Edmonton country group the Swiftys returned to Lethbridge to play the Slice, May 24.
But Sheline, or Shaela Miller and Treeline were up first with a tight set of original classic country music.
They continued to get better and better every time I hear them. Danny Dyck stepped up from behind the pedal steel guitar to song a couple duets including the outstanding “Problems”
Tyler Bird kept the groove going on stand up bass with drummer Clayton Smith as Taylor Ackerman added extra guitar and vocals.
They played a couple of Shaela Miller’s newer songs beginning with “Loving Me,” which has a co
uple two-stepping in front of the stage from the first note.
It was followed by a new song “Fix Me.“ Several other crowd pleasing Shaela Miller songs were in the set including “Halfway in Love,” “I Don’t Have a Friend In You,” and a lot of newer songs including “ You Can Call Me Baby” and “Sentimental Cowboy,” which had even more people two-stepping.
There were also a lot of Treeline songs from their last CD “Prairie Sentimentalist” including “our big hit” according to Danny Dyck, — Tombstone Grey. And while I thought I saw Sean Brewer in the audience, her didn’t get up and play with them.
And while a set from Shaela Miller and Treeline, two of Lethbridge’s best country and roots musicians, are hard to top, The Swifty’s were more than up to it.
I haven’t seen them for many years. They were phenomenal, if only because of keyboardist Graham Guest, playing a different keyboard with each hand. While I can’t name as many Swiftys songs as I can Treeline and Shaela Miller songs, I was very impressed.
They had a excellent musicianship and had a lot of ’90s alt-country influence like Wilco and Uncle Tupelo. And they kept the dance floor full throughout their set that went well past midnight.
For variety, in addition to a intense set of original music played by the Swifty’s original line-up, they added a spirited version of Billy Joe Shaver’s “Hottest Thing In Town.”
There were a lot of upbeat songs about drinking and all kinds of things, which made for an enjoyable and late night.
