Bird Dog Theatre and Studios

08/14/2025

Huge thanks to Erika Dart and CKUA Radio for calling to interview us while we are the road in northern Ontario, for their story on The Bird Dog!! https://ckua.com/read/the-bird-dog-theatre-is-open/ CKUA is such a huge supporter of the arts and artists and we are beyond thrilled for the kind shoutout!!! Thanks so much, folks!!!

Alberta roots duo Over The Moon took on a very ambitious project to bring an old theatre in Hardisty, Alberta back to life.

08/10/2025

07/28/2025

Hey there, folks... Well as you probably know, we have a bunch of great artists coming to perform for you (and us) at the Bird Dog Theatre, and we are beyond thrilled to have them.
We wanted to give you a glimpse of what they sound like by sharing some videos of each one before their shows happen. Our next show is with Dave McCann on September 20th, and it will also be a CD release party for Dave's "Soothsayer's Blues" album, which is just amazing.
Here's a song from about 5 years ago that we fell in love with and thought we'd share this one first!... One man, one guitar, one amazing voice, and a ton of beautiful lyrics.... AND...The best thing about Dave is... He's as nice as he is talented... Have a listen and get your tickets soon, because they are selling fast!!!

Dave McCann's "Swing Your Lantern" (Acoustic Version)"We hollered out into that cold, but we knew it was no use" - Dave McCannFind Dave McCann's music: http:...

07/20/2025

Well folks... We couldn't have had a better weekend in Hardisty! On Thursday our dear friends, the Blake Reid band came to perform at the theatre to a sold out crowd, and they never sounded better! The audience hung off of every word Blake sang or said, and clapped after every solo Aaron Young or Valleau played.. There was a huge standing ovation for them after!!! I think I'm going to have to get a video camera to ask people how they liked the shows on their way out! People were even coming up to me the next day saying :that was the best night I've had in such a long time!" That is so nice to hear!

Then we all went over to the Hardisty Inn Hotel (across the street) to play and sing a ton of songs with Blake and the boys, Eva and Cody, Suzanne and myself... In the morning, we all went for the free pancake Rodeo Breakfast (which was amazing!) ... It was sad for us to say goodbye and watch them all leave for home after!

The rodeo folks asked Suzanne to sing Oh Canada for the start of the rodeo, so we headed down there on Saturday afternoon. It was raining, but the rodeo went on anyway. Sue just walked up to the mic and sang her wee heart out. Haha, you can see she wasn't nervous at all! We stayed for a few events, but had to get packed up to go home.
We will come back next year and stay the whole weekend right on the rodeo grounds with our horse trailer. Haha, finally we'll blend in with it! It was too bad that we had to leave before seeing the Combine Crunch! It's like a demolition derby for old combines! They tune them up, paint them with war paint. and the clash begins!!! Last year, one even got flipped over! How crazy is that!

Huge thanks to everyone who came out to support the Bird Dog and to Blake and the boys for coming. Blake described the weekend as a big warm hug! Thanks also to Jan's BucketList Bob Preece and Terry for cooking up a great supper for of us on Thursday. The people of Hardisty and area are amazing and we love it here!!!
Alberta Music Blake Reid Band Town of Hardisty Hardisty Rodeo Association Sandhill Supply Ltd. Suzanne Levesque Jan Preece Rustic Stars

07/16/2025

Well, we are in the final days before the Hardisty Rodeo Association Rodeo weekend! We’re so excited to be kicking off the weekend with Blake Reid Band. The show is sold out and we want to thank everyone for their support! For those of you out and about tomorrow afternoon, we will be having a hot dog bbq from about 4:00 until 6:00. We’ll also have Hardisty Rodeo/Bird Dog Theatre merchandise for sale! Get the highly coveted Hardisty Rodeo shirts, hoodies and hats in time for the festivities on the weekend. Hope to see lots of folks out to get the celebration started!
🤠🌭🥤Yahoo!

