Okotoks `Western Wheel`

/KOTOKS7ESTERN7HEELs8FEOFTEBZ+VMZt3%#4)/.))s 13
Wildflower blooms
Duo puts their own twist on country music
Bruce Campbell
Staff Reporter
What was supposed to
be nothing more than a
team building project
resulted in a Wildflower
taking strong root in the
foothills.
The indie-country duo
Wildflower, consisting of
Dean Selby of Okotoks and
Jennie Clarke of Calgary,
was one of the recipients
of the Best Local Band/
Musician in the Best of the
Foothills Reader’s Choice
Awards in June.
“We both work at WestJet
and met at a team-building
session in 2011,” Clarke
said. “Dean had some studio time and asked me if
I wanted to sing back-up
for a song he had won for
Nashville North Star.”
Selby won the Nashville
competition in 2010 and
Clarke was runner up in
2009.
Wildflower played its
first gig nearly two years
ago, when they played at
a Stampede breakfast at
another one of Foothills
readers’ favourites, Rylie’s
Cattle Barn.
It’s been a winning collaboration ever since.
“We have an ability to
understand where the
other person is going,”
Clarke said. “We tend
to hear the same thing
and write very similarly.
Sometimes before the
other person is even finished, we know where each
other is going.”
Clarke’s describes the
music as “indie-country”,
paying tribute to legends
like Johnny Cash and
Merle Haggard and the
bluesy-country sounds of
Zac Brown.
Wildflower has also put
pen to song sheets and
are planning to release its
first full-length CD this
year tentatively called, The
Long Road.
Clarke and Selby have
developed quickly en route
to The Long Road.
“We just started out having some fun and doing
covers since Stampede two
years ago,” Selby said. “We
went from there to writing
our own stuff and put out
an acoustic six-song (selftitled) EP.
“About a year ago we
started focusing more on
our own material.”
The Long Road will feature more musicians than
just Clarke and Selby.
“It has taken on a few
more musicians and the
songs have increased in
complexity,” Selby said. “It
is something we are really
proud of.”
Wildflower is a bit like
the wildrose — it is starting to spread all over the
province.
It will perform this
Friday at the Western
Days Fair and Expo in
Red Deer at 7 p.m. They
will also perform at the
Millarville Rodeo on Aug.
4. The headliner is Gord
Bamford.
The Millarville gig will
support the fight against
prostate cancer. The Man
Van will be there for men
over 40 to have blood
taken for a PSA test.
Helping out the community is nothing new to
Wildflower — its roots are
firmly planted in the foothills.
Wildflower performed at
the Millarville Canada Day
races with proceeds going
to help flood victims. The
duo recently played at the
Museum of the Highwood
in June in which a Man
Van for rural Alberta was
introduced.
It’s a win-win situation
for Wildflower. Not only is
it helping the community,
Clarke and Selby are doing
what they love.
To purchase tickets for
the Millarville concert go
to www.millarvilleracetrack.com/ and click on
events. For information
on Wildflower go to www.
wildflower-music.ca
GO L D
The management and staff of the
SIL
VE R
BR
ONZE
Okotoks Western Wheel
are excited to announce and congratulate
Michelle Coish of Okotoks.
Michelle receives
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ONZE
in Wheel Bucks to be spent locally...
Happy shopping, Michelle!!
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LD & enter - not only
time toGO
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online
but withinRthe
ONZpaper.
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ILVE
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We received an amazing number of votes & entries.
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ILVE R
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ONZE
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