Redgirl

This girl has a voice that keeps your ear drawn in. It’s clear and controlled. It carries beautiful catchy melodies that engage your minutes with a smile. Her name is Anie Hepher. She is the talented lead vocalist for the Cranbrook based musical quartet known as Redgirl.

Redgirl is a rootsy, four-piece band that double dips in organic folk with milky-mild rock rhythms. The music is built around the clear and fearless vocals of Anie Hepher. Her evocative voice is as approachable as it is confident. Michael Hepher (Anie’s husband) on lead guitar and backing vocals, brings a sauciness of sound that adds flavour, depth and kick to the songs and stories of the band.

Bringing it all home are the steady, ready bass notes of Steve Jones (bass & backing vocals) and inventive and attentive rhythms of Sven Heyde (drums & percussion). This fresh and genuine quartet is coming to the Stage at the Art Station this week in Fernie. If you like to indulge in some sweet ear candy, you won’t want to miss out on this fantastically tasty act. - Fernie Free Press

Have you ever noticed the relationship that bass players have with their instruments? Take for instance Dave Birch of the band 60 Hertz. He has a 30-year partnership with his bass that probably predates his marriage. It is evident that when they perform, there is this little two step dance thing going on that is like an old married couple. Each partner knows exactly where the other is in the dance. Then there is The Peaks' Ray Gareau and his bass. Their dance is more like an exotic Tango with all the dips and swoops of a very experienced Argentinian couple. Now Steve Jones ("Don't hug me, I'm British") and that huge madam of an upright bass he plays - she isn't agile enough to dance but she is very susceptible to some very suggestive strokes and caresses. Of course that's not the whole story of the evening's performances. Rather, they are just some of the little tableaux played in the background of an especially fine concert.

Over this past winter three local bands went to ground and recorded the CDs that were celebrated at the Key City Theatre concert on Saturday, June 11. The bands include 60 Hertz (James Neve - guitar and vocals, Dave Birch - bass, Rob Young - lead guitar and Marty Musser - drums); RedGirl (Anie and Michael Hepher - guitars and vocals, Steve Jones - upright bass and Sven Heyde - drums) and Heather Gemmel and the Peaks (Paul Bouchard - drums and Ray Gareau - bass).

The musicians in 60 Hertz are old friends and veterans of the music scene. Musically they all date back to the days of afros, red satin jump suits and the British Band Invasion of the late 60's. At one time or another they have played and toured together in a number of bands. This winter they booted the sheep out of James's barn, built a recording studio and laid down some tracks. They opened the show with a fine selection of James Neve's original songs that included "Time Stands Still", "Rainland", "Diamond Heart", and "Candle by the Window".

Down-Easteners would tag Anie and Mike Helpher as CFAs (Come From Away). Nevertheless they have been resident in the area for so long they have become completely embedded in the local cultural scene. They originally made their mark as part of the band As the Crow Flies. After several CDs, air time on the CBC and many local shows the band faded off into history and members moved onto other projects. Anie and Mike recruited fellow "Crow" Steve Jones and enlisted the drummer Sven Heyde into the new outfit - RedGirl. For the concert the new band "double dipped into organic folk with milky-mild rock rhythms" and over two sets featured selections from their CD "One Match Fire". Songs included Anie's "Laundry Line" and "Ponies", Lyle Lovett's "If I had a Boat", Josh Ritter's "Good Man", and Gillian Welch's "Miss Ohio".

Heather Gemmell is the new kid on the block, but she has been a staple on the local music scene for over five years. The financial and emotional support of the Columbia Basin Trust, The Kootenay Cultural Alliance and the Cranbrook and District Arts Council has made possible the recording of the CD "The Road" and in the process doors are opening and many things are possible in the future. With her Sheryl Crow looks, great voice, stage persona and rock solid gutsy guitar playing she outshines any number of big name performers on the larger music scene. The music is `blues based rock` and, in Heather`s words, "is getting heavier by the minute."

60 Hertz closed out the evening in the last set with their Greyhound bus epic "Virtuality". This featured marvelous bass and guitar unison lines over Marty Musser's snappy snare drum rhythms. It was a great finale to what will be long remembered as a fine showcase of local musical talent.

Rod Wilson - Cranbrook Daily Townsman

Let's give a round of applause for our home grown talent! Three well-loved Kootenay- based bands each released their first CD's on one epic night of music. Heather Gemmell, 60 Hertz, and RedGirl all had their moment to shine at a jam-packed show at the Key City Theatre. It was a great night for Kootenay music and there will be more to come!

