The well known Southern Alberta musician and band are touring his latest album, Long Haul. John has a few feathers in that lucky hat for his previous recordings. Feathers that include a JUNO nomination, a Canadian Folk Music Award for Best Album of the Year, a CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award, a Kerrville Texas New Folk win, and numerous Western Canadian Music Award and Canadian Folk Music Award nominations. 

 Both in his own right as a solo artist and as an integral member of Leeroy Stagger’s potent alt. country outfit, the Rebeltone Sound, Ryland spends considerable time traversing the highways and byways of Canada, the US, and Europe. South Country Fair visitors will know Ryland from seeing him on stage there since he was a toddler. Now he's bringing his exciting full band to the festival.

 "my name is braden

i enjoy writing songs and using a fiddle or guitar to play them

i like to wash dishes and play floor hockey

music has taken me all over the world to places like red deer, edmunston, vegreville, mission and regina "

Braden's album Kitchen Days has also taken him to the 2022 Canadian Folk Music Awards where he won

Traditional Folk Album of the Year.

Featuring gorgeous three part harmonies with a range of instrumentation, Magnolia Buckskin bring their years of friendship, humour and love of music to the stage, telling stories that evoke a panorama of human experiences. Kathy Cook, Natasha Sayer and Corry Ulan draw upon their prairie roots, delivering a blend of indie bluegrass, folk, and pop music on guitar, banjo, mandolin, accordion and bass.

A challenge to write a song led Megan Brown to become the alt-rock artist Makiisma (Mah-kees-ma).  Having performed and toured as a violinist and vocalist with numerous bands over the years, Brown is now heading up a seven-member band whose self-professed style is "doom folk", merging together classical music with elements that are heavy, raw, and expressive.

Local dobro player Bryan Bradfield is a fixture of the Lethbridge music scene and has sat in with many groups over the years, in addition to his solo shows. As well as  performing for attendees at the Lethbridge Roots Music Festival, Bryan will share his expertise by teaching a workshop on the dobro, one of three unique music workshops offered at this year's event.

 "Papa" King Cole is a singer / songwriter best known for original blues tunes and often found heading up a local band called The Boogiemen, playing the foot drum and guitar.    

His music and songs reflect the life he lives and observes during his other career as a Class 1 truck driver. Driven with love and passion, this is music for all ages.

Vocal harmony workshop:  

Magnolia Buckskin

Dobro workshop:  

Bryan Bradfield

Songwriting workshop:  

Reid Seibert / Karen Romanchuk    

  Dr. Lar-Bar (a.k.a. Larry Steinbrenner) actually is a “doctor”, though not of the medical persuasion. An archaeologist/anthropologist/singer-songwriter who now lives in Red Deer, Larry was an active member of the Lethbridge Folk Club in the 1990s, before moving on to grad school (and busking on C-Train platforms). Larry may be the only person in the world who has written multiple folk songs about Charles Darwin.

Little Miss Higgins plays music brewed up in early country blues, jazz and folk. For over 15 years, she has performed, toured, collaborated, recorded and released 5 independent albums. A festival favorite, her music has won three Western Canadian Music Awards and received JUNO and Maple Blues Awards nominations. Born in Brooks, AB, Little Miss Higgins (aka Jolene Higgins) currently makes Manitoba her home. 

 Amanda Penner has touched listeners in intimate coffee shops, all the way to larger festival stages with a voice that alters the very texture of your emotional experience. Her songs have been recognized by the Edmonton Music Awards where she was nominated in 2018 & 2019 for the Rising Star Award and the People’s Choice Award (2019). She is currently touring in support of her new album,  titled “Honey & Heartache”.

 A Power Acoustic Duo of Ben Lamb on Cajon & Vocals, and Sheldon Shukaliak on Acoustic Guitar. This duo brings a mixture of blues and rock to audiences throughout the Lethbridge area. This is a subset of the larger blues band called Coda.