Name: Blues at The Cove – Crystal Shawanda Band @ The Cove Inn - Mar 20, 2026
Start: 2026-03-20T19:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-03-20T23:00:00-04:00
Location: The Cove Inn

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Blues at The Cove – Crystal Shawanda Band

Bringing “fiery blues collection which showcases her full-throttle raspy voice.”

In-Person Event

Music Country / Roots / Bluegrass / Rockabilly Jazz / Blues

Fri. March 20th + Add to Calendar

The Cove Inn (All Ages)

7:00pm - 11:00pm Doors at: 6:00pm

$95 HST & Gratuity (Dinner, Show Charity)

Artists

Crystal Shawanda Band

Presented by:

Blues at The Cove

Annual live blues music festival at The Cove Inn, Westport

2 Bedford Street Westport Ontario

Open / Operational

Hard-copy tickets

Physical tickets at: The Cove Inn

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Event Description

It’s been a long time coming but this is the first show for Manitoulin Island’s pride, Crystal Shawanda at The Cove Inn. She brings with her a “fiery blues collection which showcases her full-throttle raspy voice”. Enjoy a Blues at The Cove Series show with delicious dinner, world class music and support for local charity from 7-11pm on Friday, March 20th, 2026!

Blues at The Cove Series 2025/26

For 17 incredible years of music, laughter, community and overall great times, Blues on the Rideau was one of the longest running Blues music series in Canada! Thanks to the team of James Doran and his wife Diane Leduc-Doran and their Choose the Blues Productions, thousands of ecstatic Blues and live music fans have flocked to The Cove Inn to enjoy evenings of all-out dancing to Canada’s greatest JUNO and Maple Blues Award winning Blues acts. We thank them for all of those years of partnership!

We continue to produce shows featuring greatest in Blues artists as we transition to Blues at The Cove, highlighting some of the best of the series of the years!

Imagine a warm, intimate venue setting in a historic waterside inn on the Rideau Canal featuring a tasty buffet dinner and a donation to a local charity and you have Blues at The Cove! Join us for the new season!

Call us 613.273.3636 or email [email protected] for reservations!

20th Season of Live Blues at The Cove Inn!

Dinner, Show Charity $95 HST

Includes delicious full course buffet style dinner with served dessert, amazing door prizes from sponsors, dancing and a donation to local charity.

Doors 6pm

Dinner 7pm

Show Sets 8:30-9:30pm 10-11pm

ADVANCE RESERVATIONS REQUIRED
Call 613-273-3636 or email [email protected]

BOOK EARLY! – ESPECIALLY IF YOU WANT TO STAY OVERNIGHT
(Well priced accommodation at The Cove, nearby B&B, AirBnb and Westport Station Motel)
MOST SHOWS SELL OUT WELL AHEAD OF SHOW DATES. The earlier you reserve the better the choice of seating location.

We look forward to seeing everyone again soon for another GREAT season Blues at The Cove

Co-Sponsored by:

Black Dog Inn, Westport www.whatsonwestport.ca/profile/the-black-dog-inn/

Gristmill Place, Westport www.thegristmillplace.com

Upper Rideau B&B, Westport www.urbb.ca

The Victorian Luxury Suites, Westport www.thevictoriansuites.com

Lake Main Skin Health, Westport www.lakeandmain.ca

Pinecone Westport, Westport www.instagram.com/pineconewestport

Burns Jewellers, Perth www.burnsjewellers.com

Amethyst Holistic Spa, Perth www.amethystholisticspa.com

Top Shelf Distillers, Perth www.topshelfdistillers.com

Perth Brewery, Perth www.perthbrewery.ca

Kingston Sound Works, Kingston www.kingstonsoundworks.com

To keep up to date on everything at the Cove, including Blues at The Cove, please join our Mailing List www.coveinn.com/mailinglist. Thanks and we look forward to seeing you again soon and keeping in touch!

Friday, March 20, 2026

Crystal Shawanda (Manitoulin Island)

Juno Award-winning powerhouse Crystal Shawanda is back with her latest studio album, Midnight Blues, on True North Records. Her latest fiery blues collection showcases her full-throttle raspy voice, unmatched in today’s musical landscape, and an authentic appreciation for the genre dating back to her youth.

