Old Tucson hosts mini Western music festival

Six Tucson area Western Music Association acts will perform throughout the weekend, including two — Bill Ganz and Jon Messenger — who are fixtures in the area’s Western music scene and a trio that just got started last year.

Green Valley-based 43 Miles North — which takes its name from the distance between Tucson and Green Valley — is comprised of retired physician Jim FitzGerald on stand-up bass, retired attorney John Paulson playing 12-string guitar and retired administrative director Sherry Walker on rhythm guitar. The trio’s repertoire includes Western standards, Broadway tunes, classic country and folk. They are set to perform Saturday and Sunday.

Messenger will play two shows Saturday, at 11:15 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., while Ganz, sans his namesake Western band, will play just one, at noon Sunday.

Artists scheduled to appear throughout the weekend are:

• David Rychener,

• who dips into traditional Western repertoire as well as modern, performing regularly in the Tucson area and at his guest ranch Aravaipa Ranch.
• Tucson native

• Janice Deardorff

• , who grew up immersed in Western music and has been performing for years.
• Colorado native

• Dennis Knill

• , whose self-penned cowboy songs draw from his experiences as a horseman in Colorado.

Performances will be in the Grand Palace and Arizona Theater at Old Tucson, 201 S. Kinney Road. Admission is free with paid park admission: $17.95 for adults ages 12 and over, and $10.95 for children ages 4 to 11. The park is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.