The mainstage at this year’s Niverville Olde Tyme Country Fair is going to be bigger and better than ever, with a constellation of country music stars touching down to put on a show that won’t soon be forgotten.
The evening will open with a set from Quinton Blair and his up-tempo country style. In recent years, Blair has released five singles to Canadian radio, granting him a large national audience and loyal following on the prairies. He has toured all across the country, from British Columbia to Prince Edward Island.
His awards so far are numerous, including the 2023 Manitoba Country Music Association Fans Choice Award. He’s won multiple MCMAs, including for “20 Dollar Bottle,” a collaboration with Jason Blaine.
“The country music family is so fantastic in this country, and it’s an honour to have your peers recognize all the hard work and energy that goes into every song and every show,” Blair says.
The first of the Saturday night co-headliners is the Great Canadian Road Trip—an ensemble act of three acts set to light up Main Street: Doc Walker, Michelle Wright, and Jason McCoy.
Niverville country music fans will likely remember the last time Doc Walker came to town, headlining the fair in 2008. This songwriting duo, comprised by Chris Thorsteinson and Dave Wasyliw, is among Canada’s most successful country acts of all time, boasting a Juno Award, 14 CCMAs, a couple dozen top-10 radio singles, and a number one video on Country Music Television.
Doc Walker is excited to be touring and playing live for fans, something that wasn’t possible for a while during the pandemic. Both Thorsteinson and Wasyliw agree that there’s something special about the energy of a live show.
“That’s how everything starts. The more we play together, the more we talk and plan and write and record,” says Wasyliw. “The snowball gets big quickly.”
Michelle Wright has been recording and touring since the 1980s. Getting her start in Canada, she released her first U.S. album in 1990 and American fans responded immediately. In 1992, her song “Take It Like a Man” changed the course of her career and launched her to new heights of superstardom.
“Growing up in Merlin, Ontario, I spent many Saturday nights watching my mother and father playing music in their country bands. We would also spend long hours working the farm and listening to the sounds of R&B and Motown coming across the border from Detroit on our transistor radio,” she says. “Blending these influences is a natural, authentic way to express me in my music. It always has been that way and always will be.”
In total, Wright has released 12 albums and 24 top-ten radio hits. She has toured all across the world, performing on every continent, and accepted more than 40 major awards.
Jason McCoy, another major artist who’s no stranger to Niverville, previously played here with The RoadHammers in 2010. As the frontman of that group, the best-selling country music act in Canadian history, McCoy has picked up a platinum album, a platinum single, three CCMAs for Group of the Year, and a Juno.
Most of his childhood was spent in Ontario, where he first developed his musical talents.
“The cowboy culture really stuck with me,” McCoy says. “I just fell in love with the music. For some reason, as a little kid, I had some sort of connection with these guys who were singing about these depressing things.”
In 2023, McCoy was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. In addition to continuing to tour, he is in demand as a radio deejay and has hosted shows in front of the television camera as well.
The main show in Niverville will finish with Jess Moskaluke, an internationally celebrated artist with a powerful voice. Ten years ago, she became the first Canadian woman since Shania Twain to release a platinum single, with “Cheap Wine and Cigarettes.”
In 2017, she won the Juno for Country Album of the Year. She’s also racked up many CCMAs, along with a 2017 SOCAN Award and a 2020 WCM Award. She went on her first headlining tour of Canada in 2022, then went on to play at festivals in Australia and the U.K.
