Washboard Union band members David John Roberts, Aaron Grain and Chris Duncombe are ready to rock the stage in Medicine Hat during the Stampede's 2024 Night Shows, tickets are still available online. -SUBMITTED PHOTO
bmiller@medicinehatnews.com
The Washboard Union is returning to Medicine Hat with a unique sound that blends traditional and modern country elements as the musical headline for the Medicine Hat Stampede Night Show on July 25, less than two weeks after dropping their fourth studio album ‘Westerly.’
Band Member Aaron Grain explains the band grew from covering old trucker tunes, including Roger Miller, CW McCall and Johnny Cash, to writing and performing their own music in clubs in Vancouver.
“We had our guitar, we had our mandolin and we had our three-part harmony,” explains Grain. “And that was our big sort of selling point is the three-part harmony. We just love the sound of three voices together. It gives this different voice from the three individual voices and combines to make one unique voice.”
Washboard Union has been producing music since 2012 and was recognized as the 2017 Roots Artist of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards, and won group or duo of the year from 2018 to 2020.
“We love that blend of progressing the genre with the contemporary sounds that we love and listen to as music lovers, mixed with what we find traditional about country music.”
The new album is a collection of songs the band has been releasing over the past eight months and will include their new radio single called ‘Band on her T Shirt’ that has a summer vibe and showcases that three-part harmony and banjo the Washboard Union is known for.
Grain says the song is a unique take of loving a musical group while finding love in someone wearing that band’s T-shirt.
“I’ve got a drawer full of band T-shirts that I’ve collected over the years,” says Grain. “And there’s not enough room anymore. I start going through these shirts and I’m like, ‘I can’t get rid of that one, I love that one. I can’t get rid of that one because I love that artist.”
Along with the song gaining traction along radio waves in North America, the song is also performing well Down Under.
“It’s starting to really show in the charts and people are really responding to it, so we couldn’t be happier,” says Grain. “But the other cool this is that we’re going to Australian radio for the first time with that single, and it’s taken off in Australia.”
Grain says the band is thrilled to play their new single for fans at the Medicine Hat Stampede, along with a variety of older songs and fan favourites including ‘Shut Er Down’ and ‘Shot of Glory’ in front of an audience they have connected with during past performances.
“It’s really great to see how many fans of music there are around there,” says Grain. “They show up to the event and the music and we talk to people that had no idea who we were and they just loved the show and now they’re Washboard fans or country music fans.
“We definitely found that Medicine Hat had a lot of those types of people who changed their minds about not only Washboard Union, but country music, and that’s really great for the genre and great for us.”
The bands’ Medicine Hat performance is part of a national summer tour that includes stops at Nashville North for the Calgary Stampede, as well as performing during Fort Macleod’s 150th anniversary celebration.
Tickets for the July 25 Stampede Night Show can be purchased online at tickets.mhstampede.com
