No small music on big bluegrass ticket

While bluegrass music lovers will be travelling to see the headlining Special Consensus April 13 in Greenwich, they certainly aroun’t going to mind sitting through the opening act.

With the band Wildwood, co-starring her husband, Serge Bernard (banjo), and another married couple, Roxeen (bass) and Ryan Roberts (guitar), Janet McGarry appears at bluegrass festivals and events across Atlantic Canada, in Nashville and elsewhere.

She’s the Eastern Canada Bluegrass female vocalist of the year from 2003 through to 2007 and an East Coast Music Awards Bluegrass Artist of the Year nominee in six of the past seven years.

“Serge and I feel passionate about our music, and so do Roxeen and Ryan,” McGarry says. “With all of us channeling our energies in the same direction, it’s much easier.”

Wildwood made its on-stage debut in the Good Home Grown Music Suite at the IBMAs in Nashville, TN.

McGarry rolled into 2007 with her seventh recording, "Love & Learn,” which kicks off with an up-tempo Rolling Stones' "No Expectations,” a rare bluegrass endeavor. There’s a thread of "hurtin" kinda love-gone-bad songs to collections that tug at the heart strings, particularly a song penned by Ryan Roberts, "Nobody Home.” Both Roberts sing and write songs.

“Actually, Roxeen and I can play all the stringed instruments,” Ryan says. “We love performing with Janet and Serge. We practice a lot by email and phone. At gigs, we also practice together and make a weekend of it.”

Always eager, the Roberts sometimes perform minus their Wildwood partners, especially in Nova Scotia. Roxeen hails from the Annapolis Valley and Ryan from Glace Bay, Cape Breton. They live in Wolfville with their new son.

Special Consenus, Janet McGarry and Wildwood take the Horton High stage at 7 p.m. The show is a presentation of the Annapolis Valley Bluegrass and Oldtime Music Association, and tickets are available at Dempsey’s Custom Upholstery in Berwick or at the door, $30.