Queen Mary goes country with the Shipkicker festival

The Queen is going country again this weekend with the ShipKicker Country Music Festival.

The second aual event retus to the Queen Mary on June 4 with a lineup of contemporary country music headlined by “Yup” singer Easton Corbin, genre-bending musician Stephen Wesley and singer-songwriter Clare Du, who’s touring in support of her debut self-titled EP.

“People can expect to have a great time, get rowdy, get loud,” Du said of the festival.

Also on the bill are country acts Dylan Scott, Scotty Mac Band, Honey County and Daniel Bonte & The Bona Fide.

About 5,000 people are expected at the festival, which will also include The ShipKicker Saloon where DJ music and acoustic performances will take place between sets.

But country music fans may consider resting between acts since some of the main artists are known for rocking hard onstage.

“I’m a farm girl,” Du said. “I was raised on a farm, but my show is very rocking.”

The Colorado native will be performing songs from her five-song EP, including the single “Tuxedo,” about her love of a working man rather than a well-dressed pretty boy, and “Ferrari,” which talks about never being ashamed of humble begiings.

“It’s country music,” she said. “It’s about that way of life, but my music is very rocking. It’s the perspective of a farm girl.”

Du is working on a new album set for release later this year.

While Du is coming from her Colorado farm, getting to the festival will be a shorter trip for Indiana-bo Wesley, who now lives in Laguna Beach.

He’ll be performing songs from his latest album “Welcome to the Whiskey Creek Saloon,” as well as his radio hit “Cowgirl,” which he recorded with Slash of Guns N’ Roses in a collaboration that exemplifies his love of exploring other genres.

“I really love country music a lot,” he said “but I grew up with so many styles and genres of music that I always felt you could blend everything nicely.”

Wesley thinks the ShipKicker will be a good fit for him, because he sees a lot of similarities between this festival’s crowd and the better-known and much larger Stagecoach Festival, at least when it comes to their love of what he calls “party country rock.”

But before he rocks the stage, Wesley has some serious business to attend to. Last year, he was rear-ended by an 18-wheeler on the 405 Freeway and now has back issues so serious that he’s had to shorten his live sets.

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But just before the show, he’s having a lower back procedure to alleviate the pain.

“I am very hopeful that this right here will give me that extra one or two songs that I’ve been wanting to have since this accident happened,” he said.