Ladysmith, B.C.based snger/ songwriter Ryan McMahon plays  a variety of venues when he visited Lethbridge.

 He was last here opening for Burton Cummings at the Enmax Centre before embarking on a tour with Tom Cochrane. The previous visit, he was playing a house party, and the Geomatic Attic before that.

 He returns to Lethbridge, Saturday, March 16, to play a show at the Lethbridge College Cave for the Lethbridge Folk Cub.

“ I’ve played a little bit of both,” said McMahon, en route to a gig in Field, B.C. with pianist Joel  Spillette, who is joining him for the first tour of 2024 — 21 shows in 25 days all over B.C and Alberta.

“ B.C. and Alberta have always been my strongest markets,” he said.

 He enjoyed touring for 15 shows with The Guess Who’s Burton Cummings on his last tour.

“Uncle Burton got nicer every gig. I hope some of the people who saw me then, will be at this show and see me stretch out a little and play more songs,” McMahon said, adding he also enjoyed the shorter tour of B.C with Tom Cochrane right after the Tour with Cummings ended.

“Tom Cochrane was so generous.  After my first show he came backstage and said ‘kid, you’ve got a good voice, would you like to some on stage and sing a song with me?’ So I got to sing ‘No Regrets ’ with him each night,” said McMahon, who has been playing music for 25 years and is touring in support of his seventh solo album “Live  Now.” 

He never takes bigger tours for granted.

“I’ve played bigger shows. I was shitting bricks playing the Enmax Centre, then on this tour I’m playing wineries for 30 to 40 people and I’m playing  for the Lethbridge Folk Club in Lethbridge. If you don’t tour, you don’t eat,” he said, noting there will be several iterations of the band on this tour.

“I’ll be playing most of the new album and going back to play some other songs people may want to hear,” he said.

St.Patrick’s Day week rocks with all kinds of shows from tributes to punk legends , to alternative rock and the requisite batch of  St. Patrick’s Day themed parties.

 The Lethbridge and  District Music and Speech Arts  Festival,, which began, March 11 continues through March 23, with events happening at Sterndale Bennett Theatre,  Southminster United Church, St. Augustine’s  Hall and  Sanctuary and the casa Stephure Hall and community room and Owl Acoustic Lounge.

There are two big concerts this year including the opening concert opening concert at 7 p.m., March 13 at Southminster United Church focusing on instrumental acts,  features the LCI Gold Band, U of L Chinook guitar ensemble and the Con Brio Trio  (Anna Jeong, Alayna McNeil and Brenna Le May), who represented Lethbridge and area at the provincial festival last year and won a gold medal  in the Classical Guitar Solo category at the Canada West Performing Arts Festival last year.

 The Musical Theatre showcase is at 2 p.m., March 16.

 If you want to rock ’80s and ’90s style, Buck Cherry and Skid Row plus special guests Sierra Pilot play the Enmax Centre tonight, March 12 at 7:30 p.m.  The show was rescheduled from Oct.16. Tickets are $47, $59 and $71. After that catch the blues at the Slice as the Peter Noel band hosts the blues jam beginning at 8 p.m.

 The Owl Acoustic Lounge hosts a stand up comedy open mic on Wednesday, March 13. Around the corner, Bridgette Yarwood hosts the Slice’s open mic, March 13.

 Gabe Thaine’s Jam For Hunger is at  Theoretically Brewing on Thursday.

Harley Packer hosts Honker’s Pub’s open mic on Friday, March 15.

 Lethbridge is your oyster for  St. Patrick’s Day revellers.

 St. Patrick’s Day is on a Sunday this year, so the weekend is full of fun Celtic and other music.

 To get an early start on the celebrations, Blowers and Grafton host Kavanagh and Hepher on Friday, March 15.

Blowers and Grafton welcome Lani Folkard to the Stage on Saturday, March 16. Tickets are $11.30 online, $10 at the door which includes a Green Grafton Street Beer and  a selfie sized pepperoni pizza. The show begins at 7 p.m. 

Junkman’s Quire return to the Owl Acoustic Lounge with James Swinney playing traditional folk music and more, Friday March 15. Admission is by donation, the music begins at 9 p.m. 

 Adequate bring the funk back to the Owl Acoustic lounge on Saturday, March 16.

 Mahoney have a couple different St. Patrick’s shows.

Up and coming talent of all ages are getting ready for The Lethbridge and District Music and Speech Arts Festival , March 11-23.

 Over 2,000 people will be performing throughout the next  two weeks at Sterndale Bennett Theatre,  Southminster United Church, St. Augustine’s  Hall and  Sanctuary and the casa Stephure Hall and community room and Owl Acoustic Lounge.

“We have bands, soloists, choirs, guitar and accordion ensembles,” said Lethbridge and District Music and Speech Arts Festival general manager Jaimee Jarvie.

“It‘s about the same number of performers  every year. We are growing every year since the last  post Covid festival,” Jarvie continued.

The festival features three concerts including Stars of the Festival at 2 p.m. March 23, the Musical Theatre Showcase concert on March 16 and  the opening concert at 7 p.m., March 13 all at Southminster United Church. The opening concert, focusing on instrumental acts,  features the LCI Gold Band, U of L Chinook guitar ensemble and the Con Brio Trio  (Anna Jeong, Alayna McNeil and Brenna Le May), who represented Lethbridge and area at the provincial festival last year and won a gold medal  in the Classical Guitar Solo category at the Canada West Performing Arts Festival last year.

The Windy City Accordions will be performing in the opening concert as well as Monday, March 11 at St. Augustine’s Church Sanctuary.

“We haven’t had accordions in the festival for decades,” Jarvie enthused.

 The Festival returns to the Owl Acoustic Lounge for a contemporary  vocals session on March 12 From 4-8 p.m.

 Bailey Kate premiered several new songs at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Saturday, March 2.

 Unfortunately Samantha  Savage Smith cancelled because of inclement weather, but  guitarist/ vocalist/ percussionist Bailey Kate and her band lead guitarists Joel Gray  and Dylan Wagner, Richard Charlton playing bass, keyboardist Joel Stretch and drummer Mickey Hayward played a solid set of ambient pop and roots music.

  They were in the middle of entertaining a good sized crowd with a laid back and intimate set of original music including a new love song. They picked up the tempo  after that to end their show with “Forget About You.”

— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat Editor