Two family bands are coming together to hold one great show at the Souris Valley Theatre’s Frehlick Hall on July 26.
The Daae Family, born and raised in southeast Saskatchewan, played their first live performance at the Estevan Fair in 1990, and are a fourth generation family band with musical roots going back to the 1900s.
The Petersens are from Branson, Mo., and started playing music together after stumbling in on a music festival on a family vacation, with lead singer and banjo player Ellen having appeared on American Idol.
The two families have never played together before but Daniel Daae says the entire Daae family is excited for the opportunity.
“We’re looking forward to do something together with the Petersens, they’re a really nice family and really great musicians. We’re actually doing a music festival with them this weekend at Sandy Creek so we will get to play with them before the show in Estevan.
“We’re pretty excited, we haven’t been to Souris Valley Theatre to play before so it will be a first for us,” said Daae.
Both families play country gospel music, with the Daae family having heavy influence from country and bluegrass with a constant message of gospel.
As well as being a very musically oriented family, the Daae family also spends a large portion of their time working on their family grain farm.
“They kind of go hand in hand (farming and music). You go hard on the farm when you can, but because of the seasonal type of life it is, you get to play music as well, if you told me tomorrow that I could spend every day playing music well that would be cool, but farming is kind of who I am,” said Daae.
Music and farming have gone hand in hand for the Daae family for generations, with both being key factors in who the family is and what they strive for their children to be.
“My mom grew up in a family band that played music and her dad did too. There are musicians on her side of the family going back to the early 1900s. It’s in our blood.
“The farming definitely comes from my dad’s side of the family, and the music from my mom’s,” said Daae.
With such a musical influence in their family the Daae Family hopes to see their kids carry on the tradition but say they would never force the life upon them.
“I don’t want to force my kids to love music, the same way a parent shouldn’t force their kid to love hockey. I want them to want to do it, so as long as we make it fun.
“My son is four years old and actually wrote a song the other day to try and help his sister fall asleep. When you’re around music it becomes a part of you, I didn’t have to sit him down and tell him to write a song,” said Daae.
Summer is definitely the busiest season for the Daae Family, as they have both touring dates across Canada but into the United States as well. Along with their responsibilities on the farm it can mean months of constant travel for the family.
“We’ve been gone pretty much every weekend, every summer is busy for us. We maybe come home for three or four days a week before we take off to go play another music festival, the last one we play this year is in Grand Prairie.
“We really enjoy doing it (travelling). It’s the same with this event here, whenever we get asked to come out, especially in our own community, we’re honoured,” said Daae.
Although the family wasn’t raised in Estevan, they still consider it a sort of hometown, after all, it was where they bought came to buy their groceries growing up.
“Virtually Estevan is our hometown, we go a lot of places throughout western Canada and the states and sometimes it feels like we forget to come home, so we are definitely excited to be playing something so close to home.”
