Cities/YYC

Homegrown Country Talent Gets Festive

Four must-see acts at the Blue Jay Sessions.

By: NEXT Magazine

D'Orjay the Singing Shaman

A self-proclaimed “new kind of outlaw,” the Edmonton-based dynamo is one-part soulful country singer and one-part shaman. As a Black queer woman, she challenges traditional ideas of the country genre to a good old-fashioned showdown.

7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 18.

Katie Rox

As if playing banjo and singing in the chart-topping, all-female country band Nice Horse wasn’t enough, Alberta girl Rox has also seen success as frontwoman of the Canadian indie-pop group Jakalope.

7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 11.

Cory Marks

If Ozzy Osbourne went honky tonk, you’d get Cory Marks. Racing down the highway that runs between country music and hard rock, he’s whipped up an extra-special treat with his new carol Jingle My Bells.

7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 18.

Amy Hef

As a pop-rocking performer, Hef wrote energizing tracks that ended up in TV shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Vanderpump Rules. Now she’s tapping into her western roots to deliver a country-tinged singer-songwriter set.

7 p.m., Friday, Dec. 18.