A well known Portage la Prairie musician's embarking on something of a new direction.

Johnny Dietrich's started playing mostly acoustic shows with his sister Colleen Bryce, and long-time bass player Ken Wettlaufer.

They're known as Kicking Up Dust, and Dietrich outlines the approach within the new group.

"The whole idea of the band of the band is to have people enjoy the music. We want people to go away thinking that's not a bad band, instead of going away with sore ears and sore throats from hollering, because everything is so loud. It's kind of an acoustic trio, and we're focused on the singing and the harmony. So it's basically good listening music -- we want people to enjoy themselves, and enjoy the band."

Dietrich notes they're at the Royal Canadian Legion in Portage tonight, describes what's happening.

"We're just going to be sitting around on the stage. We're going to be doing a lot of older country, and new stuff, and we're going to do original stuff. But there again, it's going to be easy listening music, it's not going to be loud. It's really different for all of us because we've all played in different bands all our lives. We're not a dance band. We want people to sit back, relax and enjoy themselves, and actually be able to talk to one another, and enjoy the music."