The grand finale of the Troubadour Summer Concert Series is fast approaching and an up-and-coming country artist is preparing to set the stage for country music powerhouse Tim Hicks. Opening for Hicks on Saturday is rising B.C. country artist Mitch Zorn who’ll take the Meridian Place stage. Zorn has opened for major country acts like Jess Moskaluke and James Barker Band and he tells CTV News it’s been a great learning experience to warm up the crowd. “I grew up playing in bands with my dad and doing the acoustic thing before everybody’s ready to go,” Zorn says. “You’re kind of just trying to gauge if they’re going to be excited or not, if they’re going to be in it or not, so it’s cool to play that role every night.” Zorn’s new single, “Nowhere Town,” which is out now, is an ode to the small town he grew up in, Nakusp—a village in southeast B.C., with a population of just over 1,500 people. ‘Humboldt,’ his single from 2018, is to commemorate the 16 lives lost in the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. “I grew up playing hockey. I grew up in a little town so I played with the same 14 guys pretty much my whole life and spent a lot of time on the road with those guys. And, you know, just thinking if that was my situation, if those were my friends. I think it kind of shook us all, so it was a natural story for me for sure,” says Zorn. The Humboldt Broncos are a Canadian Junior A hockey team from Humboldt, Sask. Zorn says he’s not afraid to lay out his feelings in his songs and on stage. “I’ve always been kind of in tune with the emotions of music and writing songs in general, so it’s a natural thing for me to connect with people in that way,” says Zorn. When it comes to what he has planned for the Troubadour crowd on Saturday, he says it’ll be a variety, taking the audience on a rollercoaster. “We’ve got a lot of ups and downs,” Zorn says. “We’ve got some high energy stuff, some ballads, some singer-songwriter stuff – so a little bit of everything.” He says he looks forward to getting back to Ontario. Zorn was in the province earlier this summer when he took the Front Porch stage at Boots and Hearts. Mitch Zorn will play 7:30 p.m. ahead of Tim Hicks who will headline the evening at 8:30 p.m. Local openers Evan Denley, Candace & Michael and Barstool Confession will take the stage at 5 p.m. The Troubadour Summer Concert Series is presented by Paul Sadlon Motors, CTV News Barrie, PURE COUNTRY 106, BOUNCE 104.1, Hey Bear Productions, Lemmon Entertainment, City of Barrie and Tourism Barrie. Troubadour Schedule:
