Listen to this Kamloops City country song still celebrated decades later

A country love song about the city of Kamloops has been stuck in the ears of many long-time residents for decades and continues to be shared and celebrated.

Kamloops City was written and first performed by a Kamloops-based band called Country Odyssey in the 70s, and sung by lead vocalist Roland Quest who was also a jeweller in town at the time.

“We’ve got the North, we’ve got the South Thompson rivers,” the song starts to a jaunty country western beat. “Fed from a hundred shimmerin’ lakes. We’ve got the sunshine, we’ve got the beauty, and when the day is over, night life’s great.”

While the band is no longer together, some residents in Kamloops still hold onto vinyl records with two singles on it, one of them Kamloops City.

“The song and the band were very popular, they'd sell out shows everywhere they went,” said long-time Kamloops resident Maria Briglio-Bossio. "The song is all about nostalgia and history, it tells a story of the people who lived here. People say ‘oh my god, I loved that song’ and ‘I remember that song. It has a nice beat to it and gets stuck in my brain.”

In 1981, Country Odyssey performed at Briglio-Bossio‘s wedding.

“There were over 300 people there and when the band showed up everyone gave them a standing ovation and complimented me on my choice of music," she said.

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The recording of the song was sponsored by Kamloops Chamber of Commerce and its estimated release was in 1975.

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The song is part of the Museum of Canadian Music collection, a non-profit museum based in Calgary that digitalizes all genres of Canadian sound recordings spanning the past century.

“Kamloops City’s got me now, looks like it’s got its spell on me,” goes the chorus. “And though I’m far from my old home town, there’s no other place I’d rather be.”

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