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Rockers James, Bentall coming to P.G.

At the 1989 Juno Awards, two Vancouver-based rockers - Colin James and Barney Bentall - were both nominated for Canadian Entertainer of the Year.
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Colin James poses for photographs on the red carpet during the 2013 Juno Awards in Regina. James and Barney Bentall will play CN Centre on March 23.

At the 1989 Juno Awards, two Vancouver-based rockers - Colin James and Barney Bentall - were both nominated for Canadian Entertainer of the Year.

That trophy went to Glass Tiger, instead, but Bentall and his Legendary Hearts took home the award for Most Promising Group while James won the Most Promising Male Vocalist category.

It was their first two nominations and first trophies each for Canada's crowning music award.

Looking back, it was a spark of prophecy for both of them (the Most Promising Female Artist that year was Sass Jordan, so you could call it a hat-trick) since James earned his most recent Juno nomination in 2017 in the old-school Blues Album of the Year category while Bentall's most recent band The High Bar Gang was nominated in the old-school Traditional Roots Album of the Year category.

They are a pair of roof-raising, foundation-shaking rock 'n' rollers when they want to be, and they are also lauded for wiping off the modern bells and whistles and still standing head and shoulders above the rest when it's just them and their acoustic instrument.

Colin James and Barney Bentall are coming together to Prince George where they will bear-hug the spirit of 1989 and all the stage-power they've generated since then in Canada and around the world.

The Colin-Barney show will happen at CN Centre on March 23 for a Saturday night warmup event for Cariboo Rocks the North 2019. They are bringing along a third performer as well, to make it a mini-festival. James and Bentall will be joined by Americana blues-rocker Marty O'Reilly, who is on the latest vanguard of modernist musicians who know where their roots grow back in the bluesy dirt.

James is headlining the showcase on the strength of his latest album Miles To Go, his 19th disc since that 1988 self-titled debut.

He'll show it off on a 23-city tour of Canada that includes Prince George. It's a CD that shines a strong light on where modern rock comes from. According to concert organizers, Miles To Go is a "collection of carefully curated songs handpicked from some of the greatest blues artists" and lovingly redone by one of the world's great blues guitarists alive today.

All ticket buyers for this event will be entered in a draw to win a pair of weekend passes to Cariboo Rocks the North 2019 - scheduled for Aug. 9, 10, and 11, 2019, at Exhibition Park.

Tickets to see the Cariboo spring fling with James, Bentall and O'Reilly go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at the CN Centre box office or via the ticketsnorth.ca website.