Tebey/Nice Horse: One unforgettable night together

Tebey’s Shotgun Rider tour stopped off recently at the Shell Theatre in Fort Saskatchewan with guests Nice Horse.

Itching to get on the road again after such a long time off, Tebey has embarked on a national tour, “Its good to be back on the road again. It’s such a brotherhood being out here. It just feels so good to be playing shows again and I think people are ready for live music. This tour has been a long time in the making. My team and I started planning as soon as there was a glimmer of hope that live music was back on the horizon. That’s how anxious I am to get back in front of the fans. Being able to headline a national tour is still something I can’t believe I’m able to do. I’m very grateful to the fans who spend their hard-earned money to watch us play. The Shotgun Rider Tour is gonna be one for the books.” When asked about particular venues, Tebey says, “I just show up and hope there’s people in the venue.” If you are as good at your craft as Tebey is at writing songs, people will show up.

Well, lots of people did show up indeed. The newly refurbished Shell Theatre in the Down Centennial Centre in Fort Sask was almost sold out for this show. This answered two of his questions: Yes, people are ready for live music and yes there are bums in the seats. Lots of bums. An almost sold-out show awaited Tebey as he took the stage kicking off with What Was I Drinking, Happened On Saturday Night and Wake Me Up. The crowd sure was ready for live music, albeit a little reserved at first, but as soon as the chorus for Happened On A Saturday Night, many were on their feet singing along.

“The coolest thing for me about this tour is there are lots of hit songs people have never heard live before. It Happened On a Saturday Night, Shotgun Rider, What Was I Drinking have never been played live before.” I then asked him about a music release strategy over the past two years. Tebey replied, “People still had access to music over the past two years, but it’s difficult to grow your fan base. Streaming music is an important part of my career, but its important to me to go out and play for the fans and interact with them.”

Fan interaction is an important part of his shows. Tebey was high fiving, photo taking, hand shaking with all the people who made it down to the front of the stage. People were dancing and enjoying every moment of his hit driven set. “I’m at the point of my career where I can play a full set of just hit songs. Denim on Denim and Who’s Gonna Love Me are great to play live.” They are not only great to play live, but pretty dang awesome to see live as well. Denim On Denim had the last few people who may have remained seated at this point of the show jumping up out of their seats.

The people who were at this show should count themselves lucky. This may be one of those “I saw him when…” moments. Tebey is destined for bigger stages and larger audiences and we should be fortunate to have caught him in such an intimate setting. Tebey’s tour continues across Canada. For dates and details and music visit: https://www.tebeyofficial.com/

We were not just fortunate enough to catch Tebey this night. We were blessed to have Alberta’s own Nice Horse kick off the festivities. Katie, Brandi, Tara, and Krista are one of Alberta’s hidden gems. And I dare you to find one all girl country band that plays their own instruments. Nice Horse music a refreshing change to the country radio dial. They kick ass, they don’t make apologies, and they blend four different music styles to create the Nice Horse sound.

I sat down with Brandi Sidoryk (bass and vocals), Katie Rox (guitar, banjo, vocals), Krista Wodelet (drums, vocals) and Tara McLeod (guitar vocals) just before the show to talk about music and the future. Since their sound is unique, I asked who they target. Katie Rox says, “We make our music about what we really love. We all have different musical tastes, but we come together in a collaboration. Its obviously country music aimed at country fans with an element of pop, rock and classic country. This appeals to many, but at the end of the day we are also trying to make music that we really love.” Krista added, “With our first album, we weren’t writing for anyone. We were writing for us. But since then, we’ve evolved as a band.”

The biggest change for the band is the addition of Tara McLeod who adds a great punch to their sound. When asked how she came to join the band, Katie quipped “We kidnapped her.” Tara added, “I have intense Stockholm Syndrome.” But it was as simple as, “… word of mouth. I was a Toronto based guitar player and Nice Horse was recording a lot in Toronto. We had a lot of mutual friends and they hooked me up with these ladies.” This is old news, but for new fans it’s a great piece of history as their sound has added a new layer with the addition of Tara.

During the pandemic Nice Horse hosted an online Face Book live event called ‘Wine At Nine.’ If you are familiar with the show, you can still catch them with their podcast called The Road Case. Katie says, “We switched Wine At Nine to a podcast. It was something we did to get through our days as we figured out what was going on. It switched to a podcast because we couldn’t keep drinking wine at nine in the morning. We found that people were responding well to our interactions, so it expanded into a podcast.” Wine At Nine was so popular the Alberta Country Music Association awarded Nice Horse with “Interactive Artist of the Year” in 2021. The Road Case can be found wherever you get your podcasts.

As for the touring future for Nice Horse, “We have a gig here and there during the summer, but because of the uncertain world we live in, until we are standing on the stage they are not guaranteed.” These gals are not just restricted to Canadian fans. They have a fan base in Europe and great community in Nashville. Katie and Brandi would go down once a month for song writing. Katie added, “You go where the fans want you.”

What started as a concert review ended up being a spotlight on two of Canada’s true country artists. That said, Nice Horse brings the same energy on stage as they do in their videos, check out Hot Mess or Pony Up as examples. Any live music at this time is just what the doctor ordered.

The only disappointing thing from this show: too short. 30 Minutes is far from enough time to get into a Nice Horse set. I’ve seen these gals play pre-Tara and with Tara and each show as better than the next one. This performance at The Shell Theatre last weekend was no exception. Sadly, just when the party was rolling, it was time for them to bow off and make room for Tebey.

If you haven’t heard of Nice Horse, where have you been? They’ve been taking off like crazy. For more details drop by nicehorsemuisc.com. Brandi sums it up by saying, “We make music for our fans and touring is where we make our living, at the end of the day, we want to be on the road playing to our fans.”