New programme at Ropery Hall

Jake Vaadeland is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist and songwriter from Saskatchewan, Canada. His traditional sound and unique style could be defined as a blend of Bluegrass and 50’s Rockabilly, with Jake also specializing on guitar and banjo in addition to his impressive vocals. Jake strives to write and play with a focus on storytelling and messages that he hopes his audience can relate to, all packaged in foot stomping, high energy performances with The Sturgeon River Boys.

In 2023, he performed at JunoFest, CCMA Week, travelled to Nashville to showcase at AmericanaFest, and opened for artists like Dean Brody and Charley Crockett. He recently earned a Western Canadian Music Award nomination for ‘Roots Artist of the Year’ and won a Saskatchewan Country Music Award for ‘Alternative Country Album of the Year’.

2022 also proved to be a remarkable for Jake Vaadeland, as he received 2x Saskatchewan Music Awards including Album of the Year for ‘Everybody But Me’, along with the Folk/Roots Artist of the Year. In addition, he earned 4x Saskatchewan Country Music Awards, including Fans Choice Entertainer of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Alternative Country Album of the Year and Emerging Artist of the Year. His album, Retro Man also finished at #2 in fan voting for the Best Saskatchewan Albums of 2021.

Track Dogs are four international “madrileños” (Garrett Wall, Dave Mooney, Howard Brown & Robbie K. Jones) 2 Irishmen, an Englishman and an American. Based in Spain, the band name comes from the dark subterranean world of New York’s subway system.‍

However, there is nothing dark or subterranean about the sound of Track Dogs. Their style is a dynamic joyous fusion of Folk, Latino, Americana & Bluegrass played on multiple acoustic instruments – and a trumpet! … overlaid with delicious four part vocal harmonies.‍

Their new album, Blind Summits & Hidden Dips, entered the Official Folk Charts at number 22, and has managed to make Track Dogs pack even more punch. They have achieved grandeur in the sound that they’ve been cultivating over more than 100 songs in their recording career.‍

Well-established in Spain and increasingly popular in the UK, they are surprising music lovers everywhere with “Sun-shiny songs thriving on dark themes behind irresistible rhythms.” After a fortuitous invitation to the Costa del Folk Festival in Ibiza they teamed up with Firebrand Music in the UK who also represent folk legends Show of Hands with whom in 2022, they toured the UK and released a 23-track live album, “Dog Show Sessions”  culminating in a fabulous guest appearance at the Royal Albert Hall.  ‍

Track Dogs are finally getting the recognition they richly deserve.

Channelling the sounds of The Byrds, Big Star and The Flying Burrito Brothers, as well as hints of Mojave 3 and The Allah Las, The Hanging Stars mainline the dying embers of the early 70s psychedelic folk and cosmic country scenes. The band is comprised of songwriter, singer and guitarist Richard Olson, Paul Milne on bass, Paulie Cobra on drums, Patrick Ralla on banjo, guitar, keyboards and assorted instruments, with pedal steel courtesy of Joe Harvey-Whyte.

Touring with new album On A Golden Shore – their fifth album and their second for the pioneering Loose Music, following 2022’s Hollow Heart – finds them definitively themselves and presents a set of disparate songs whose fundamental linkage is the band that made them.

(12) 1h 45m (Subtitles)

Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his wife Hedwig strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden beside the camp.

(PG) 1h 56m

With dreams of opening a shop in a city renowned for its chocolate, a young and poor Willy Wonka discovers that the industry is run by a cartel of greedy chocolatiers. Stars Timothée Chalamet.

(12) 1h 49m

Sir Anthony Hopkins stars as Sir Nicholas ‘Nicky’ Winton, a young London broker who, in the months leading up to World War II, rescued over 600 children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.