Paradise Hill, a small village in western Saskatchewan, is about 2,400 kilometres from Burl’s Creek Event Grounds and on Saturday night, it’s where Nice Horse headlined a show that went until 1 a.m.
About 500 people live in the community 40 minutes north of Lloydminster, Sask. About triple that number were at the Front Porch Stage to see the Albertan four-piece play their 3 p.m. set on Sunday at the Oro-Medonte venue.
The band empathized with the hungover masses still trying to pull their lives together in the campgrounds, but if they could rally, the concert-goers could have as well. It’s a shame more of them didn’t.
Sunday was Nice Horse’s second trip to Boots and Hearts, their first since 2017. Since then, founding members Katie Rox, Brandi Sidoryk and Krista Wodelet have added Tara McLeod to the fold to round out the quartet. Prior to coming together, all four women were veterans of the music industry, with decades of experience between them.
“Katie and Brandi have known each other for a long time and were like ‘Wouldn’t this be fun to make a band,’ and then I joined,” Wodelet recalled. “And then we were like, ‘We need a really ripping guitar player,’ and then we found Tara.”
Country music was what Rox and Sidoryk grew up on. Being the loud ones, Rox joked, they were able to drown out the others in pushing to come together as a country band.
At Boots and Hearts, they’re a country band like no other. While more women are found on the bill of the festival than in earlier years, Nice Horse is an anomaly as the only woman-only band on the bill, writing their own songs and performing that material on stage. Their set this year — just as it was in 2017 — was noticeably free of the testosterone that permeated throughout the rest of the weekend.
They’re also keenly aware their uniqueness is problematic but are set about to make the absolute most of it.
“There is extra pressure,” Wodelet said. “It shouldn’t be that way, but I think as women we sort of get forced into that corner of every time we do something, we’re representing all of womankind. Which is not a burden that most men have to bear. We do try to work twice as hard and show up eight times as good and I think that’s on us to do.”
“We want to kick down doors for the women coming after us,” Sidoryk added. “If that’s what we can do by being authentically us and being loud and proud about it, I think that’s what we’re going to do.”
Authenticity is key for Nice Horse. For example, their set Sunday was one of the few over the weekend without a song about a truck, which is fitting, Wodelet said, because no one in the band is known to regularly drive a truck.
Rather, their songs were about real problems in their lives, such as backsliding with an ex, or declarations of independence to indicate they didn’t need to be with that person in the first place.
They had 25 minutes to turn the crowd onto their music, most of which were new songs the band had been working on, including their latest single Somethin’ Bout You. Narrowing down what to play is the hardest part, the band agreed, given how prolific they are as songwriters.
“There just tends to be songs that for some reason we all sort of gravitate toward,” Rox said. “But it’s a hard process. If we could have played for three hours and played you all the new songs that we love, that’s probably what we would have done. “
“I think whatever we sing about it has to be authentically us,” Sidoryk said. “I think that’s why things resonate. I think that’s why our live show is so dynamic and energetic and that’s why we have so much fun together on stage because we’re doing something we believe in and that means something to us.”
Nice Horse is winning over fans one at a time as they cross the country, but festivals such as Boots and Heart can play an invaluable role, particularly so far away from their home province. Following their set Sunday, they were stopped by some fans who were also there in 2017.
“They’ve seen us six times since,” Rox said. “They were like, ‘We were there, we were front row and we haven’t missed a front row show since.’ And it was just because they saw us there. I think that we especially seem to get a lot of people who come back because of seeing us play live.”
Somethin’ Bout You can be streamed on your service of choice. No date is confirmed for a new album, but more new music from Nice Horse is in the works.
