authentic love of the area. The Cornfest regular will have a one-and- a-half hour set on Cornfest Saturday (Aug. 24) at the Cornfest Stage at Confederation Park,as Panczak features a seven-man ensemble band, including his sound man. Be it recording full-length albums, EPs, or singles, touring extensively across North America in the length of his career, holding down a 9-to-5 job, or lending a hand to a charitable event, the cowboy hats Panczak wears with his influence in country music are plentiful. “You just make things happen, I’ve got a lot of support with work and with play. I got a bunch of good guys around me in the band. It’s a juggling act,but we make things work,”said Panczak. With the joy you see Panczak display per-
Cornfest feels like home for Panczak I
By Greg Price Taber Times
f there is one artist who will be per- sonifying rural southern Alberta in his performance at Cornfest, it will be country crooner Trevor Panczak in his
forming on stage as a gentle giant with laid- back humour and memorable lyrics, it does- n’t seem like work even though he has been touring extensively this
summer.Check out his touring date schedule on his website in recent years and it’s like a road map of Western
Canada.By the time Panczak makes his Cornfest performance, he will have punctuated Summer 2019 with 40 different performances as he connects with fans. “Cornfest is one of the longest-running
festivals that we have done. It dates back to my dad, he grew up in Taber, and it was one of the first stages we played on in a summer-festival capacity.When he got ill, we took over his stag spot and we’ve been doing it ever since. I love coming back to my roots, and Taber is definitely a spot that is near and dear to my heart. ” Trevor’s dad Johnny was a big influence on his love of
music.Along with regular country staples like Merle Haggard, the Panczak household also had the farm radio going with your music legends Elvis,ABBA and The
Beatles.Trevor’s grandmother bought him a tape recorder, where he would plug in the microphone and sing the hit songs of the
day.Trevor was enamored with the old guitar that was laying around the house where Good Old Dad taught Trevor a few chords. Johnny Panczak would eventually lose his courageous battle with cancer in 2003, but not before he and Trevor’s grandmother Lola helped promote
PAGE 6 ❙ CORNFEST 2019
We will be playing the majority of the (new) album for the folks there at Cornfest along with throwing in some covers with current and classic country. That’s where my roots are with the traditional, classic country.
- Trevor Panczak
Trevor’s musical passion by creating shows and booking him at various fundraisers — and the rest they say, is history. “We will be playing the majority of the (new) album for the folks there at Cornfest along with throwing in some covers with current and classic
country.That’s where my roots are with the traditional, classic coun- try.We always like to touch on that and I’ll probably do a song or two by myself because that’s what my dad used to make me do as a kid starting out,”said Panczak. “It was sink or swim for me where I talked to them (the crowd) and try and make them laugh and entertain
them.That’s where I cut my teeth. I owe my showman- ship to my dad for sure.” Panczak will be playing many familiar
country tunes from various artists along with a bunch of his own offerings.With albums, EPs and singles like ‘Tan Line,’‘For a Girl,’‘I Can Be the Lover,’‘Blame it on the Whiskey,’‘Cheap Shades,’‘Riverbank’and ‘Where I Go to Come Back,’ if one listens close enough, they will find completely familiar themes in life in southern Alberta. “It all comes from life experiences and things like that”, said Panczak.“The name of the record is Where I Go to Come Back (released September 2017) and we knew
we would be going to a lot of towns in rural Alberta and it seemed like a great title for the album.We do get a lot of call backs from what we do and it’s a pretty big hon- our,”said Panczak.“It’s a sign we are doing the right thing. I dedicate the album to those towns that have us back. Most places we go to, it’s like a homecoming. Everyone’s hospitable and I think it’s because we show that we love what we do and we are easy going. Life on the road is energizing for me and I like to be behind the wheel for the most part and meeting new people and creating new relationships.We have lots of good stories and memories we’ve made along the way and we got lots more to come.” That easy going vibe of Panczak captured in the track Riverbank in pining for a sum- mer getaway in simple rural pursuits. “Riverbank is a good summer song and
it’s been doing pretty good for us. It’s about the things that you are going through the week that might get you down and you are thinking to yourself ‘man, I could use a riverbank right now.’ It’s a summer escape for three-and-a-half minutes,”said Panczak, adding his tongue-in-cheek humour and showmanship when asked if it will be played at Cornfest.“You can bank on it.”
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