I had two goals this year, which in January, were pretty ambitious goals. The first was to play in all the western provinces and finish in Manitoba. And the second was to hit three locations; lake side, in front of mountains, and to play music in a garden. I can proudly say that both of those goals I accomplished this year. These are my July and August shows, minus the final little tour of MB/SK at the end of August.
~~~ July ~~~
Carlton Trail Golf Course – Langenberg, SK
Unfortunately, I didn’t get any pictures or videos of me preforming but this was a tiring day – I got off work and raced to the golf course to play for an hour. It was a good turnout.
Brandon, MB – Lady of the Lake
I have been excited to play at Lady of the Lake for about a year there’s been chitter chatter about it. The photo above is my favourite of me onstage. The staff here were amazing friendly; the atmosphere was so casual and welcoming. I was just coming off of a few weeks of heavy artistic burn out and this show swept my attention back to why I love doing this.
This was the first show I played with my Green Trunk, which holds everything I sell at shows (my music, merch and poems). It felt very fitting for this atmosphere too. Plus, this mosaic truck is the coolest thing.
Russell, MB – The Asessippi Inn
This show was so special because I was playing it with Sam Diores and Shae Rose. It was Shae’s first time performing in 8 years, which after a few weeks of not being on stage I can feel the nerves coming back, and she did wonderful. Sam was belting Adele songs beautifully, she’s always one of my favourite local artists that I look forward to seeing.
Winnipeg, MB
Before I headed to the bar to open for this little karaoke night for “Sip N Bitch” I had a few hours in Winnipeg to kill some time. I started with the Human Rights Muesum (the Cloud Cafe’s dirty chai was great). Once I got to the very top of the building, I noticed the yellow river boats making their way up the river.
I headed down to The Forks (with the intention of going on a boat tour), but I ended up strolling into an art gallery than into a psychic shop. I found a cigar shop, and I happily bought my first Cuban.
Lakeside Grill and Lounge – Round Lake, SK
Round Lake is lovely as always, last year I played at the end of the year summer bash in front of the little ice cream shop, and it was nice to come back. Chris Godwin played right after I did and seeing his stage skills with the audience was refreshing – that’s something I’m still working towards. It was a sweet night. I played the banjo here for the first time in a while.
Spear Lake Art Day – Russell, MB
Spear Lake Art Day was an intense day of running around for me – lots of chatting, lots of new folks, and lots of fun. My dear friend’s daughter, Raya, came up onstage and freestyled while I accompanied her. This chick was rhyming better than I can. I bought a painting by a local artist and had such a blast.
We raised about $150 but the great news is there will be a Spear Lake Art Day 2026. The woman who was one of the organizers for Regina Folk Festival attended and she pulled me aside and made it a point to tell me that when the folk festival started it was four people in the park – so having the smaller turnout we did for the first little art day at Spear Lake, it was successful.
~~~ August ~~~
Music in the Garden (Pollinators Paradise) – Saskatoon, SK
One my goals this year was to play music in a garden, which I thought would be an easier goal, but it proved not to be. Until I found Pollinators Paradise YXE. It’s an amazing non-profit group that encourages bringing back Sask’s native plants. Making the poster for this event (all the way back in March) I learnt so much, with the committee’s expertise, about native plants and I’m continuously learning more. I made sure to get my nails done with little lady bugs and bees for my two garden shows I have this year.
This was also my first sold out show I believe – which was amazing to hear that news. One thing I’ve learnt from last year is I love the smaller intimate venues and this fit right in. So, to celebrate my first sold out show I booked a tattoo.
We got to the city pretty late the day before but I had the opportunity to see some friends I haven’t seen in awhile (pictured is Kyla the dog, who you can see we missed each other a lot).
The day of the show, the location switched to another Pollinators Paradise members garden (incase it started to rain). Jay’s garden had a lovely deck in the backyard and a big fluffy dog, named Bear.
One of the members, brought some Black Eye’d Susans to give away. I found out afterwards she owns a native plant nursery, A Prairie Bouquet – Native Plant Nursery. Afterwards we headed over to another members garden to get a little tour of her garden.
After the garden tour, we started to hit the road home because later that night I was playing in Otthon, SK. It was about a four hour drive from Saskatoon to Otthon.
Otthon Hall Fundraiser – Otthon, SK
Dad and I love this little town, I played here last year, and it was so sweet to see the community come together, for a very small village there was an amazing turn out. Having two shows in one day with a five-hour drive in-between is exhausting but we made it a point to hit Otthon again if we could this year. The old vintage sign with a few overgrown tree’s advertising perogies really sets the tone for the environment you’re walking into – such friendly people.
White City Gardening Club – White City, SK
This day trip was packed with exciting stuff. We drove into the city early to do some video shoots for one of my songs (by the lovely Ashdynn Bradley). We stopped in Fort Qu’Appelle on the way to get a photo with the turtle.
Later in the evening we headed to Emerald Park for the show – it was a little private event hosted by the White City Gardening Club for volunteer appreciation. The host (Joy) was amazing kind. This is my first show that I snapped a guitar string when I was playing, which made me a little flustered but the show continued smoothly. I made sure Dad recorded one song to get a live version out on streaming services.
Next week I hit the road to a little Saskatchewan tour, 5 shows in 5 days!
Kolby Clunas 