Live Music Nightly

Blues at The Cove Series 2023/24 (SEE FULL ROSTER AT BOTTOM!!!)

Did you say Blues at…The Cove? Yes! Well, you knew that! For 17 incredible years of music, laughter, community and overall great times, Blues on the Rideau has been one of the longest running Blues music series in Canada!

Thanks to the team of James Doran and his wife Diane Leduc-Doran and their Choose the Blues Productions, thousands of ecstatic Blues and live music fans have flocked to The Cove Inn to enjoy evenings of all-out dancing to Canada’s greatest JUNO and Maple Blues Award winning Blues acts. We thank them for all of those years of partnership and honour them by dedicating the 2023/24 Series to them as we transition to Blues at The Cove, highlighting some of the best of the series of the years!

Imagine a warm, intimate venue setting in a historic waterside inn on the Rideau Canal featuring a tasty buffet dinner and a donation to a local charity and you have Blues at The Cove! Join us for the new season!

Call us 613.273.3636 or email thecoveinnwestport@gmail.com for reservations!

18th Season of Live Blues at The Cove Inn!

Dinner, Show + Charity $100 +HST

Includes delicious full course buffet style dinner with served dessert, door prizes, dancing and donation to local charity.

Doors 6pm

Dinner 7pm

Show Sets 8:30-9:30pm + 10-11pm

ADVANCE RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
Call 613-273-3636 or email thecoveinnwestport@gmail.com 

BOOK EARLY! – ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO STAY OVERNIGHT
(Well priced accommodation at The Cove, nearby B&B, AirBnb and Westport Station Motel)
MOST SHOWS SELL OUT WELL AHEAD OF SHOW DATES. The earlier you reserve the better the choice of seating location.

We look forward to seeing everyone again soon for another GREAT season Blues at The Cove

Co-Sponsored by: 

Black Dog Inn, Westport www.whatsonwestport.ca/profile/the-black-dog-inn/

Gristmill Place, Westport www.thegristmillplace.com

Upper Rideau B&B, Westport www.urbb.ca

Lake 88.1, Perth www.lake88.ca

Perth Brewery, Perth www.perthbrewery.ca

Rosehall Run Vineyards, Wellington www.rosehallrun.com

Village Green, www.facebook.com/villagegreenltd/

Kingston Sound Works www.kingstonsoundworks.com

To keep up to date on everything at the Cove, including Blues at The Cove, please join our Mailing List www.coveinn.com/mailinglist. Thanks and we look forward to seeing you again soon and keeping in touch!

Friday, November 17

Rick Fines and Suzie Vinnick Band (Niagara/Peterborough)

Rick Fines and Suzie Vinnick Band at Blues on the Rideau 2019 (Video)

www.rickfines.ca

Rick Fines – Ridin’ the Rails (Video)

www.suzievinnick.com

Suzie Vinnick – Happy as Hell (Video)

Proceeds from this show go to support Dick Ready Memorial Christmas Tree at Spy Rock on Foley Mountain overlooking Westport.  

RICK FINES (From www.rickfines.ca)

Canadian roots music vet Rick Fines has had a long and storied career as one of the country’s hardest working musicians. He has toured across Canada countless times solo, as a duo or with a full band and has recorded over 14 albums and has been a guest on many others. Steeped in roots music, Rick Fines crafts a unique blend of warm-hearted blues, juke joint folk, and dockside soul that both embraces and defies the genres that influence him. As a veteran of the North American blues and folk circuits, he engages audiences with captivating songs, diverse guitar styling and his signature vocal growl. Rick’s career has seen him working in stellar collaboration and as a successful solo act. First gaining attention as part of the legendary Jackson Delta, he’s since released six solo albums, another with his own Rick Fines trio, and a critically acclaimed disc with fellow troubadour, Suzie Vinnick.

Fines’ newest release, Solar Powered Too, was released during a global pandemic, with the bulk of the songs recorded in a little gazebo in the North Kawartha woods, with solar power. You can hear the crickets and cicadas if you listen carefully.

“After spending a lot of my time playing on my National Steel, I knew I wanted to make another album for guitar and voice, only this time it would be mostly slide guitar on a steel bodied guitar”, says Fines. “I decided I wanted to return to my little cabin in the Kawartha Highlands and record again with the modest solar powered setup there – two panels and 4 golf cart batteries.”

The seclusion of the recording process has paid off immensely – bringing to life the honesty of his lyrics and accessibility of his music. With 11 originals and co-writes, and one cover of a Jesse Winchester song (That’s What Makes You Strong), Solar Powered Too is a powerful release, ripe with vivid images of sorrow, optimism, and the complexities of life. Featuring appearances from other respected Canadian artists such as Alec Fraser, Gary Craig, Roly Platt, Melissa Payne, Jimmy Bowskill, Rob Phillips, Suzie Vinnick, Stacie Tabb, Sherie Marshall and Samantha Martin, Solar Powered Too is Rick Fines’ most accomplished album to date. “Releasing an album during a pandemic, when all my gigs are cancelled is a little strange“, he says. “But this album was made with the help of my friends and it carries that strength on its journey.”

Rick believes in the transformative power of music.  When not performing, he can be found teaching and sharing with students across Canada – including work with the Blues In The Schools programs in Ottawa, Saskatoon, Toronto, and Yellowknife.  He’s also participated in the Ontario Arts Council’s Artists in Education program.

SUZIE VINNICK

A Saskatoon native transplanted to the Niagara Region of Ontario, Suzie Vinnick is the proud owner of a gorgeous voice, impressive guitar and bass chops, and an engagingly candid performance style.

Her career has seen triumph after triumph. Among her most recent successes: being awarded the 2022 Maple Blues Female Vocalist of the Year, the 2019 Saskatchewan Jazz Festival Special Recognition Award and being nominated for a 2018 Canadian Folk Music Award for Producer of the Year with her co-producer, Mark Lalama. Suzie achieved finalist status in the Solo/Duo Category at the 2013 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, TN; received the 2012 CBC Saturday Night Blues Great Canadian Blues Award and the 2012 Sirius XM Canada Blues Artist of the Year. Suzie has won 11 Maple Blues Awards, 1 Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Vocalist of the Year and is a 3X Juno Nominee.

In July 2023 Suzie was a special guest of Blackie & the Rodeo Kings at Ottawa Bluesfest along with Daniel Lanois. She has also toured nationally with Downchild, Stuart McLean’s The Vinyl Café, with ASV (Charlie A’Court, Lloyd Spiegel and Vinnick), the John McDermott Band and she has performed for Canadian Peacekeepers in Bosnia and the Persian Gulf. She was also the voice of Tim Horton’s for 5 years.

Her latest album is entitled “Fall Back Home”.

Tune your ears to one of Canada’s music greats, with “…a voice of spun gold and honey” Access Magazine

Blues at The Cove Series 2023/24

FULL ROSTER