Salmon Arm’s Acoustic Avenue welcomes return of live music with Scott Cook, Chicken-like Birds

Shuswap residents longing to once again enjoy live music in person could soon have their wish.

Salmon Arm’s Acoustic Avenue is hosting its first concert in more than a year on Thursday, July 15, when Scott Cook and the Second Chances take the stage at Song Sparrow Hall. Opening for Cook and company are special guests, the Shuswap’s own Chicken-Like Birds.

Acoustic Avenue’s Ted Crouch says Alberta troubadour Scott Cook toured almost incessantly across Canada (including a stop at Salmon Arm’s ROOTSandBLUES) and the world from 2007 until 2020, when the pandemic made living in a van less appealing. In the process he also released seven albums of straight-talking, keenly observant verse.

His latest collection, Tangle of Souls, comes packaged in a cloth-bound, 240-page hardcover book of road stories and ruminations, equal parts introspection and insurrection, said Crouch. The album spent two weeks at number one on Alberta’s province-wide community radio network CKUA. Its second single, Say Can You See, was the second most-played song of 2020 on Folk Alliance International’s folk radio charts, and won top honours for the folk category in 2020’s UK Songwriting Competition and Great American Song Contest.

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This summer he’s back on the road with his trusty shipmates The Second Chances, with Bramwell Park on banjo, mandolin and harmony vocals, and Melissa Walker on upright bass and harmonies. Cook still believes, more than ever, that songs can change your life, and your life can change the world.

One of the local bands featured in the recently released documentary, Celebrate Shuswap, Chicken-Like Birds’ Ari Lantela and Jasmin Frederickson are excited to be returning to the Song Sparrow stage for the hall’s first concert with an audience present.

There is, however, limited seating of 50 due to current COVID-19 regulations for indoor events. A COVID-19 safety plan will be in effect and concertgoers will be required to wear a mask until seated by their host. Come early July, Crouch said if B.C.’s Restart plan moves into Step 3, additional tickets for this show may become available.

For tickets and more information, visit acousticavenue.tickit.ca.