Two old favourite performers, one from here and one from away, are set for a rare musical appearance in Prince George, and together they are introducing a brand new talent to the city.
The all local component is Mike Gouchie, one of the city's most noted country artists but essentially retired from the stage.
Coming along as master of these ceremonies is veteran country musician Ken McCoy who has made this city a frequent stop on any touring calendar he's constructed over the years.
The Mission-based singer-songwriter has charted more than 20 songs and gotten video airplay on CMT as well. Whether he's off songwriting with Steve Earle or whipping up fans at festivals and rodeos, he is one of the staples of the B.C. music industry. The irrefutable evidence of this was in 2014 when McCoy was bestowed with the B.C. Country Music Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Local audiences have seen him at major events like BC Rivers Day, Relay For Life and most recently at the Treasure Cove showroom this past February.
On Sept. 1 he will be in Prince George again, this time at Artspace above Books & Company, with Gouchie at his side as they acoustically demonstrate the age-old art of writing songs. Sitting in between them, showing the audience what she can do with lyrics and melodies - but also acting as the reason for the veterans McCoy and Gouchie to be passing on their knowledge - is Surrey's rising star Ashley Pater. She's all of 14 years old.
"The kid is amazing," said McCoy. "She has written over 80 songs and a great voice."
The two crossed paths at public performances in the Lower Mainland and McCoy spotted a fledgling superstar. They have now performed live a number of times together, composed some music together, and shared the microphone at the 107.1-FM studios for a feature interview with former Prince George radio host Curtis Pope.
McCoy and Pater are now on the interior leg of their Getting Back To The Song concert series, with Gouchie as their special guest in Prince George.
McCoy won the SOCAN Songwriter of the Year Award in 2003 for his single Prayin' For Rain. It also got him the BCCMA Humanitarian of the Year Award because all the money from that song was directed to the victims of the Kelowna forestfires. He re-released it when Fort McMurray was devastated by wildfire.
"Being in the entertainment industry I think, like anything else, you have to give back and to me it was just the right thing to do," McCoy told The Citizen when the song was first released. "The fires were still burning at the time I wrote this song and it had just started to sprinkle. I had just finished playing at a club one night and I was driving home and all of a sudden this idea came into my head and I was writing the song in my head as I drove home. I tried to remember it all and had the melody stuck in my head so when I got home I wrote it all down and thought this was a song that could probably do some good."
The song once again forms the centrepiece of this Prince George concert, with a segment of the proceeds going to the Red Cross's local wildfire relief efforts.
McCoy, Gouchie and Pater will be performing with light instruments and in-the-round at Artspace on Sept. 1.
Tickets are on sale now at Spruce Capitol Feeds and online from the brownpapertickets.com website.
