Cobourg Gets Country Wild to Kick Off Festival Season
The 2018 festival season is here. And on Saturday, June 2, the Country Wild Music Festival took over Cobourg’s Victoria Park with a full day of music.
The All-Canadian lineup brought a lot of country and a little taste of rock and roll to the lakefront park. With an excellent combination of male and female performers, Country Wild also showed itself to be one of the most progressive country festivals where the lineup is concerned.
Between about 2:30 pm and somewhere after 10 pm, the music played through the park and out onto the beach with Robyn Ottolini, Rebekah Stevens, Jesse Slack, Sawmill Road, Ben Hudson, Kansas Stone, Alyssa Morrissey, Gentlemen Husbands, Marshall Dane, and finally Jess Moskaluke all taking their turns. And as the sun shone down and the summer breeze blew in, the Northumberland crowd sang, danced, ate, drank, and enjoyed the start to their summer.
Robyn Ottolini kicked off the day with an acoustic set of country music. Accompanied by Tim Deegan on percussion, Robyn welcomed the early crowd to the festival and combined her music and sense of humour to entertain them as they got in, got settled, and got ready for a full festival day.
Ottolini is getting used to finding herself on festival stages, having played Aurora Magna Hoedown and the Boots & Hearts Emerging Artist Showcase – and as she wrapped her set with originals Just A Waitress and Him Problem, she showed Cobourg why they should be ready to see her in front of them on more stages in the future.
Rebekah Stevens was next on stage to keep the festival flowing, and with her full band on stage with her, she did just that.
Stevens brought shared her originals with the crowd including Give It A Try, Liar Liar, and Better In The Past. And with each song, it became clear to the audience that she belonged. It also made sense that she has also been a Top 8 finalist at the B&H Emerging Artist Showcase.
Rebekah also brought us our first surprise of the day when she and her band wrapped their early afternoon set with a cover of Wheatus’s 2000 hit, Teenage Dirtbag. We dug it!
Jesse Slack was next to take the stage, and the Peterborough native kept things moving!
With his band backing him up, and songs from his new EP, Young & Free (March 2018) to share, Jesse brought the energy we’ve seen him bring in the past and introduced himself to Cobourg. And whether he had his guitar strapped on, or he was focused on the mic, he was in control on the stage.
The sun-soaked festival goers tapped toes and listened as Jesse’s set included Stuck, Lip Sync, Counting On A Comeback, and his most recent single release, I Wish I Never Met You. The first dose of guitar lead rockin’ country was a hit with the crowd, and we’re certain that Country Wild and the fans would have Slack back in 2019.
Local country music favourites, Sawmill Road was next on the stage, bringing a selection of covers to the crowd. The band rolled through their mid-afternoon set including songs like Dierks’ Bentley’s 5-1-5-0, David Lee Murphy’s Dust On The Bottle, Tracy Byrd’s I’m From The Country and had the Cobourg crowd singing and dancing along as they played on stage.
The band also tossed in an original, playing their 2013 release, Whiskey Burn, showing that they have their own chops, and can be the party lovin’ good time band that plays the songs you know, and the country band that does it all their own and is happy to show it off.
The celebration of Canadian country music continued with Uxbridge’s Ben Hudson next on the Country Wild stage. Hudson was joined by his band, and wife Brooke (whose voice is a great match for Ben, especially when they roll on a duet together).
Hudson’s set was a great combo of originals and covers as they played Ain’t My Fault (Brothers Osborne), What Ifs (Kane Brown & Lauren Alaina) to go with originals including Wear And Tear, Smells Like Home, and Johnny And June.
The crowd showed their love – during and after the set as fans found their way over to talk to Ben all day – and as they wrapped with what they plan to be the next single, Deja Vu, it was obvious that Cobourg would have Hudson back in a heartbeat.
Barrie’s Kansas Stone followed Ben, and these boys came to party. Returning to Country Wild for the second year (last year they played an acoustic set, this year they plugged in and brought the whole band), the Wax Records recording artists were all in from the jump.
Brian and Matty have become known for their high energy sets, unafraid to let their hair flow in the wind and get loud. I spoke with the boys before they went on stage and they told me that they’ve been hard at work, and hope to release new music to the world soon. During their set on Saturday, Kansas Stone played new tracks, Up From Here, Me Day, and Cashin’ Out to go along with Luke Combs’ One Number Away to entertain the crowd.
