1) Team Canada revealed the 25 man roster for the Men’s Ice Hockey Team at the Sochi Olympics.
2) Boots and Hearts announced that 7 new acts have been added to the 2014 line-up:
★ Toby Keith
★ Hunter Hayes
★ Lee Brice
★ Gord Bamford
★ Neal McCoy
★ The Road Hammers
★ Tim Hicks
It’s a welcome back moment for Tim Hicks who played on the Front Porch Stage in 2013 to open the show with The Stone Sparrows and Emerson Drive. I’d be willing to bet that he makes the jump to the main stage this year. And if his set last year was an indication, he’ll be great. I look forward to see what covers he comes with this year after Outkast’s Hey Ya and Willie Nelson’s On The Road Again last summer.
I’ve seen Toby Keith and The Road Hammers before, and I’m excited to see both of them again.
Toby Keith put on a great show in Toronto at the Molson Amphitheatre in September 2010, which made me happy because I’m not a huge fan of some of his music. But I will freely admit I sang along through the entire set. I have no doubt that I’ll enjoy him again this year. Keith confirmed on his Twitter account that he will be playing on August 1, which leads me to believe that he will be our Friday night headliner.
The Road Hammers set was a little colder, with the stage set up on the Rideau Canal on a chilly February night in 2008. I was living in Ottawa at the time and my friend Terry and I dealt with the cold and sang along to most of the first Road Hammers record as well as one of the favourite Canadian country songs of all time, Jason McCoy’s Born Again in Dixieland.
Neal McCoy comes to Boots and Hearts in the role that Joe Diffie filled in 2013. A country legend who had big success in the 90s with some really catchy songs. And now he’s back, probably on Saturday or Sunday afternoon to play the hits (I’m excited for The Shake, Wink & They’re Playin’ Our Song) maybe something new and get everyone ready for the bigger acts later on. It’s also cool to note that Neal McCoy is of Irish and Filipino descent. There isn’t a lot of any Asian representation in country music, but Neal is there!
Lee Brice isn’t a name that I anticipated being on this list. But here he is. And there’s nothing wrong with that at all. The 2 songs that I know best from his catalogue are Woman Like You and
I Drive Your Truck. The 2nd will make you cry if you’re the kind that cries when a song is built that way. I will not be surprised if I choke up when I hear it live for the first time. Wish me luck.
The last 2 names that were announced today hold a special place in my heart and that’s because I named them both in my prediction list going into Boots & Hearts 2014. Add Luke Bryan and so far I’m 3/5 in my 2014 predictions!
Gord Bamford has been as hot as anyone else in Canadian country music in the last 3 years or so. He opened for Reba, the Queen of Country Music, on her recent Canadian tour. His biggest hit thus far is probably his most recent. Is It Friday Yet? is a honky tonk good time tune that will get people singing and dancing and drinking. Hell, the DJ played it the minute he saw Bamford walk through the door at the Rock ‘N’ Horse Saloon.
The last name is arguably the biggest right now. With all due respect to Toby Keith… Hunter Hayes is a rising star with hits behind him and in front of him. Hayes was the 2012 Country Music Association New Artist of the Year and has had 5 hit singles, including his current duet with Jason Mraz, Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me. Oh, and by the way, he won’t turn 23 years old until a month after he performs in Bowmanville at Boots & Hearts 2o14. I’m looking for Hunter Hayes to steal the show much like
Dierks Bentley did before
Miranda Lambert took the stage in 2013.
My only disappointment with today’s Boots & Hearts Line-up Announcement is that we still don’t have any female country acts on the bill. There are 8 male solo artists (the new 6 plus Blake Shelton and Luke Bryan) and 1 group consisting of all dudes.
I do expect that we’ll have women on the roster before all things are said and done… and we’re waiting.
Stay up to date with what’s going on at the Boots & Hearts website, Facebook page, Twitter account, and right here on the blog!
There were 2 big announcements made this morning.
