Blog

Shooglenifty was formed in 1990 by musicians from the Scottish Highlands, Orkney and Edinburgh. Its bright spark was the idea of fusing traditional and traditional-sounding melodies with the beats and basslines of a mixed bag of more contemporary influences. As happy playing a small highland village hall as they are on an outdoor festival stage playing to tens of thousands, the Shoogles (as they’re known to their fans) have promoted Scottish music all over the world for three decades. The band has had a long-standing mutual love affair with west coast Canadian audiences, and we are thrilled to have their singular brand of “acid croft” music back in Harrison after several decades.

The 35th Season of Performing Arts is well underway and off to a roaring start. With three shows under our belt, two of which sold out and the third being well attended, the winter and spring shows are looking as promising as ever!

Jim Byrnes was born in St. Louis, Missouri – that’s blues country. He grew up on the city’s north side. One of the neighbourhood bars had Ike and Tina Turner as the house band. As a teenager going to music clubs, he and his buddy were often the only white people in the place. “We never had any problems. We were too naïve and had too much respect for the music and culture – they knew it, they could tell.”