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- SNAP East Kootenay

Let's give a round of applause for our home grown talent! Three well-loved Kootenay- based bands each released their first CD's on one epic night of music. Heather Gemmell, 60 Hertz, and RedGirl all had their moment to shine at a jam-packed show at the Key City Theatre. It was a great night for Kootenay music and there will be more to come!

Interact with your community! Share the photo with your friends, leave a comment for the world to see, or buy a copy of the photo as a print or downloadable file to keep forever.

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- SNAP East Kootenay

A haunting yet beautiful Celtic-style a cappella hymn by a Cranbrook musician leapt ahead of 37 other entries in the Song For The Salmon songwriting contest.

Judges spent four days listening to the entries, eliminating them one by one until they decided on Anie Hepher’s Salmon Hymn, said Jim Cooperman, an organizer behind this Sunday’s Salute to the Sockeye celebration.

Bands from all across southern B.C, including Kamloops, entered the contest. There was even an entry from England.

“It was really tough,” Cooperman said. “They spent days on it.”

Hepher thought the contest was over when she was told of her win Thursday. She reworked a song she wrote 10 years ago after visiting the Adams River spectacle shortly after she lost her mother to cancer.

That song was about grief. This one is a song of joy. She was also inspired by a reconciliation ceremony held with the Ktunaxa First Nation on Aboriginal Day.

“I felt very honoured to look at the salmon returning in record numbers against all odds and saw the parallels with the efforts of the Secwepemc peoples to give their culture significance,” she said. “It was an emotional experience that focused on both the survival of the salmon and the First Nation.”

Marcus Smith of Salmon Arm came second with A Seal Named Doug, a humorous rock ’n’ roll tune about salmon escaping the jaws of harbour seals as they make their way upstream.

Both Hepher and Smith will perform their songs at Salute to the Sockeye Festival, which gets underway Sunday, 1 p.m., at Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park. The R&B group Salmon Armenians also perform in a full afternoon of free entertainment.

Hepher, who substituted with djembe in her recording of the song, is hoping to find a First Nations drummer for rhythm backing. Mary Haig-Brown will speak about her father, a longtime B.C. conservationist, author and angler. Alexandra Morton, a biologist who raised an alarm over the impact of salmon pen rearing on wild stocks, will speak about her work.

“It’s one of those last miracles of the season that will happen all the time,” said Hepher, a self-described redhead with a green heart who plays with a band called Red Girl. - Kamloops News

The Cranbrook Public Library's fundraising summer music concert passed quite a milestone this year, as the Fifth Annual Idlewild MusicFest was held last weekend.

Originally organized as a way to raise money to buy new shelves for its collection when the Cranbrook Public Library made the move into its new home in 2006, the Idlewild Music Fest has been held every August since then and raised thousands of dollars for the library.

Library Board chairman Keith Powell said this year's MusicFest was another success, drawing about 450 concert-goers, up from the 400 who attended the event last year. Final calculations aren't in yet but Powell said they have raised somewhere between $3,000 and $3,500. That money will go towards a couple different areas at the library.

“We're working on finishing up our landscaping, we've done about three-quarters of it. We've got the Second Street North side still to complete so the funds raised will be used there and also we'll be buying more books and CDs and that kind of thing just to add to the library's collection,” Powell said. “It will all help out in the operation of the library and just make it better for everybody that uses the library on a regular basis.”

Valdy, acclaimed Canadian folk musician, who pleased all ages of audience members, headlined the event.

“The people that were there just loved the concert, there was a great line up, they were really wowed by Valdy and his performance,” Powell, who was MC of the event, said. “One of the albums he has out is a kids album so all these kids went up to the front of the stage and he started playing from his kids stuff and they just loved it. That was an extra bonus.”

The MusicFest line up also included Nelson's Aspen Switzer and local groups redGirl, and Old Spice and musician Heather Gemmel, all of who delighted those watching.

“I was talking to someone and they said they had only planned on staying for the first hour of the MusicFest, they were pressed for time, and she said the performances were so good she ended up staying for all the performances,” Powell said. “There seemed to be an awful lot happening last weekend, still we were able to draw a good crowd so we were happy with that.”

Powell thanked all of the volunteers and sponsors of the Idlewild MusicFest who made the event run so smoothly. He said the summer student they were able to hire also did a great job helping with the coordination of the event.

“It's a great summer event and I think it's something that serves the community well, having a music festival in the summer. We had people from Creston and the Columbia Valley so it wasn't just local turnout, but we brought people into town as well,” Powell said.

The Library Board will make the choice if it wants to hold another Idlewild MusicFest next year. - Cranbrook Daily Townsman