The Country Thunder rolled into Calgary with an all female Friday opening night

The traveling music festival has been across North America with stops including Florida, Arizona, Wisconsin, Saskatchewan.

Ontario native, Meghan Patrick officially kicked off the weekend with another entertaining and energetic set.  Despite the cooler weather, by the end of the set, she stripped off the jacket to show off her “bad to the bone shirt” and cracked open a bottle of Jameson whiskey.  It’s become a staple part of her set as much as her extensive collection of boots … looks like there’s an opportunity for endorsement there somewhere Jameson!   According to her, Country Thunder sprang for the good stuff … but unlike her appearance at the Calgary Stampede last year, she wasn’t sharing with the crowd.

Her new ep “Wild As Me” will be released September 6th but is currently available for pre-save.  Its title track is her first attempt at writing a love song and the subject is fellow country performing artist Mitchell Tenpenny, who, she says, is the first man that actually been able to keep up with her rather than have to chase after her.  Also on the upcoming EP is her newly released single “Chaser”.

Meghan Patrick, Country Thunder Calgary, PhotoByEGO

Meghan Patrick, Country Thunder Calgary, PhotoByEGO

Calgary native, Lindsay Ell followed Meghan Patrick in the line up.  The other powerhouse Canadian female country musician is also up for Female Artist of the Year alongside Meghan, as well as 3 other awards CCMA awards.  She hit the mainstage shredding her custom guitar and show off her prowess for the next hour, crossing musical genres from country to blues to rock with her set.

Seems fitting that she will be having her first fan club party during in her hometown during CCMA week . 

Country legend, Tanya Tucker, has been performing longer than any of the other artists this weekend have been alive.  Having been performing since her pre-teen years, she’s endured all the changes the music industry, and country specifically has gone through over almost 50 years in the business.  Taking the stage leading into the launch of her 25th album “While I’m Livin”, set to be released August 23rd, Tanya mixed up her set with some classics, such as, “Some Kind Of Trouble” and “(Without You) What Do I Do With Me” along with some newer material.

Once she removed her hat following the first song, the crowd saw some a head of pink hair.  Tanya explained it was dyed in support of a friend who is going through chemotherapy and to honor who is going through cancer.

Closing out the all female Friday line up was the only all-female country band in Canada.  In fact, in the all female lineup, all the ladies were had an all male band backing them up, whereas when Calgary’s Nice Horse took the stage, there wasn’t a man anywhere near the Country 105 stage. They played some new songs and also included their singles “Mansplainin” and “Jim, Jack, Johnnie and Jose” and ended the night with “Pony Up”.  The crowd grew as they trickled over the hill following Miranda Lambert’s set and it became a make shift dance party.  The crowd was shouting for an encore so much so that they had to announce they weren’t permitted to play an encore as much as they all would have liked due to the city’s noise ordinance requiring everything to be shut down by 11pm.