Po’ Girl’s Allison Russell is a busy person. She just completed her theatre debut in Chicago and planned to record her first official CD with longtime touring partner J.T. Nero, is about to begin a tour of the United Kingdom, but first she will be coming to Lethbridge on a quick Canadian tour and stopping in Lethbridge,  Nov. 17 at the Geomatic Attic with fellow Po’ Girl Awna Teixeira.

“ I hadn’t heard about Greensence until Mike (Spencer of the Geomatic Attic) told me about it. We’re happy to be involved,” Russell said.
“Sustainable living is something we’ve always been interested in,” she said.

 She and Awna average about 300 days on the road, so she is excited to be stopping  back in Alberta for a day or two of it.

“I love coming to Alberta because my beloved cousin Ellen in Edmonton just had her first baby, so we‘re going to enjoy going up there to visit her,” she said.
She also has a special fondness for Lethbridge thanks to Shawna Hudson, who booked them here for the first time.

She has a couple new Po’ Girl songs she may try out in Lethbridge and may even include a couple numbers from the vaudeville show, she just completed in Chicago — Keep a Song In Your Soul: The Black Roots of Vaudeville at the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago.
 
“It was an amazing process,” Russell said, adding The Carolina Chocolate Drops , a  roots/ bluegrass band based out of  North Carolina put together a show exploring the role of black music in old minstrel shows, which were the precursor to a lot of blues and jazz music, and asked Russell to help.

“They really brought to life the role black music played because it really predates blues and jazz music,” she said.
 She is looking forward to the new record with J.T. Nero

There ain’t no party like a ho tonk party with Victoria’s  Ballgag N’ Chain Gang.
 The entire band is all about having fun — and not being tied down to a specific genre, so they call themselves a “Ho-Tonk” band, which has nothing to do with honkey tonk music, though they use a lot of traditional instruments, not to mention a few non traditional instruments.

“Ho-Tonk music is a lot of different things. it is a philosophy, it is a religion. HoTonk is badass music, but cool music. It’s about having fun— having a good time and it has a lot to do with giving us a lot of creative freedom,” said  Adam Zonnis, aka Fat Jesus, who plays banjo, guitar, fiddle, trumpet, harmonica and is the lead singer in the band.

The Ballgag N’ Chain gang, who were a hit at the South Country Fair this past summer,  will be playing the Slice, Nov. 16.
The  “five -piece  musical juggernaut”  met at open mics but came together as the backing band for a fringe festival play called “Bullfrog Lullaby.”

“It was about a northern Ontario dominatrix,” he said.

 “We’d never played together before that show. We met at open mics and through friends,” he said.

 They recorded an EP and their debut CD as well as a video for “Everything Goes Better With Bacon.”, and recently released their second CD “Bang,” which was released in October.

LETHBRIDGE — Lâ ACFA Régionale de Lethbridge/Medicine Hat invites you to the 25th edition of the Coup de coeur francophone 2011, tonight, Nov. 10.

Le Coup de coeur francophone evokes the spirit and commitment of an adventure that began in 1987 in Montreal. It is a festival like no other, showcasing French music in over 35 Canadian cities.

The mission: “To promote and spread French song.” Le Coup de coeur francophone defies distance and brings together the Francophone communities of Canada.
 This year, the ACFA Régionale de Lethbridge will host this event on Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011.

 Le Coup de coeur brings diversity to new communities and exposes audiences to new trends. For artists it is a unique opportunity to develop new audiences.

  This year Patrick Dunn, better known by his stage name Barobliq, will open the show with his original acoustic folk songs in both French and English. Dunn, a recipient of the Gala Albertain and Chantâ Ouest awards,  performed as a guest artist at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, so prepare yourself for an unique and amazing experience.

The headlining artist, New Brunswick's Marie-Philippe Bergeron, will charm you with her colourful compositions. She will perform her debut album Le complexe du gameau, released in October 2010.

The winner of several awards, Bergeron transports her audience with captivating rhythms, surprising lyrics and a bit of humour. Come discover the music that she calls modernized retro pop.
This unifying event, considered a highlight of French musical performance in Canada, will take place Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 at 6:30 p.m. at La Cité des Prairies, located at 2104 6th Avenue South, Lethbridge. Tickets are on sale now at La Cité des Prairies.

It has been a long time since Edmonton based keyboards/ bass based dance conglomerate  Shout Out Out Out Out Out have been to Lethbridge.

“We played Henotic and that was about two years ago. We loved playing that venue. We wish it were still there,” said Nik Kozub, who plays keyboards, bass, programs electronics and vocoder for the band.

All of the members play bass or keyboards in the band, but  though they  just got back from a quick tour of the east including Ontario, Montreal and New York, most of the past year has been spent chipping away at their brand new third CD, which they hope will be completed by winter.

“It’s about half recorded,” Kozub continued.

They will be playing the Stone, Nov. 11 and plan to perform three of the new  songs during the show.

“Maybe even four,” he said.

 While  Kozub, who works as a sound engineer and record producer for his day job, is most at home in the studio, he noted it is about time the new CD was completed.