Scott Roos
Special to the Herald
On Sunday, Oct. 27, the Juno Award winning (2024 Blues Album of the Year) and Western Canadian Music Award winning (2024 Blues Artist of the year) Blue Moon Marquee will perform at Prince Albert’s EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts.
Composed of founding members A.W. Cardinal (vocals, guitar) and Jasmine Colette (vocals, bass, percussion), for this performance they will be accompanied by a keyboard and saxophone player to round out their trademark, madcap, eclectic, sonic cocktail of blues, folk and swing.
“Al (Cardinal) and I, in 2012, came together over our mutual love of rare, obscure Blues and swing,” Colette explained to the Herald. “We also had roots in folk singer songwriting as well as punk and hardcore and metal backgrounds, so we kind of had this trifecta of influences that we really connected on all those levels. I would say our music is a mash of, of all of that. I feel like we just tapped into each other’s love of energy and the different energies that all those styles bring.”
This blending of energies forms the foundation of Blue Moon Marquee. They have an organic, vintage vibe to what they do that comes across both as a live act as well as in the studio. Their most recent album, which was released this past Friday, Sept. 27, entitled New Orleans Sessions is a prime example.
It has a very natural and raw honesty due to it being recorded live off the floor, straight to tape, making use of the vintage gear at their disposal at Bigtone Records in New Orleans.
“We recorded that album in two afternoons, the entire thing,” Colette told the Herald, “We really wanted to capture that live raw energy with zero overdubs just like you’re walking down Frenchmen Street (in New Orleans) and you and you hear a band coming out of that juke joint. That’s exactly what we wanted.
“New Orleans is the quintessential music city above all others, especially for American styles of music, whether it be folk, blues jazz, rock n’ roll, rhythm of blues and even punk, metal and hardcore and all that stuff. For me, it really is the cradle of where it all went down. It’s seeping out of every window. It’s in the streets. It’s in the air. It’s undeniably thick with it down there. It’s just so inspiring.”
Fresh off that inspiration obtained from the “Big Easy”, Blue Moon Marquee will no doubt be ready to entertain at the EA Rawlinson. Tickets are still available for what will surely be an amazing show. For more information as well as how to procure tickets for this event check the EA Rawlinson’s website at earc.ca/shows .
