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Wester Wheel BY TAMMY ROLLIE
A big name in country music that once graced Foothills stages is returning after spending most of his days living it up in Mexico.
Award-winning singer/songwriter Brent McAthey is making a brief stop at his former home of Turner Valley to share some old favourites, new Mexican-flavoured songs and top 40 covers at the Woodstock Hotel Sept. 7 at 8 p.m. before heading back to Mazatlán, Mexico for 10 months of sunshine.
“I’ve played in the Foothills for years so I’m excited to get back and play for some of the people who supported me early on in my career,” he said.
McAthey has lived in Mazatlán the past 12 years, returning to Canada each summer to visit old friends and perform.
McAthey is better known south of the border as Brenster as the main feature in Brenster’s Beach Bash at Diego’s Beach House on Tuesdays from mid-October to May.
“I traveled all over the world in Europe and back and forth across Canada but it was just time to do something different,” he said. “In Mazatlán they don’t know who Brent McAthey is they just know who Brenster is. I reinvented myself. I always say it’s better to be a big fish in a little pond than a little fish in a big pond.”
Keeping true to his roots, McAthey returns to Canada annually to reconnect with friends and promote his favourite Mexican city.
In 2013, Mazatlán’s Tourism Board appointed McAthey the State of Sinoloa’s official tourism ambassador. He works with the tourism board and Mazatlán Hotel Association to get North Americans to vacation in Mazatlán.
Despite his love of the sun, sand and sea, McAthey said it’s always great to be back in Alberta.
“I’m really happy to be playing again for people who haven’t seen me play in a while,” he said of his upcoming Turner Valley performance.
Listeners can expect to hear some of McAthey’s music from his more recent Mexican-flavoured albums. He will also introduce a song he recorded this summer called Excuses that touches on how people talk their way out of kicking bad habits and getting things done. The song will be available on iTunes this fall.
“I think it’s going to resonate and people are going to relate to it maybe more so than any other song I’ve written,” he said. “People make excuses for things like quitting smoking, gambling or drinking.”
Foothills country music fans might remember McAthey from his performances at the Black Diamond Hotel, The River Roadhouse Bar & Grill in High River, the Longview Hotel and various other venues across the Foothills.
McAthey is a two-time recipient of the Alberta Recording Industry Association’s Alberta’s Male Recording Artist of the Year in the 1990s and has sung professionally his entire adult life.
He released seven albums with four Top 20 Canadian chart hits including Wait for the Sun and Chevy Blue Eyes.
McAthey was awarded the Mazzie Award for Best Musician of the Year in Mazatlán in 2010, 2012 and 2013 after spending more time on stage under the sunny skies of Mazatlán, a city he fell in love with 30 years ago.
Tickets to see Brent McAthey perform cost $10 at the bar in advance or at the door.
To learn more go to www.thebrenster.ca
