It’s Summer time at the Osborne Bay Pub in Crofton.
Summer Fragomeni-Hay will be joined by on stage there by Doug Blondeau and The Third Degree Friday, July 12 at 8 p.m.
Fragomeni calls Ladysmith home and the band is based out of North Cowichan and Ladysmith.
“I’ve been a local musician on Vancouver Island for 20 years,” she added.
“This is our first year getting this particular group up and running. There’s lots of opportunities for travel and touring.”
The seven-piece band consists of Fragomeni on vocals, Doug Blondeau on lead guitar, Buddy Love on rhythm guitar, Ian Cox on keyboards and vocals, Brent Hutchinson on sax and vocals, Dan Fehr on bass and Ross Hembling on drums.
Together, they’ll play hits encompassing a wide range of artists from Etta James to the Rolling Stones and Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
“There’s really something for everybody,” offered Fragomeni. “It’s not your grandparents’ back porch blues band.”
The blues started during her mid-20s and she soon became a fixture on the Victoria music scene.
Fragomeni sang with her own band Summer and the Sinners for more than 20 years and has toured extensively in Canada and the United States. Her four CDs feature some of Canada’s finest musicians, including Vancouver Island’s own David Gogo.
One of Fragomeni’s CDs was recorded live at the historic Yale Hotel in Vancouver and received worldwide radio airplay. She is also currently writing and recording her fifth studio album.
Her long festival appearance list over the years includes: the Nanaimo Blues Festival; Victoria’s Blues Bash; Esquimalt Ribfest; Powell River Blues Festival; The Edge of the World Music Festival on Haida Gwaii; and Music in the Park in Kamloops.
In addition to the Yale Hotel, major club appearances have included: Blue Gator (Kelowna); Queens Hotel (Nanaimo); and Central Bar and Grill (Victoria).
Weekly house gigs at the historic Swans Hotel in Victoria ran for nine years until 2014.
Fragomeni is just back from visiting and singing at the historic House of Blues in Chicago. She was sitting in with friend and original Third Degree alum Nigel Mack, who will be here July 28 for a reunion with the original members as host band for the Sunday Jam at the Queens Hotel in Nanaimo.
The previous day, July 27, Fragomeni and Third Degree will be at the Loft Pub in Victoria. They’ll also be playing Aug. 13 during the Chemainus Valley Cultural Arts Society’s Music in the Park series at Waterwheel Park in Chemainus.
But, first and foremost, they’re looking forward to playing in Crofton for the first time.
“We’d really like to see some people come out and support us,” said Fragomeni.