The West End Blues Band came together for a simple reason. A bunch of working musicians in Summerside wanted a regular blues night in their own town. So they started one. By the time the 2011 festival rolled around, "Blues Night at The Wing" was in its second season and the band had built a loyal following on the western end of the Island.
They played the Vector Blues Bash at The Shipyard in Summerside on Wednesday, August 17, at 8pm. The show was presented by Vector Aerospace. They shared the bill with the Hupman Brothers, who were on a run of their own that year after winning an ECMA.
The band
Troy MacArthur led the group. He played guitar, harmonica, and sang, and he had been a fixture on the Island scene for years. Before the West End Blues Band he was half of the ECMA-nominated duo Rattlesnakin' Daddies, and he went on to play with Saddle River Stringband . James Phillips played guitar and sang, and he and MacArthur had played together in Saddle River too . Owen Hann was on bass and vocals. Reg Ballagh was on drums.
Ballagh is worth a mention on his own. He was one of the Island's most in-demand drummers, and he also ran a studio in Crapaud where a lot of local records got made. Catherine MacLellan recorded parts of Silhouette there, with Ballagh on drums . He was part of the glue that held the PEI music community together.
The sound
MacArthur described the band as a mix of all blues styles, from country to Texas to Chicago. That range made sense given who was in the room. These were players who had been around, who had day jobs and families and still made time for a weekly gig because they loved it. The festival bio called them "a hard driving band made up of some of the best musicians on the Island." That is not hype. It is just an accurate description of a group of people who know what they are doing.
That night
The Shipyard is on the Summerside waterfront. A Wednesday night, the middle of the festival week, a crowd that had come out specifically for the blues. The West End band opened, the Hupmans followed. Two Island-connected acts, one from Summerside and one from the Annapolis Valley, sharing a stage in a room that was probably full.
It was the kind of show the festival did well. Not the main stage, not the big names from away. Just the local players who keep the scene alive the other fifty weeks of the year, getting a night to show what they can do.
After
MacArthur stayed with the West End Blues Band for ten years, playing guitar and singing . Ballagh kept drumming and recording. Phillips kept playing. The band may not have toured or released albums, but they were a part of the Island's music ecosystem for a long time. The 2011 festival was one night in that long run, and it was a good one.
For the current festival, head to the schedule page or the main lineup page. This archive is kept for looking back.