The original Cottonpickers band was formed in 1957 in Wild Rose, a rural district twenty miles west of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, making 2007 the fiftieth anniversary.  Back in 1957 the members would have no idea of  how many weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, school graduations, community events, official openings, parades and fairs, in cities, towns, villages and communities from Vancouver to Thunder Bay they were destined to play for over the next fifty years. Nor could they envisage how many thousands of people they would entertain during that time.

{quote_middle}Popularity also brought with it requests to enter the recording market, and the band obliged by releasing records, followed by eight tracks, cassettes and CD’s. Several Saskatchewan television stations, notably CKBI, Prince Albert, CFQC  Saskatoon, and CKOS, Yorkton, were also enthusiastic supporters and each developed and produced a series featuring the Cottonpickers. In 1992 the band was  inducted into the Saskatchewan Country Music Hall of Fame, receiving the Legend and Legacy award in recognition of its contribution to the province’s music industry.   
In the course of a typical performance the band will play a wide variety of music - ranging from old time waltzes, schottisches and polkas, through country and western, sophisticated rock, Hawaiian, Latin American, and numbers for pattern and specialty dances.

Sadly, Llew Bell, founder and leader of the Cottonpickers, passed away in February, 2004, but the band still features two original members - Dolores (Zbesheski) Bell, and Bev (Bell) Stewart. Accompanied by long term members Zenon Buchko,  Dwight St. Amand , Dennis Kendall, Jan Bell, and Royan Stewart, the 2007 Cottonpickers still maintain the original theme - Music Any Way You Like It.  It’s still great cottonpickin’ music.