06/20/2025

Hey folks... Just wanted to let you know that there are only 17 tickets left for our Blake Reid Band show at the Bird Dog on July 17th... I bet they'll be all gone by tomorrow, so if you're huntin' for great roots music, better grab them soon! Tickets are available on our website at www.birddogtheatre.com. Here's a wee video that Blake and the Boys did a few years ago. Suzanne and we're honoured to be a part of it too:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY1vQhxBsXM&list=RDTY1vQhxBsXM&start_radio=1&rv=mYM6wihEgNM. Hope to see ya's there!!! Alberta Music Travel Alberta Town of Hardisty Hat Doctor CKUA Radio

Listen to Penny at http://smarturl.it/pennysinglePenny Official Lyrics(Blake Reid/Harvest Music)Oh my oh my soul I got a pocket it got a holeOh my oh my soul...

06/14/2025

Well folks, we had such a blast last night at our fourth “sold out” show in a row at the Bird Dog! This time we had the amazing Jake Vaadeland & the Sturgeon River Boys come and play and sing their wee hearts out! All I can say is that we loved every second from the minute they pulled up, until they left.
Thanks to Jamie Lee for suppling the “STRIPES - Urban Assault Vehicle” (Green Room) that Jake instantly fell in love with. Jason Cabanaw mixed sound and made sure the cheering 150 people heard every sweet note that these boys played!
Thanks to everyone that came out and gave Jake and the boys such a warm Bird Dog welcome!
Our next show is on July 17th with Blake Reid Band and it’s nearing being sold out already!!
Wow, it’s really starting to look like working so hard to bring this theatre back to life for two years was such a good thing to do!!
Sandhill Supply Ltd.CKUA RadioHat DoctorTown of HardistyLowden GuitarsRickard BanjosAlberta MusicRoots Music Canada Folk Routes

06/13/2025

Hey there, folks... As promised, here the shows so far on our two, UK tours for next year! We will be posting details on these shows over the next few months. After the second UK tour, we'll be heading over to Ireland to record with some amazing friends, and play some shows there as well... The photo here is what I'll be seeing every morning over there as we head off to another show:) We'd love to come up with a cool name for these tours, so please leave your ideas below! Thanks so much to our agent Loudon for working so hard to make this an amazing couple of months, and to our Irish agent, Andy Peters for bringing us back there once again and setting up the sessions for us... Lowden Guitars Rickard Banjos CKUA Radio Tom Coxworth Folk Canada Alberta Music The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent On Recordings (FACTOR) Brookfield-Knights Hat Doctor Alberta Foundation for the Arts

January/February 2026
Over The Moon

Sat Jan 31: Glasgow (details tbc)
Sun Feb 1: Glasgow (details tbc)
Mon Feb 2: Kilbarchan Performing Arts Centre (double bill with Letitia VanSant & David McKindley-Ward)
Tues Feb 3: Rest Day
Wed Feb 4: Green Note, Camden
Thurs Feb 5: AVAILABLE
Fri Feb 6: AVAILABLE
Sat Feb 7: AVAILABLE
Sun Feb 8: King’s Somborne Village Hall, Hampshire
Link to: Tim Dalling

May/June 2026
Over The Moon

Thurs May 7: Edinvillie Village Hall, Speyside
Fri May 8: Tin Hut, Gartly by Huntly
Sat May 9: The Universal Hall, Findhorn
Sun May 10: The Mackenzie Concerts, Strathpeffer
Wed May 13: The Kitchen Sessions, Edinburgh
Thurs May 14: Eastgate Theatre, Peebles
Fri May 15: West Kilbride Village Hall
Sat May 16: Harbour Arts Centre, Irvine
Sun May 17: Fallen Angels Club, Glasgow (matinee)
Wed May 20: Kilbarchan Performing Arts Centre
Thurs May 21: Acoustic Music Club, Kirkcaldy
Fri May 22: Reeth Memorial Hall, North Yorkshire
Sat May 23: Café #9, Sheffield
Sun May 24: The Live Room, Saltaire
Tues May 26: Gunthorpe Village Hall
Wed May 27: Llatrisant Folk Club
Thurs May 28: Bromsgrove Folk Club
Fri May 29: Liphook, Hampshire (venue TBC)
Sat May 30: Square & Compass, Worth Matravers
Sun May 31: Edge of The Wedge, Portsmouth
Mon June 1: Bell Inn, Bath
Wed June 3: The Atkinson, Southport
Thurs June 4: St Mary’s Church, Barry
Fri June 5: AVAILABLE
Sat June 6: Country Cantina (Jumpin Hot Club event), Tyneside

