Trails West!^®

^{A Celebration of the Arts}

^{August 15-17, 2008}

Northwest Missouri's Largest Arts Festival
  

Performance Arts

Main Stage:  The Main Stage features national recording artists in pop, country, jazz and blues.

Family Stage:  The Family Stage showcases the best in national and regional entertainment for the entire family.

City Stage:  The City Stage offers an eclectic mix of music from Jazz to Rock and Bluegrass to Indie featuring local and regional artists.

Blues, Country, Rock, featured on Main Stage
  

      Blues guitarist Robben Ford, rising country stars Kellie Pickler and Ashton Shepherd, and 80’s rock band Night Ranger will be the main stage headline acts for the Trails West!^® arts festival, Aug. 15-17, at Civic Center Park.

            Robben Ford, a four-time Grammy nominee, will make a return to the Trails West!^® stage on Friday evening, Aug. 15. Ford previously appeared at the festival in 1996 with his Blue Line band. His most recent album, “Truth,” was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album in the 2008 Grammies. He has been dubbed one of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of the 20^th Century,” by Musician magazine and has played with George Harrison, Joni Mitchell, Greg Allman and Miles Davis.

            Kellie Pickler and Ashton Shepherd will perform Saturday evening, Aug. 16, which coincidentally is Ashton’s 22^nd birthday. Pickler, who reached the final six contestants of the fifth season of American Idol, has a current top 20 hit in “Things That Never Cross a Man’s Mind,” from her debut album “Small Town Girl.” She wrote five of the songs on the album and is an Academy of Country Music nominee for Top New Female Vocalist, along with 2007 Trails West!^® headliner Taylor Swift.

            Ashton Shepherd’s debut album, “Sounds So Good,” was released just last week (March 8). She wrote seven of the 11 tunes and co-wrote three others before turning 21. Her first hit single, “Takin’ Off This Pain,” was released in September. Ashton won a talent show in Alabama in June 2006 and the prize was being the opening act for Lorrie Morgan. A record producer discovered Ashton at that concert, invited her to Nashville to record, and one year later, her first album was complete.

            Night Ranger will perform on Sunday, Aug. 17, featuring three of their original members: bass player Jack Blades, drummer Kelly Keagy and guitar player Brad Gillis. The group’s five albums sold 10 million copies in the early 1980s. Their signature hit “Sister Christian” (sometimes known as “Motorin’’), later found new life in the movie “Boogie Nights” and the video game, “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.” Night Ranger inspired a new “melodic metal” sound with their singles, “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me,” “(You Can Still) Rock in America,” and “When You Close Your Eyes.”

            Admission to the festival will be by souvenir button only. The buttons, good for admission to all three days of the festival, will be $5 in advance and $7 at the festival gates, and will go on sale in July. All festival guests over the age of 12 will need a button for admission.

            Trails West!^® is an arts festival, celebrating the unique cultural heritage of St. Joseph. A program of the Allied Arts Council, the festival is coordinated by a volunteer steering committee, and receives financial assistance from the St. Joseph Convention and Visitors Bureau, the City of St. Joseph, Buchanan County Commission, and the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency.

Headliner websites:

www.robbenford.com

www.kelliepickler.com

www.umgnashville.com/ashtonshepherd

www.nightranger.com

Family Stage

 
The performance arts committee is working hard to find family entertainment check back often for details.

City Stage
  

City Stage Performers from 2007