The boys also brought a familiar song to the stage with Country 101. More than anything we were reminded that the blue collar, rockin’ country vibe that Kansas Stone presents is great for live crowds and perfect for festival season. We can’t wait to see more from them.
As we moved into the second half of the day-long festival, Alyssa Morrissey took the stage in her return to Cobourg.
With her full band in tow (including boyfriend JJ Thompson of JJ and The Pillars) Morrissey entertained the crowd with great energy and a smooth voice. Her set was a fine mix of originals and covers, including her own Hold Your Horses and I Ain’t Got Time to go along with Dolly Parton’s Jolene.
Alyssa (and JJ) also brought a little bit of rock and roll with them as they played through Feel It Still (Portugal. The Man), and Howl, a song they wrote together for JJ and The Pillars. And in a moment of personal happiness for me, they ended their sunny Saturday set with a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Go Your Own Way from the 1977 classic album, Rumours.
The Country Wild Music Festival took a rock and roll turn next as Cobourg’s own Gentlemen Husbands came to their hometown stage. The Universal Music artists were an upbeat treat as Derrick, Ryan, Dan, and Jed plugged in and played.
The band was another returning act to the festival, bringing a local flavour to the day. Their guitar-driven rock and roll was welcomed with open ears and arms, and as the crowd soaked it in, they rocked out themselves. Beer flowed, dancing ensued, and from start to finish, Gentlemen Husbands made everyone proud and proved that guitar rock and roll is alive and well, and fits perfectly with live country music.
In the second to last spot of the day, as the afternoon turned to evening, Marshall Dane came to the Country Wild Music Festival stage and did his thing. As a professional performer, looking and showing that he was born to do it, Marshall Dane sucks everyone in and puts out all of the energy you could ever hope for. With guitars ringing, hair blowing, and love for the stage, he gave Cobourg a show.
The country artist with the Bon Jovi vibe played a solid set, including songs from his 2013 album, One Of These Days. And one of the crowd’s favourite moments of the day came when he rolled through a classic rock medley in the middle of his single, Alcohol Abuse.
Dane will have a spot on stage as long as he wants to. And if he keeps putting on shows like he did on the Cobourg waterfront, people are going to be into it.
In the headline spot, excited, enthusiastic, and ready to go, was Langenburg, Saskatchewan’s Jess Moskaluke.
The three-time Canadian Country Music Association Female Artist of the Year, and Juno winner for Country Album of the Year (Kiss Me Quiet, 2017) won over the crowd instantly as she opened her set with 2017 single, Drive Me Away, and didn’t slow down. Country Wild served as the kickoff to Moskaluke’s summer season, but it didn’t show. Her band was tight, her voice was on point, and the set was fire.
It was fantastic to see the Northumberland country fans singing along to the radio hits they’ve come to know from Jess over the last few years. And as the set progressed, they became louder and more involved. This was a Canadian country star on a festival stage, showing that women can headline and entertain and close out a show with all the power and punch it requires.
It was also proof (as if anyone still needed it) that Jess Moskaluke belongs in every conversation about top Canadian country artists.
We’ve been watching Jess on stage since 2014 when we first caught her at Boots & Hearts, and since then (including her set at Country Wild Music Festival 2018) she has grown more powerful, commanding, and entertaining on stage. Audiences see her smiling and laughing and singing her heart out. And all of it comes with an air of confidence and love for what she does.
There was nothing but love for Jess Moskaluke in Cobourg at the second annual Country Wild Music Festival. And as the festival grows and continues, and Moskaluke continues to release more hits (they’re coming, we’d bet on it) it would not surprise us to see her back again in the future.
Until then, the memories of everything from Good Lovin’ to her brand new single, Camouflage will be set in the minds of the lucky fans who saw her start the summer of 2018 with a bang!
Jess Moskaluke, Country Wild Music Festival Setlist
Drive Me Away
Used
Night We Won’t Forget
Lightning Bolt
Good Lovin’
Kiss Me Quiet
Good For You
Kill Your Love
Amen Hallelujah
Camouflage
Right When Ya Left
Parachute (Chris Stapleton)
80s Mercedes (Maren Morris)
Shape Of You/No Scrubs (Ed Sheeran/TLC)
Open Road
Take Me Home
Elevator
Cheap Wine And Cigarettes
Jess Moskaluke at the 2018 Country Wild Music Festival
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