If you love roots and folk music, mark  every second Wednesday on you calendar and  make a point of being at the Slice for the Windy City Opry.

 Local musician Shaela Miller is organizing this special showcase of touring roots/ folk/ country musicians.

 The first Windy City Opry, Dec. 14 at the Slice, features Calgary musician Amy Nelson plus Saskatoon’s Rugged Little Thing and new tour mate Eliza Mary Doyle , who was just in Lethbridge with the Dead South.

“This one is a banjo showcase and it’s all female artists,” said Miller, who was inspired to start the Windy City Opry by Boots and The Hoots who host a regular Pinecone Opry in Red Deer.
“It will mostly feature out of town bands. It will be a showcase of roots music including roots and folk music,” Miller said.

“Boots and the Hoots do the Pinecone Opry in Red Deer, which is where I got the idea from.  My band has played it a couple of times.

They play at every one of their Oprys. I may play one or two songs, but this is all about the touring artists and giving them a good night here, it’s not about me,” she continued, adding she chose to hold  the Windy City Opry on a weekday to catch touring acts on the way to play bigger centres like Calgary on weekends.
“I love booking bands and bands contact me anyway  about booking a gig,” Miller said.

 She is excited about the first Windy City Opry.
“Amy Nelson is from Calgary and she plays old time music. She’s great. She plays guitar and banjo. Rugged Little Thing are a married couple. They play bluegrass and old time music. They actually contacted me about booking a gig, so I asked them to play the first  Windy City Opry,” Miller added.

 
“They’re touring with Eliza Mary Doyle, who used to play in the Cracker Cats who have been defunct for eight or nine years. She plays clawhammer banjo,” she said.

 Eliza Doyle will be playing with her trio.

The show is sponsored by  Catwalk who are donating door prizes as well as CKXU and Ryan Dyck’s radio show on CKXU.

 She is already working on the next Windy City Opry, which will be Jan. 11 at the Slice.

“ I’m really excited about this projects. bigger cities like Vancouver have ‘Oprys’ and people know the name Opry means country and roots music, so people know what to expect. I hope they will come  to it because of it,” Miller said.
The Windy City Opry begins at 8 p.m., Dec. 14.
 Tickets will be on sale at the door for $10.