By Will McGuirk

One of the best shows thus far this year has been Daniel Romano Outfit opening for the Sadies here in Oshawa’s Biltmore Theatre. So great and afterwards I had a good number of folks come by the shop to buy up some Romano records.

If y’all want to re-live that well you are in luck. The Sadies and Daniel Romano Outfit are among the acts announced for this year’s River & Sky festival in Field, ON, north of Sturgeon Falls, running July 20 to 23. That is just fabulous news. And just as fabulous is the list of other acts also announced in this first wave.

River & Sky is one of the friendliest festivals and this year it seems they are bringing friends from all across the country together to hang and see each other perform, friends who live in other provinces and in southern Ontario, and for whom this Field is just about equal distance from all of them.

Julie Doiron will be there. Doiron of course was on record with Romano, along with Frederick Squire (one time resident of Oshawa), on Daniel, Fred and Julie, one of the first releases from You’ve Changed Records.

Also performing and another You’ve Changed alumni, Shotgun Jimmie, (one time resident of Ajax) so yah it is a very thoughtful line-up, but then again it has always been thoughtful. Consideration is in its DNA, consideration of community, of environment, of diversity, of economics, of transit, its just a beautiful experience in the woods, by a river below an expansive sky.

Aysanabee, Zoon, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Pelada, and Clerel are among the other performers announced. Tickets available here.