While Peterborough Musicfest has consistently shone its spotlight on Canadian country music talent over the years, doing so this summer is particularly prudent in light of an event — or rather a non-event — that has left fans of the genre starving for their fix.

With the cancellation of the 2022 Havelock Country Jamboree, there’s a void to be filled and, by welcoming two of Canada’s rising country music stars to its stage, Peterborough Musicfest is doing its part to satisfy the insatiable appetite of the deprived.

On Saturday, July 23rd, a double bill of country music featuring headliner Sacha and opener Owen Barney comes to Del Crary Park as Peterborough Musicfest’s milestone 35th season continues.

As has been the case since July 1987, admission to the 8 p.m. concert is free.

In enticing the duo to its stage, Peterborough Musicfest has secured two artists before they likely become unattainable. Think Carly Rae Jepsen back in July 2012, whose stock rose quickly and significantly after her Musicfest appearance upon the coinciding release of her groundbreaking hit “Call Me Maybe.”

Warkworth-raised Sacha (Visagie) and Toronto native Barney are each on similarly dramatic trajectories — an accelerating momentum that has been fueled by hit singles mingled with social media buzz.

Sacha has experienced a meteoric rise in the country music realm, beginning in 2020 with the release of her debut EP The Best Thing and the single “Standards,” which has been streamed 10 million times to date and counting.

VIDEO: “Standards” – Sacha

“The second I heard it (Standards), it just hit me like a ton of bricks,” she told Erica Zisman in an April 2021 interview for Country Swag.

“I always loved making music for the love of it, but the main thing is having a good message to go along with. We have a lot of heartbreak songs on country radio, but not a lot of songs that might help you avoid one.”

But it was Sacha’s follow-up collaboration with The Reklaws on the 2021 TitTok hit “What The Truck” that gave Sacha her first gold-certified song and really got the ball rolling. Included on her latest EP We Did, the song is the fastest-ever Canadian country song to go gold in the streaming era, reaching that status in just 16 weeks.

This is all pretty heady stuff for a girl who had a music dream at a young age.

“The impact of country living and country music just had an effect on me,” she told Zisman.

“I didn’t even realize what kind of music I was falling in love with. It was just what I heard over the speakers really struck a chord with me. I remember singing along and wishing I was the voice on the other side of the speaker.”

VIDEO: “What The Truck” – The Reklaws featuring Sacha

Sacha has garnered music industry praise in quick fashion. A Country Music Association of Ontario Rising Star nominee in 2021, Sacha was named an iHeartRadio Future Star, and three of her videos — for the songs “Cheers,” “Standards,” and “What The Truck” — have received regular play on Country Music Television.

And as a testament to her talent and quickly growing popularity, she was asked to join Maddie & Tae on their Next Women Of Country All Song No Static Tour that stopped in 16 U.S. cities earlier this year.

Beyond her music, not lost on Sacha is what she represents as a woman of colour in a music genre where that’s not too common.

“I’m optimistic about the shift that is occurring regarding Canadian values being represented in the country music industry,” she told Front Porch Music in an August 2020 interview.

“As Canadians, we pride ourselves on ethical values such as diversity and equality, which is why I believe more space is becoming available for people who are under-represented to have a fair chance and contribute to the Canadian music industry.”

“I think we move forward from conversation to actual results by asking ourselves the tough questions, evaluating our values and abandoning small-minded behaviours mapping out the big picture. The big picture always includes many people, and people of every kind.”

VIDEO: “Cheers” – Sacha

As for Owen Barney, who will open for Sacha at the July 23rd Musicfest concert, the Toronto-born and raised musician first picked up a guitar at age seven and, influenced by country music heavy hitters such as Eric Church, Steve Earle, and Jason Aldean, started performing shows in the big city at age 14.

“As soon as I could play the guitar, all I wanted to do was play for people,” recalled Barney in May 2021 during a chat with Jason Sheppard of 25YearsLater.

“Our living room fireplace had this little mantle on it, so I used to stand on that and sing for my parents. I’d go into school and do a talent show, get the odd gig here and there in Toronto, and kept doing that and loving it more and more. I started playing with a band and then it all just came together and I haven’t stopped.”

2019 saw the release of Barney’s debut EP Home and appearances on bigger stages, but it was his 2020 follow-up EP No Road Too Long that took him to the next level with the charting singles “Thank Her For That” and “Pour Me” — the video for the former garnering 320,000 views before he was named Amazon Breakthrough Artist of the Month in September 2020.

