Centerfield Music Festival is right around the corner, with local artists sharing the stage with heavy hitters like Corb Lund, Gord Bamford, James Barker Band and more this weekend.
Primed to perform their first show together in over 10 years is KC Jones.
The group established themselves in 1992, before breaking up in the early 2000s. The band played a reunion show in 2009 at the St. Paul Rec Centre, but haven't played together since.
Two original members of the band, Ryan Pugh and Tony Noel, are back and playing together alongside three others for the festival.
"I feel very honoured to be a part of the (festival), especially it being in my hometown," Pugh said.
Pugh doesn't expect any rust to get in the way.
"We've played with other bands for a long time too, so I expect us to be a good show. We're mainly playing the songs that we played back when the bars were hopping, and there's one original song that we will play that I wrote, called 'The Only Way is the Highway."
Pugh currently plays in a band called Millenia, that focuses on Ukrainian music, with Bobby Yakoweshen who is on drums for KC Jones next weekend.
Their set is slotted for an hour, and they will be the second band on stage Saturday, following St. Paul's Second Son.
Second Son, a relatively newer band forming last November will also play at the festival.
The four piece band is also a local flavour, and although Second Son was recently formed, its members have been playing music for over two decades according to lead vocals and guitar player Justin Lock.
Lock and another member, Daryl Skakun, played together throughout school, and reunited for Second Son.
"We all have a love of all different styles of music from rock, country, blues, pop and metal. We are currently writing music and will be playing some of it this weekend along with some great covers," Lock said in an email to the Journal.
Another local flavour, Front Porch Roots Revue, will be lighting up the stage on Friday night. Ian Oscar, who lives in St. Paul, will be singing and jamming the acoustic guitar for the band, and is excited for the chance to play.
"Any chance we get to play live in a professional setting is a wonderful thing," he said.
"Everyone in the group are all constant professionals. It sure makes my job as a singer a joy, and a lot of them sing as well. You got multiple voices going and great instrumentation, it's a great, great band."
This is the group's first time performing at Centerfield. Oscar is not part of the "core four," of the band, he's been called in by the group's producer to help with the show, along with two other voices.
The core members of the band are Thom Moon, Ron Rault, Gord Matthews, and Crawdad Cantera.
"I've been lucky to be included in a few of their shows now," Oscar said about playing with Front Porch Roots Revue.
He adds that their set will be about an hour, and their hope is to play about 14 songs.
The trio of bands are just a small sample of the musical talent the Lakeland has to offer.
"We're excited about the opportunity to showcase some of the amazing local talent that has come from St. Paul and across the Lakeland. We're blessed with so many talented artists who call St.Paul and area home, and to be able to play a part in showcasing that local talent via the Festival is very special to us," says Keynon Ternovoy, co-founder/director of marketing and business development with Troubadour Event Management.
Front Porch Roots Revue
Thom Moon - Drums
Ron Rault - Bass
Gord Matthews - Lead Guitar
Crawdad Cantera - Singer, Harmonica
Bobby Cameron - Singer, Lead Guitar
Karla Anderson - Singer, Acoustic Guitar
Ian Oscar - Singer, Acoustic Guitar
KC Jones
Second Son
Tyler Fodchuk - Lead Guitar, Lead Vocals
Justin Lock - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Terry Carter - Drums, Vocals
Daryl Skakun - Bass, Vocals
