about Degrandpré will also be performing at LASSO in August.

Ontario’s Robyn Ottolini took to the stage next but before her set she and I had a chance to catch up for the first time in 7 years. When we had last spoken, way back in 2016, she was trying to become the next Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist. Although losing out to, the equally incredible Vanessa Marie Carter, a few years later she released F-150 and put the pedal to the medal and rocketed through the pandemic and made a career for herself. Fast forward to 2023 and she’s on tour with Shania Twain, was just awarded Female Artist of the Year at the CMAOs and was about to open for Russell Dickerson. Not bad for an artist who was relatively unknown just a few years ago.

When she walked out onto the stage it was like she was born to be there and the crowd loved it. It was a powerful moment to watch this young star command the stage like that. Minor technical difficulties, let’s face it they happen sometimes, didn’t slow her down much. Instead she used the opportunity to sing a new song called “Technical Difficulties” while giving credit to her team for getting her fixed up quickly. Not only did Robyn command the stage she immediately connected with her audience. Her breakthrough hit, “F-150” started out as “Honda Civic” for one of her fans in the crowd before she switched it back to the original lyric. One of my personal favourite moments was when she jumped into a montage of songs that influenced her which ranged from ABBA and Miley Cyrus to Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ “Bad Reputation” (for which she was joined by fellow 2023 CMAO Award winner Mackenzie Leigh Meyer) but it was when she absolutely nailed Eminem’s “Rap God” that made my jaw hit the floor. What an incredible show. I asked Robyn what her plans were after this tour wraps up and she said for now the focus will be to continue promoting her latest single “Match for My Memory” all the while writing and working on new music. She may not have won the Boots and Hearts emerging artist showcase but she definitely won a lot of hearts in Lotbinière and many of the people who the hearts belonged to were wearing boots so I’d call that a win! Look forward to seeing more of Robyn in the years that come, definitely a star in the making.

Russell Dickerson took to the stage to cap off the night. The first, and looking at today’s weather, the only headliner at the 2023 festival that didn’t have to play in the rain. I’ll be perfectly frank. Russell took a bit to really grow on me during this set. He came out onto the stage with long slicked back hair and a silky jacket and just seemed to have this “I’m too sexy for this stage” kind of vibe. Over the course of his set a more humble Dickerson seemed to emerge and the ego seemed to make a bit of a retreat to the tour bus. From that point on I found myself enjoying the show more. All in all it was still a bit too bro-country for me but it had more good moments than bad. Perhaps for future shows in Canada a little less ego and a lot more heart and humility, which we did finally get from Dickerson, would go a long way.

That’s a wrap for day 2, today is day 3 and we’re back to the cold and rain once again just in time for Dallas Smith (it’s ok he performed in the pouring rain a few years ago and didn’t melt).

More Photos