Saskatchewan’s Queen of Country Jess Moskaluke performs at Rockies Fest 2024

By Ferdy Belland

“The summers are so beautiful here in Canada,” said the internationally-acclaimed country chanteuse Jess Moskaluke, “so if I can spend the festival season here, so much the better! I’m all over the country this summer, and it all starts in Cranbrook!”

What’s starting in Cranbrook, you ask? Rockies Fest 2024, that’s what – with none other than Jess Moskaluke on the bill for Friday, June 14! This will be her first performance in Cranbrook since her memorable Mapdot Tour stop in November 2022, where she was embraced by a raucous capacity crowd of locals who helped make her first arena-headlining tour a smashing success nationwide.

Singing her heart out onstage for a raucous capacity crowd is nothing new for Jess, who’s been at the country-music game for over 15 years running. She was the first female Canadian country artist since Shania Twain to receive Platinum-selling single status with her breakout 2014 hit “Cheap Wine and Cigarettes,” which kicked off a long string of Gold-certified follow-up singles. Jess won the 2017 Juno Award for Country Album of the Year, as well as towering heaps of CCMA awards, and has more or less spent much of the past decade kicking ass and taking names in the wild and wooly worlds of Country Music.

And she’s also a heartfelt philanthropist, dedicating much personal time and altruistic energy for charities such as Telemiracle Saskatchewan and the MS Society of Canada. No wonder she’s Saskatchewan’s Sweetheart.

“We just released the new album Heartbreaker back in the fall of 2023, so we’re still busy promoting it!” said Jess. “The response from the public has been so great. The recent single ‘Go Get Er’ is being really well-received – it’s still Top 20 on the charts here in Canada, but it went to Number One in Australia! Our first Number One there…pretty cool!” Jess is also no stranger to the Land Down Under, having previously performed at the Australian chapter of the C2C Festival, and hopefully this exciting chart action will open up a return trip for her sooner than later.

Jess is noted for her high-energy stage presence, delivering a sonic whomp that leans to the country-rock side of things, with strong vocals and a knack for the killer hook that lesser artists strive for. And aside from the glitz and the glamour of the big stage, it still all comes down to an imaginative country girl who rests her guitar across her knee and strums out a good story.

  “Making albums takes some time, so it’ll be a while before there’s a new one,” said Jess. “I’m busy writing new songs, though. I’m taking the time to focus on the material so I can see what’s going to be the best collection of songs to put out in future…whenever we feel it’s right to release them. I find whatever time I can to write.”

Ever the consummate professional when it comes to her craft, Jess shares insight into her creative process.

“Ideas for songs can pop out at you whenever,” said Jess. “I could be watching a TV show with my husband, or in the middle of a business meeting, or alone reading a book – so I usually jot that thought down for later! When it comes to buckling down for serious songwriting, that’s when I travel to Nashville to work with my favorite co-writers. I try to live life as much as I can while I’m here in Canada, bank all my ideas, and then craft them when I’m in Music City!

“I like to hash my ideas out into sketches before I go down there, so it’s kind of a three-step process! Get the idea, leave it alone for awhile, come back to it, do some more brainstorming around it, and then fine-tune it into an actual finished song when I’m in Nashville. Sometimes we’ll write in a studio. A lot of times the work will be done in dedicated Writing Rooms, and lots of times it’s done in someone’s living room!”

Jess shares sincere joy about taking the stage once again at Western Financial Place.

“We’re super, super excited to come back to Cranbrook!” said Jess. “I couldn’t think of a better way to kick off my summer. And I hope all the folks bring as much energy to us as we will to them!”

For more information, please visit www.rockiesfest.ca and www.jessmoskaluke.com

Photos submitted

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