Shaking the roof at the Astor

It was my first time seeing this Moncton band, who are described as an outlaw renegade country music group, but whose music comes pretty close to rock. It was loud and fun and the band members, who like to come across as hard cases (the lead singer, Jason Haywood, has a tattoo of what looked like a parrot on his arm, but which actually was the Virgin Mary), had a ball on stage.

So I hoped that the next act would not be a solo performance, but there he was, David Myles, who's been onstage in Liverpool before, stepping to the mike accompanied by Geoff Arsenault on drums and Tom Easley, from Hot Toddy, on stand-up bass. No need to worry about David, as it turned out. He won the crowd and ended with a great version of When it Comes My Turn, which earned him the 2006 International Songwriter's Competition first prize, out of 15,000 entries.

Jill Barber was up next. She came out on stage, shimmering in a little red dress. After a concert not long ago at the Pearl Theatre in Lunenburg, I overheard a man say he really liked Jill Barber. A woman nearby said, "All the men like Jill Barber." Small wonder. She has a lovely, throaty voice and even her fast songs are like Swiss chocolate. Lit up by fantastic colourful lighting on the Astor stage, she was clearly a star.

Jill will next be at the Astor this Friday, October 12, with Ron Sexsmith. David Myles will be at the Astor again on March 22.

Then came the Tom Fun Family Orchestra, from Cape Breton. I've also caught this group in Lunenburg and each time I am amazed that they are not (yet) international sensations. I forgot to count how many people were up on stage, but it was full of people playing drums, fiddles, double bass, electric guitars, banjos and trumpets.

I imagine that if you were standing by the waterfront at Lane's you could have heard them, but it was worth going deaf to be near the front while they played. It's a wonder that the Astor, a century old, wasn't reduced to rubble by the vibrations. When they finished people jumped to their feet to give them a standing ovation.

The show opened with a dance group called Motus O Dance, from Stouffville, Ontario, which did some great things with movement, colour and costumes, and was followed by Rose Cousins. Rose comes from Prince Edward Island and is one of the many talented musicians appearing on the South Shore in the past couple of years. She is an award-winning singer and songwriter who is up for four Nova Scotia Music awards this year.

She, David Myles, Jill Barber and Old Man Luedecke (from Chester) all performed at the Strawberry Music Festival in Yosemite, California, this past Labour Day weekend. We saw Old Man Luedecke last week at the Little River Folk Concert in Petite Riviere, a sold-out show that also featured Kejimkujik's Ashley Moffatt and Joel Plaskett, singing with his dad, Bill Plaskett.

On Saturday night, Garnet Rogers, brother of the legendary Stan Rogers, was onstage at the Pearl. It's amazing how much live music is available to people along the South Shore. Sometimes people complain they didn't know a particular concert was being held, but if you like music, you need to keep an eye on The Advance, The Bulletin and on the various websites and mailing lists.

The fairgrounds at Caledonia were packed with hundreds of people the Sunday before last, as the Region of Queens honoured the county's volunteers. Pat and Charlie Armstrong barbecued a couple of pigs and John Leefe, the mayor, welcomed everyone to the event. It was a warm, sunny afternoon and people enjoyed themselves.

Some 500 people signed up for the celebrations, and it looked as if most of them made it. The Region makes a point of celebrating volunteers, who get no pay but who keep our communities alive.

- Tom Sheppard can be reached at twsheppard@gmail.com