Rising stars and veteran artists will rub shoulders at this year's edition of the Burnaby Blues and Roots Festival.
The 16th annual festival, which takes to the stage at Deer Lake Park on Saturday, Aug. 8, features an eclectic mix of local, Canadian and international talent on three stages.
Headlining this year's festival are the Sheepdogs, hailing from the unlikely music hotbed of Saskatoon.
The Canadian rock'n'rollers burst onto the scene in 2011 after winning an international competition to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone - becoming the first unsigned band to ever appear on the front page of the music mag. The win also scored them a record deal with Atlantic, which released a new EP, Five Easy Pieces, in August 2011.
The band followed that up with a self-titled LP in 2012 - the same year they won three Juno Awards: for New Group of the Year, Single of the Year and Rock Album of the Year.
Alongside the relative newcomers will be fellow headliner Lee Fields, the veteran soul singer who's been making music since the late 1960s.
The North Carolina native has toured for more than 45 years and has played alongside such legends as Kool and the Gang, Sammy Gordon and the Hip-Huggers, and Little Royal.
Also starring on the festival stage will be Ruthie Foster, the Texas blues
artist whose accolades include Grammy nominations and Blues Music Award wins.
They'll be joined by an eclectic lineup that includes Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas, Eagle Rock Gospel Singers, the Devin Cuddy Band, Steve Kozak, Jim Byrnes and the Sojourners, Terra Lightfoot, Sibel Thrasher, Harpdog Brown, Jesse Roper and Colleen Rennison.
Gates for the festival will open at noon, with music kicking off at 1 p.m.
Tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 14 at noon, with earlybird single tickets available for $45 and four-packs for $140.
See www.burnabybluesfestival.com for all the details.
