Following their successful debut at last year’s Calgary Folk Music Fest, New Country Rehab returns to Alberta to play the Canmore and Edmonton Folk Festivals along with some points in between, including The Hideout in Red Deer.

They play the venue Aug. 9th. Showtime is 10 p.m.

With plans to record a new album in the fall, New Country Rehab will be performing their new songs as well as the tracks from their debut album that won them accolades from fans and critics alike across the country.

New Country Rehab has a unique, modern, high-voltage, altered-country sound. What sets them apart is their knockout combination of a deep knowledge of timeless musical themes and motifs and the ability to innovate. New Country Rehab hits home with powerful music filled with love, longing, loss and joy.

Spearheaded by lead singer and fiddle player John Showman, who is joined by James Robertson on guitar, Ben Whiteley on double bass and Roman Tomé on drums and backing vocals, the Toronto-based collective is winning fans across North America and Europe. New Country Rehab has a strong musical vision that is as exciting to the four members as it is to their audiences.

Their 2011 debut, self-titled album was received with glowing and international praise by reviewers. The group blends lyrical sensibility and musical focus to produce exceptional original songs.

The haunting mood of Cameo, a contemplative tale of escape and redemption, provides a beautiful contrast to the gritty tale of a gambler’s endgame, The Last Hand, a rollicking interplay of fiddle and guitar riffs underpinned by driving bass and percussion that builds relentlessly to the violent climax and denouement of the story. Not afraid to show it’s influences, New Country Rehab takes the Hank Williams, Sr. classic Ramblin’ Man, chews it up and spits it out as an eerie, dub-drenched trip through a mournful Latin groove.

– Fawcett