Blues artist Vanessa Collier to play at the Bow

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Ryan Dahlman

By Anna Smith
Commentator/Courier

The fourth show in their stunning anniversary lineup, Blues at the Bow is thrilled to welcome blues artist Vanessa Collier to their historic stage on December 4.

“Vanessa is a young up and coming American blues saxophonist based out of South

Carolina. She holds dual degrees in Performance and Music Production & Engineering

from the prestigious Berklee college of music in Boston, Massachusetts,” said Jason Riddell, BATBOW President. “It’s not very often we get a band leader that plays the blues saxophone!”

“As a master musician and multi-instrumentalist, Vanessa Collier weaves funk, soul, rock, and blues into every powerful performance and she is downright impressive with soulful vocals, searing saxophone, and witty songwriting,” it was stated on the artist’s own website.

Riddell adds that they make an effort to ensure that every artist who comes to the old theatre in Bow Island is a delight for anyone who attends, whether they be a seasoned blues fan or dipping their toe in the genre for the first time.

This is the first time that Collier will play BATBOW; this has been a long-standing wish for the organization, said Riddell.

“Vanessa has been on our wish list for about five years now. We have been wanting to book her while she was in the country for festival season but it just never worked out,” said Riddell. “The board made the decision for our 30th Anniversary to just bite the bullet and fly her in for a one off show.”

The special season has been going wonderfully, said Riddell, and they’re pleased to say that two of the three shows they have already performed for the season have been completely sold out, and all three have been large successes in terms of music and energy.

“The bands have been excited to help us celebrate our 30th Anniversary season and it shows in their performances. The audiences have been feeding off the bands’ energy and dancing the night away,” said Riddell. “Our booking committee has been working closely with our talent buyer Cam Hayden, the director of the Edmonton International Blues Festival and host of Friday Night Blues Party on CKUA to book this season. We created a 30th Anniversary wishlist of crowd favourites and a board bucket list of artists, and Cam got to work.”

Collier will be the fourth show of the season, with the team being hard at work to select the final two artists to close out the season with a musical bang.

“We don’t have a contract yet so I can’t make any announcements,” said Riddell. “Let’s just say there will be two exciting shows in the first quarter of the new year.”