Lasso festival proves Montreal is now a country town

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When Brittany Kennell moved to Nashville in 2011, country music wasn’t a big deal in Montreal. Let’s put it simply: no one would have even dreamed of starting a major national festival at that time.

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Eleven years later, the city will host its first major league country festival: Lasso Montreal, on August 12 and 13 at Parc Jean-Drapeau, on the same site that hosts the Osheaga and ÎleSoniq festivals. Kennell, now one of Quebec’s most popular country artists, will perform at the inaugural edition. Dierks Bentley and Luke Bryan will headline, and other big names include Old Dominion, Kelsea Ballerini, Ashley McBryde and Riley Green.

Kennell grew up in Beaconsfield and got into country by avidly listening to his parents’ record collection, which included albums by the likes of Shania Twain, Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Keith Urban. At 21, she decided to make the trip to Music City, the center of the country music business in the US, because she intended to break into that medium.

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In 2011, Montreal was a no-fly zone for the country. Unlike almost every other major city in North America, Montreal has never had a major full-time commercial country radio station, and with a few exceptions like Twain and Garth Brooks, virtually none of the top-tier country stars would come. to act here. .

But all that has changed in recent years, and acts like Urban, Bryan and Florida Georgia Line can now pack the Bell Center when they come here. That’s why it’s no longer a crazy idea to launch a country festival in Montreal.

“What I didn’t realize before is that country music outside of Montreal was always pretty big (in Quebec),” Kennell said. “There are country festivals, like St-Tite (Western Festival), that have been around for a long time. So it’s nice to see that he’s infiltrating the city of Montreal.

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“There are more people gravitating towards that, more people gravitating towards the live music element of country music. For me, I left because we didn’t have that and I needed a place to fulfill that. The fact that I’m back here (to live) and it’s brewing a little bit, it’s great to have my two loves (Montreal and the country) together. And I think it’s only going to grow. Lasso is bringing in some really big country names, and he’s just going to help us local artists looking for country music. It will help us build the scene even more.”

Part of the reason Montreal likes country more now is that mainstream country in 2022 is light years ahead of what the genre used to be. Listen to Urban, Bryan, Old Dominion, Chris Stapleton, Luke Combs, Morgan Wallen, or anyone else topping the charts, and it’s a far cry from the rural, vibrant fare Nashville used to churn out. Sure, the vocals have that unique country accent, the lyrics are often funny and obsessed with breakups and drinking, but there are also great rock guitar solos, ultra-sleek production, and a surprisingly small steel guitar. For those of us who grew up in the ’70s, today’s country doesn’t sound that far from much of what we heard on rock radio in the past.

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But the rise in interest in country in Montreal and other non-traditional markets is also partly the result of changes in the way music is broadcast.

“It’s really about how people listen to music now,” said Old Dominion lead singer Matthew Ramsey. “It’s not just the radio where you listen to music. They are all streaming platforms. Therefore, it gives much more exposure to a different and wider audience. It’s working in more populated areas, like Montreal. The areas in the United States where we do our best are not what you would necessarily think of as national markets. Our biggest shows so far this year have been Los Angeles, Seattle, places you wouldn’t think were country music venues.”

But that is also due to changes in the style of music.

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“We grew up listening to ’90s grunge,” Ramsey said. “Then we learned to write country music, with the narrative aspect. So there are a lot of different influences that drive our music.

“Country music has always been a melting pot of different styles of music, from blues to R&B. You know, even in the past there were people like Kenny Rogers doing duets with Lionel Richie. It’s always been there, that pop-country collaboration thing, but in the last decade it’s gotten more popular. And we’ve reaped the benefits of that.”

In a way, the new country is today’s rock, given that rock is now all but banished from mainstream hit radio. However, the country somehow remains a country.

“What makes the song really country is the content of the lyrics, how you tell a story,” Ramsey said. “Looking for a new way to say something that has been said before. We like to make sure we put a nod in there.”

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Nick Farkas, senior vice president of concerts, bookings and events for Evenko, which produces Lasso, agrees that the time is right for a country music festival in Montreal.

“Doing a country music festival (10 years ago) was not something we could even remotely conceive of,” Farkas said. “Then 10 years later, it’s a whole different world. Back then, we couldn’t get anyone to play in Montreal. There weren’t many country shows in Montreal. Just the mega-mega-megastars. It was really because there was no country music radio in Montreal. Nashville is hyper traditional in terms of how they see things. We’d say, ‘Give us a show. And they said, ‘No. There is no national radio. There is no one to support this.

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“Then streaming changed everything. Streaming and satellite radio have just completely opened up the market. Obviously the fans were always out there, but we just couldn’t have the shows. With broadcast and satellite radio, Montreal is now the second strongest market in Canada for the country’s consumption (behind Toronto). The catalyst for us was finally getting a Luke Bryan show (in 2016) and it sold out in minutes. Faster than a major pop act would sell out. So we realized that there is a huge fan base.”

In the past, many Montrealers scorned country, as if it were music that was only good enough for rural people in the rest of the province. But that is no longer the case.

“People are becoming more open to that sound,” Kennell said. “Maybe country music scared people a little bit. The country is kind of cool now. Maybe people are missing that authenticity as well, and I think country music really brings that. We have so many great genres. But when it comes to live music and people play their instruments live, and guitars and pedal steel and drums, that’s what country music is all about.”

TAKE A LOOK

montreal loop takes place on August 12 and 13 at Parc Jean-Drapeau. Tickets start at $130 per day or $220 for both days. For more details, visit lassomontreal.com.

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