A month in, and 2019 is already shaping into an exciting year for Jess Moskaluke, who performs at Red Deer’s Centrium on Tuesday with Paul Brandt, High Valley and the Hunter Brothers.
But she admits the spectacular peaks she hit in 2017 and 2018 will be pretty hard to beat.
To recap: the Saskatchewan country singer won a Juno Award, and was the first woman artist to win an album of the year award (for her EP Past the Past) from the Canadian Country Music Association since 2004.
Moskaluke also scored a Top 3 song on country radio and received a 2018 Sask Music Country Artist of the Year Award.
On top of all this, the 28-year-old got married last summer to her boyfriend of seven years.
So does she feel any pressure to top these achievements in 2019? Moskaluke laughingly admits, “Of course I do! In this industry, you always feel pressure…”
One thing she feels she can never top is her wedding to Clay, who works in the oilfield.
“That can’t compare to anything else… 2018 will always be the year I married my husband, no matter what comes next in my career and whatever crazy… things happen.”
The gigs with Brandt come shortly after Moskaluke wrapped up a couple of seasonal concerts featuring songs from her first holiday album, A Small Town Christmas.
The singer is thrilled to have company on this longer tour that will stretch from British Columbia to Ontario and go through most of February. “I know Paul well. We’ve toured together before and have a pretty good rapport,” she says of the Calgary country singer.
Moskaluke has also rubbed shoulders with Curtis and Brad Rempel in the country-bluegrass band High Valley, from Blumenort, Alta., as well as Saskatchewan’s Hunter Brothers, made up of Luke, J.J., Ty, Brock and Dusty Hunter.
“We all get along,” so she predicts the tour “will be a lot of fun.”
Fans can expect to hear her latest hits, including Drive Me Away and Camouflage, as well as earlier ones, such as Kiss Me Quiet, Good Lovin’ and Cheap Wine and Cigarettes — the first platinum-selling tune from a female Canadian country artist since Shania Twain’s Party For Two in 2004.
Once the Brandt tour is is over, Moskaluke plans to start working on new music to follow up the success of her 2017 seven-song album, Past the Past.
This means meeting up in Nashville with a co-writer from Boston. The two plan to craft some “inspiring” songs in the country music mecca.
Moskaluke apologetically says she can’t give dates yet for her new music releases. These days, she adds, there’s a lot to be considered in terms of whether to put out an album, an EP, or to release a single to iTunes and Spotify.
“Right now, I’m focusing on the tour and getting excited!”
Tickets to the Jan. 29 Red Deer show are available from www.ticketsalberta.com.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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