The Wild Mountain Music Festival has announced its lineup for the 2010 festival in Hinton in July, with Wide Mouth Mason and Colin James headlining the outdoor event.

Colin James, whose Juno winning 1991 single ‘Just Came Back’ led him to fame, not to mention his five other Juno awards over the years for Most Promising Male Vocalist, Male Vocalist of the Year, Best Blues Album and Best Producer, will headline the Saturday night, although he will be playing an earlier set from 8:00 to 9:30 pm, with Shane Phillip taking the stage after him. The festival’s traditional closer, X-Band, an 11-piece latin salsa band out of Edmonton, will keep the crowd dancing into the early hours of the morning.

Wide Mouth Mason will be the headlining act Friday, bringing their pop-rock hits that have scoured the radio waves since their self-title album release in Canada and the US in 1997. Since then, hits like ‘My Old Self’, which appeared on the MuchMusic album Big Shiny Tunes 2, and ‘Change’, ‘Smile’ and ‘Companion’ have led the trio from Saskatoon to open for the likes of AC/DC, The Rolling Stones and The Guess Who. But, while the band has released many albums, they can tailor their shows to the size of audience, and one that is best listened to live.

Tanya Richardson, with the Wild Mountain Music Festival, said they got all the bands they were hoping to get, and the show will be even better than last year, which was headlined by Hawksley Workman.

“It will be better, absolutely. We try to make it bigger and better each year,” she said.

Since the festival is being held at Entrance Ranch, about seven miles north of Hinton off of Highway 40, Richardson said there is no sold out number, as they can fit thousands at the venue. “We’ve ordered so many tickets, and if they get sold, that would be awesome, but we can accommodate thousands of people, so it’s not really a huge issue.”

The weekend of the festival also falls on the same weekend as Parks Day. Some Jasper residents were concerned that the music festival would attract people to Hinton, rather than participating in Parks Day, and vice versa, but Richardson said they have only received a couple calls about the concern and that it has not been a huge issue.

The festival will have two stages as well as a kids activity area and a beer garden, and since it will be held on a working ranch, trails rides will also be available.

According to Richardson, last year’s festival saw people from almost every province, as well as many of the northern US states, although she thinks many of them were just on vacation driving through. “We were really well attended by a variety of people last year,” she said.

The festival is run by the Hinton Jazz Society, a not-for-profit organization. They recently received a $17,000 grant from the Town of Hinton to go towards the festival.

Richardson said they are still looking for volunteers and arts and crafts vendors. 

For more information on how to get involved and for the full line-up, visit www.wildmountainmusicfest.ca.