“All this attention that I’ve been so fortunate to have, it’s the first time it’s ever happened,” said Barney in the same interview. “It’s like nothing I’ve experienced before. So I sit here and keep going … not get too excited. I just keep working, keep pushing forward and hope that it keeps happening.”

“When you’re a musician and songwriter, all you ever want is for people to hear your music and have it speak to them the same way that it speaks to you. Maybe not the same way but that feeling you get when you hear a special song — it’s your music doing that to somebody else.”

VIDEO: “Pour Me” – Owen Barney

Barney has since issued a third EP, Tough Times, a three-song collection that gave him another hit in “You Make Me Wanna (Brown Eyed Girl),” which features the familiar riff from the classic Van Morrison song sprinkled amongst Barney’s music and words.

However, as Barney told 25YearsLater, the new EP’s title track is the song that he’s most proud of to this point.

“When I wrote that song, it was an exploration of songwriting for me,” he said. “I was driving to a show two summers ago and remember I saw on this gas station sign the price of gas and then beneath that some fella or gal climbed up there and wrote right beside it ‘too high’ and I thought that was funny. I wrote this song about a guy going through some tough times and that’s the song. I feel that really shows who I am and who I can be as a songwriter.”

VIDEO: “You Make Me Wanna (Brown Eyed Girl)” – Owen Barney

While there’s no word on whether a full-length album is in the cards, Barney assures “I’ll always be picking tunes on the guitar.”

“It never gets old and it’s all I want to do. Hopefully you’ll see me around for awhile.”

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 16 free-admission concerts during its milestone 35th anniversary season, each staged Wednesday and Saturday nights at Del Crary Park in downtown Peterborough.

Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission remains “to provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert or the entire 2022 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.

Every Thursday, we publish live music events at pubs and restaurants in Peterborough and the greater Kawarthas region based on information that venues provide to us directly or post on their website or social media channels. Here are the listings for the week of Thursday, July 21 to Wednesday, July 27.

If you’re a pub or restaurant owner and want to be included in our weekly listings, please email our nightlifeNOW editor at nightlife@kawarthanow.com. For concerts and live music events at other venues, check out our Concerts & Live Music page.

When trying to lure audiences back after two years of pandemic-related hibernation, it’s not a bad idea to keep doing what you’ve done so well.

The soundness of that approach hasn’t been lost on 4th Line Theatre and, as a result, the company has picked up right where it left off in 2019, presenting original, local history-infused productions on its rustic and enchanting Winslow Farm stage just outside of Millbrook off Zion Line.

For the second production of its milestone 30th summer season, 4th Line Theatre will stage the world premiere of Wishful Seeing, playwright Maja Ardal’s adaptation of Janet Kellough’s novel of the same name.

Directed by 4th Line managing artistic director Kim Blackwell, the 1850s-era murder mystery opens August 2 and continues Tuesdays through Saturdays at 6 p.m. until closing on August 27.

Set in 1853, the play’s storyline revolves around saddlebag preacher Thaddeus Lewis who stumbles upon a murder mystery on Rice Lake. Featuring a most colourful cast of characters, it’s set against the backdrop of pre-Confederation Canada. Think Murdoch Mysteries, CBC’s very popular television series, and you get the general idea.

During a media preview held Wednesday (July 20), Blackwell noted Wishful Seeing “checks a lot of boxes … for this theatre, for its mission, and its mandate” — that being the development and presentation of original theatre pieces that bring Ontario small-town stories (and history) back to life.

“My mom gave me the book in July 2016,” recalls Blackwell of her introduction to Kellough’s novel.

“In late August, I was at the cottage and I read it. I thought ‘This is a perfect play for 4th Line. It’s a murder mystery. There’s the historical story of the Cobourg-to-Peterborough railroad and there’s this murder on Spook Island on Rice Lake.’ I sent a message to her (Janet). She got back to me in 15 or 20 minutes on a Sunday morning and said she’s interested.”

Once publisher Dundurn Press gave its blessing, Ardal did her thing and did it very well, not surprisingly according to Blackwell.

“What she does beautifully is adapt source material, but adds spins of her own while staying very true to the source material,” Blackwell says, recalling “the beautiful job” Ardal did on The Hero of Hunter Street, her 2016 4th Line-staged play that chronicled events at the time of the 1916 Quaker Oats explosion and fire in Peterborough.

As for Wishful Seeing, “it’s an incredibly technical piece,” says Blackwell, noting elements such as fight scenes, original music, choreography, and “extraordinary” sets and props.

“I always think my shows are going to be simple. On the face of it, when an audience comes to see them, they probably look simple. But to create a world, to draw an audience into Cobourg in 1853, there are so many moving parts. It’s like a humongous machine and I’m sort of oiling parts to make sure things are moving.”

Blackwell has been “oiling parts” with 4th Line Theatre for a long time, this summer marking her 28th season with the company for which she has directed more than 25 productions, 14 of them world premieres. Along with founder and creative director Robert Winslow, Blackwell remains the face and voice of the outdoor theatre company that debuted in 1992 with Winslow’s The Cavan Blazers.

Wishful Seeing marks Winslow’s return to a principal role after a few years’ absence. Blackwell says he “was born to play” the part of preacher Lewis.

“I’m enjoying the process but it has been quite awhile,” says Winslow, dressed in full black preacher garb on an insanely hot day.

“I find these types of characters kind of interesting,” Winslow says. “This particular man (Lewis) preached into his seventies. One of the challenges of playing a religious character is you have to find that faith within yourself.”

“In these times, you assume no one believes in God — that everybody’s into science and that sort of thing — but that’s not necessarily true. There are a lot of people who still have faith.”

As for the cast, it’s heavy on the side of local actors, among them Megan Murphy who, with singer-songwriter Kate Suhr, brought The Verandah Society In Residence to the farm last summer for a limited run. Wishful Seeing marks her 4th Line summer play debut — a big check mark on her bucket list, she says.

“I play Constance Small … I’m kind of the town biddy,” Murphy says. “Gossip is currency and I like to have the most currency. I want to be on my way up in the world, but there’s that interesting combination where gossip travels fast and it can be simple or it can ruin people. There’s a little bit of power there. I’m the 1850s’ Facebook.”

“My first love was Anne of Green Gables — I thought I was Anne. Now, for the first time, I’m in that period and I get to wear these things (hoop skirts and corsets). This is so much fun. I get to play for a living. I’m a giant overgrown child. It’s amazing.”

Equally thrilled to be in the mix is Kate Bemrose, who is making her 4th Line debut. The recent Lakefield College School graduate has appeared in numerous locally staged musicals — she was also a competitive dancer with Premiere Studio of Dance — and was involved with 4th Line’s 2021 Young Company. In Wishful Seeing, she plays Martha Renwell, the granddaughter of preacher Lewis.

“She (Renwell) is young and full of energy — kind of a feminist and very modern for the times,” Bemrose says of her character, adding “I love that she’s forward thinking and progressive.”

“I fell in love with musical theatre because it’s a combination of all the different things, but I never dived deeper into the acting portion. I’m so excited to do that this summer. Kim (Blackwell) and Marjie (Chud), the assistant director, have taught me so much, even in just the last two weeks. I’m excited to learn more. I try to be like a sponge and soak everything up.”

Meanwhile, JD (Jack) Nicholsen, who portrays George Howell, is no stranger to 4th Line audiences. An award-winning actor whose career spans 30-plus years, he has appeared in five previous 4th Line productions, adding to an impressive resumé that also includes a 1991 Juno Award as a member of The Leslie Spit Treeo.

“I play the father of Caroline and the husband of Ellen Howell (portrayed by Peterborough-based actor Kait Dueck),” he notes. “Ellen is the woman that Thaddeus Lewis takes a shine to and helps. I play the husband who has nefarious undetermined activities that he’s involved with. He’s not a bad guy, but he is a bit of shady character.”

“I’ve never done a murder mystery. It’s a fun script, and Kim (Blackwell) is very detailed. She’s always talking about your intention and your reaction.”

“What I really admire is what she achieves in the short period of time she is given. It’s a big cast — 18 people — and there are more than 40 different scenes. That’s a lot to navigate. She’s got a great visual sense; a great rhythmic sense. Her direction is always very clear and concise. She never confuses you.”

Sponsored by Trinity College School and IG Wealth Management, Wishful Seeing also stars visiting actors Tavaree Daniel-Simms and Conor Ling. Other actors in the cast include Naomi Duvall, Hilary Wear, Ryan Tobin, and Mark and Justin Hiscox. Musical direction is by Justin Hiscox, with choreography by Madison Sheward, fight direction by Edward Belanger, and costume design by Korin Cormier.

Performance dates for Wishful Seeing are Tuesdays to Saturdays from August 2 to 6, 9 to 13, 16 to 20, and 23 to 27 with curtain at 6 p.m. Previews take place on August 2 and 3, with opening night on Thursday, August 4. Tickets are $42.50 for adults and $36.50 youth.

For more information and to order tickets for Wishful Seeing, visit www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca. You can also order tickets by calling 705-932-4445 (toll free at 1-800-814-0055) or in person at the 4th Line Theatre box office at 4 Tupper Street in Millbrook starting July 2.