The Wharf Sessions: a Digital Album for Summer 2021
The Salmon Arm Arts Centre is thrilled to announce the release of The Wharf Sessions, a digital album celebrating the spirit of Wednesday on the Wharf, the evening concert series that Shuswap District Arts Council has been running at Marine Peace Park for 27 years. Starting June 16, 2021, the album will be available for streaming and download through our website on the WOW page. The album will also be available through streaming services such as Apple, Spotify, and YouTube Music in the coming weeks.
“We were really hoping to offer concerts in 2021,” says WOW program manager Astrid Varnes. “But there was so much uncertainty through the early spring that we couldn’t plan with any confidence.” She adds that by switching their focus to making an album, the Arts Centre was able to fulfill their mandate of offering music to the community, and simultaneously supporting local artists, many of who saw performance opportunities disappear in the wake of the pandemic.
Like WOW, the album features a range of musical styles, and both new and familiar faces. The album also serves as a kind of time capsule, explains Varnes, as many of the songs reference the experience of living through the pandemic, from different perspectives. She points to the Blind Bay Blues Band’s rocking version of Isolation Blues, the folksy groove of Chicken-Like Bird’s Blue Whale, to Tara Willard’s evocative Ancient Mother, which invites a deeper connection to nature.
Varnes notes that while many people will listen to the album through their earbuds, loosening restrictions on gatherings mean that people will soon be able to listen to the music together, as they once did. “I’m envisioning backyard picnics or drinks on the deck with friends, with the album playing on the stereo.” She gives credit to collaborators Clea Roddick and Craig Newnes of Song Sparrow Hall for making an incredible recording. “The quality is world-class,” she says.
The Wharf Sessions line-up includes The Blind Bay Blues Band, Chicken-Like Birds, Jimmy Two-Shoes & the Lost Soles, The Chorogues, Green Room, Tara Willard, Mozi Bones, the Jake McIntyre-Paul Sextet, the SAS Sullivan Choir, Blu and Kelly Hopkins, and Kenthen Thomas. Audiences can visit the blog on the Arts Centre’s new website for weekly behind-the-scenes photos, band interviews, and more.
The Arts Centre is grateful for the support it receives from its sponsors, without whom this project would not be possible: SASCU, Chad Eliason Mortgage Broker, Askew’s Foods, the Armstrong Regional Co-op, Johnston Meier Insurance, Grant Thornton, Stella-Jones, Shuswap Tourism, the City of Salmon Arm, and the Government of British Columbia.
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Photography by Kristal Burgess and Kate Fagervik