June 10th Ireland

06/11/2025

SHOW ANNOUNCEMENT! Hey there, folks... Suzanne and I are so happy to announce that our dear friends and former band mates, the Blake Reid Band are coming to the Bird Dog!! The show will be on Thursday July 17th, which is the day before Town of Hardisty's Street Fair, and the Hardisty Rodeo!
So come on up, over, down, or out and see why were so excited to have Blake and the boys! While you're here, stay for the whole weekend and take in all that the rodeo has going on and the street fair! We're going to! Ticket are already selling like crazy and we haven't even posted it yet:) Alberta Music Over The Moon-Acoustic Roots Duo Hat Doctor Lowden Guitars Rickard Banjos CKUA Radio Folk Routes Sandhill Supply Ltd.

We are super excited to have our great friends and former band mates in the Blake Reid Band coming to perform at The Bird Dog. This is the Thursday night before the Hardisty Rodeo weekend, and we can't think of anyone more perfect than Blake! Blake's music and stories are deeply rooted in Alberta's....

05/27/2025

Well folks, Suzanne and I are finally able to relax a bit after the crazy few months leading up to, and including our grand opening weekend! We still can't believe we had three "Sold Out" shows, with folks coming from Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta,and BC!! We just can't begin to thank everyone enough for all their support to help this wee theatre get off the ground, and in such style! It was almost overwhelming to look out and see so many people out there, and to see so many good friends as well! Suzanne had tears in her eyes half the time...

We'd like to thank our amazing band, Cedric Blary, Aaron Young and Bruce Hoffman for always being there for us and making us sound way better than we do! Speaking of sounding better, we'd like to thank the tireless man with the huge talented ears, Jason Cabanaw for not only running sound, but installing it as well. Maz Entertainment for donating our cool speaker mounting system! Andrew Forrester for helping install our lighting system and for never giving up when things went wrong!
Thanks also to the Vic Juba Community Theatre for all their help too!
Huge thanks to Tom Coxworth aka Folk Routes from CKUA Radio for driving all the way from Calgary to emcee Friday and Saturday night, and for all he does for so, so many roots artists... We love you, Tom!
Big thanks to Rev. Jope Langejans blessing the theatre and it's future.

We had three very talented opening acts, and three guest musicians, all dear friends, amazingly talented, and we love each one of them.. Next time we'll get people that don't sound better than we do:) Kinjo & Young (Jory Kinjo and Aaron Young) The Travelling Mabels Mark Parsons Levesque Nicholas Bettcher Plus we'd like to thank Ocean Klassen for the piano music while folks came in!

Big thanks as well to the Town of Hardisty and all the local folks that welcomed us and were such a huge help in the last few weeks... Sandhill Supply Ltd. for donating, creating, and mounting our beautiful Bird Dog sign. Bob Preece for finding us a mobile green room from Carefree RV Edmonton James Lee for coming early and staying four days to help with last minute renovations and stuff. Local Rentals And Septic Service for donating some portable toilets to handle the possible overflow:)Rustic Stars for their cool "Bird Dog Theatre hats..Jamie Lee, for organizing a cleaning bee on the day before the opening!!!

Big shoutout to Piet Visser for all the cool drone shots here, and Cedric Blary for the shoot of Teak, wondering if Cedric should be tuning his clarinet a bit better:)

Lastly we'd love to thank all the friends, family, and fans that took time to come and help celebrate the grand opening... Some of you brought such beautiful gifts and we will treasure them forever!!! Wright Karen Davidson, Jolayne Davidson Gardiner, Vermilion Folk Club Rod McMillan Eric Holt, Close, Schlachter Ken Rice, Jan Preece, Bob Preece Pat Lothrop Gavey Guillas Faye Hoffman Irene Nutbrown, Steve Haughland

We are really looking forward to what the future holds for this wee space where real music get to be played and heard... Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!! Alberta Music Hat Doctor Lowden Guitars Rickard Banjos Hardisty and District Development Group Roots Music Canada Travel Alberta I Book Shows Brookfield-Knights Peters

05/27/2025

Hey there, folks... Just a quick note to say that Jake Vaadeland & the Sturgeon River Boys with us at the Bird Dog, is now "SOLD OUT" Thanks so much to all of you who are coming to see Jake, and to say hi to us!