Songwriters Saskia Overbeek and Darrel Delaronde delighted restaurant patrons and inspired local musicians at the Vegreville Train Station concert on Saturday evening. Local musician Randy Kereliuk (of our local Perogies and Jam) opened the evening in fine style with three songs concluding with Forever and Ever Amen well known to Randy Travis fans. Saskia and Darrel were crowd pleasers with their original “prairie roots” style music and other familiar material resulting in a standing ovation at the end of the concert. It is wonderful for Vegreville to be attracting such great artists and the Train Station is at the forefront of becoming a popular venue for music entertainment.

Saskia and Darrel are a professional song writing and touring team often travelling and performing with Canadian music icon Gary Fjellgaard. Saskia was born in Holland and moved to Dawson Creek, BC as a teenager and brings many talents of vocals, penny whistle, acoustic guitar and bass guitar. Darrel hails from the Shellbrook, Saskatchewan area and is a seasoned vocal performer, highly accomplished acoustic guitarist and mandolin player. Combined, this amazing duo delighted and connected with the audience throughout the evening with their repertoire of original Canadian folk music. More information can be found on their website www.saskia.ca.

Starting with well known Simon & Garfunkel hit “The Boxer”, the duo performed two sets resulting in nearly two hours of songs mostly from their recent recorded CDs Laura’s Kitchen and Songbirds. Of particular note were songs such as Laura’s Kitchen, Prairie Town, Louis Riel, Summerside and a yodelling blues song. Finishing the evening performance in fine style was the love song Songbird. The appreciative audience responded with a standing ovation to which Saskia And Darrel provided a rollicking song Happy Together which was a popular hit from the 1960’s.

We wish continued success and safe travels to the songbird duo as they perform across western Canada before returning to their home on Vancouver Island.