“Growing up, all of my favorite music had these breadcrumbs that led me to the blues,” Crystal says. “I often quote Willie Dixon: ‘Blues is the roots and everything else is the fruits.’ Even in today’s pop music, there’s all this influence that derives from the blues. I was just always really attracted to the rawness and the realness of the blues.”

Produced and engineered in Nashville by her husband and long-time collaborator Dwayne Strobel, Midnight Blues — her eighth studio album, and fifth since switching from a chart-topping career as a country artist — is a collection of original songs, such as the seductive-sounding rocker “Midnight Blues,” swampy dancefloor groove “Rumpshaker,” and gentler “Take A Little Walk With The Moon,” as well as covers of the Howlin’ Wolf classic “Evil” and her take on Celine Dion’s hit “That’s Just The Woman In Me.”

The album also features Canadian multi-instrumentalist Steve Marriner, the late blues harp player Harpdog Brown, and in-demand bassist Dave Roe (Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Chrissie Hynde).

“This is absolutely my favorite album I’ve ever recorded because I feel like my husband put me in a picture frame,” says Crystal. “He really captured who I am as an artist. He let my vocal shine. He brought out the best in me and all the songs that we wrote really capture my live show and who I am.”

Born in Wiikwemkoong First Nation, on Manitoulin Island, in Northern Ontario, Crystal was introduced to the blues by her eldest brother and to old-time country by her parents. “I was also into other styles of music that led me to the blues,” she says, citing everything from Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog,” written by Big Mama Thornton, to R&B-pop star Monica’s “Misty Blue,” by Dorothy Moore.

“I was one of those kids who read the liner notes,” Crystal says. “I wanted to know everything, who are the songwriters, the musicians, the producers, the engineers. I’m always wanting to know who are the originators, who are the mothers of invention, who inspired all of us? I’m a purist at heart, so I was always diving back to learn from the masters, like Etta James, as far as vocalists; Muddy Waters, as far as feeling; and Buddy Guy, as far as stylists who have a lot of swagger.”

And yet Crystal’s first foray as a professional singer was in country music, not blues. She was in her early 20s and had immediate success after signing a U.S. record deal with RCA Nashville. 2008’s Dawn of a New Day, featuring the single “You Can Let Go,” reached No. 1 on the Canadian Country Album chart and No. 16 on the Billboard Top Country Albums, the highest charting album by a full-blooded Canadian Indigenous country artist (in the SoundScan-era).

The following year she left the label and created her own, New Sun Records. Her first release was the holiday album I’ll Be Home For Christmas. Her next country album was 2010’s Just Like You, which won a 2013 Juno Award for Best Aboriginal Album, before she made the change to the blues with 2014’s The Whole World’s Got The Blues. Two years later, in quick succession, came 2016’s Fish Out of Water and 2017’s Voodoo Woman, then recognition as a bonafide blues talent with 2020’s Church House Blues, which won the 2021 Juno Award for Best Blues album.

“I love all styles of music, but there was just always something drawing me to the blues,” she explains. “I had a country hit on the radio, and I would show up at country music festivals and I’d do a BB King cover or Buddy Guy or Etta James. Within country music, as much as I loved it, I had to restrain my voice a lot. It’s very hard to hold back, and sometimes it was exhausting, whereas with the blues, I could just let it fly.”

While other artists have been embraced when they’ve made the switch to a different genre — Taylor Swift from country to pop; Dallas Smith from hard rock to country; and Darius Rucker from pop/rock to country — Crystal doesn’t mind talking about the difficulties she’s encountered.

“Country music is so excited when anybody from any genre comes to their world, hoping it’ll make their world more popular. It’ll up the cool factor, but switching from country to blues is a lot more difficult. The blues scene is very protective because it’s such an original genre. They want it to be respected and preserved.”

She would’ve had an easier time if she had created a blues-influenced sound, like the Black Crowes, Sass Jordan or Alannah Myles, but Crystal can hold her own in any conversation about the blues pioneers. Still, she still likes to cover an iconic Canadian artist in her inimitable way. Last album, it was The Tragically Hip’s “New Orleans Is Sinking” and this time, Celine Dion.

“Because I had so much friction coming to the blues where people were like, ‘You don’t know nothing about the blues,’ I’m trying to show them not to be so close-minded because a lot of people are more inspired by the blues than they may realize. Again, I’m trying to reiterate that quote by Willie Dixon that the blues is roots and everything else is the fruit.”

www.crystalshawanda.co

Proceeds from the show go to support Better Together Circle Climate Social Change

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