The Village at Blue Mountain and Thornbury will be alive with music this weekend for the fourth annual Peak to Shore Music Festival.
Headlining the festival is Jim Cuddy – best known as singer-songwriter for Blue Rodeo – who is taking the summer to play at different events both solo and with Blue Rodeo.
“You're always going to some place beautiful, people have very high spirits, they're having their weekend off and I think it's a great celebration,” said Cuddy. “It's not like we don't take it seriously. We have to change the things we do to be part of the landscape.”
Cuddy released his third solo album, Skyscraper Souls last September.
“I toured all last year, I already did the whole country,” said Cuddy. “By the Fall I'll be back in Blue Rodeo mode.”
Since embarking on a solo career, Cuddy has been able to focus on it every three years.
“When I want to do a solo record I find a time when Blue Rodeo would like to take some time off,” said Cuddy.
Becoming a solo artist was not something Cuddy was looking to pursue.
“It was kind of survivor instinct,” said Cuddy. “There was a time when Greg (Keelor, his songwriting partner in Blue Rodeo) went out to do his solo album and he wasn't sure he would come back.”
Cuddy says despite this he found out he enjoyed working on his own music.
“It's very fulfilling to be the final word,” he said. “I also like the opportunity as a balance to work on my own. I work with whatever collaborators I want.”
The ability to work with different musicians changes the approach Cuddy takes when he writes.
“Right now I'm writing for Blue Rodeo. They are going a certain way because I know that band so well, I know what they can do,” said Cuddy. “When I'm writing for myself, it's a blank canvas. I can write with whatever I like. It's a different guide.”
Still, Cuddy has been working with the same band for his solo material throughout his three records.
“We all have our solo bit. It's kind of a collection of soloists,” he said. “Blue Rodeo is more of an entity.”
The Jim Cuddy Band will be performing Saturday night in the Village at 8 p.m.
“They're going to get a lot of stuff from my past three records,” said Cuddy. “They're going to get a little Blue Rodeo stuff but reworked for my band.”
The Peak to Shore festival will have 18 musical acts at 12 venues over the weekend.
“For someone who is really into up-and-coming, off the beat music, this is the thing for them,” said Kristin Ellis, marketing coordinator for The Blue Mountain Village.
The festival will feature a variety of music – jazz, pop, folk, and everything in between.
Peak to Shore is part of the Blue Mountain Village's schedule of free events that attract tourists to the area during the summer.
“It's a very family-oriented, casual event,” said Ellis. “It gets a little more heated up in the village at night.”
For more information on the Peak to Shore Music Fest visit www.peaktoshore.com.