When Jake Vaadeland heard his name called at the JUNO awards he was thinking about food, not music.
The award-winning country and bluegrass artist isn’t a big fan of competitions—musical or otherwise. He wasn’t expecting to win a JUNO award for ‘Retro Man … More and More”, which was nominated for Traditional Roots Album of the Year. Still, he was so nervous he couldn’t eat supper that night.
“I looked at the plate and I thought, ‘I get to eat this soon. That’ll be good,’” Vaadeland said during an interview on Friday. “That’s what I was thinking about, and then all of a sudden I heard my name called. I got excited for about a second and then entertainment mode switched on.”
Vaadeland is no stranger to having his name called on awards night. The Cut Knife Sask. resident has won nine Saskatchewan Country Music Awards and three Saskatchewan Music Awards, but winning a JUNO hit different.
After the announcement, Vaadeland was so stunned he forgot to hug his parents who attended the ceremony in Vancouver with him.
“They made fun of me later and bugged me because I got up without noticing that any of them stood up and I ran away on them to the stage,” Vaadeland said with a laugh. “I don’t like dead air—if it’s my show or anybody else’s show—so I wasn’t going to let them have dead air on my part at that JUNO Gala.”
The JUNO Awards were held in Vancouver on March 30. Since then, Vaadeland has been flooded with well-wishers. Many of those supportive messages came from the Prince Albert area.
Vaadeland has roots in Park Valley northwest of Prince Albert, and attended school in Big River before moving to Cut Knife. Many of The Sturgeon River Boys (Joel Rohs, Jaxon Lalonde, and Jake Smithies) also have Prince Albert connections, and several of the musicians who helped record ‘Retro Man … More and More’ are from Prince Albert and area.
Vaadeland said he appreciates the many musicians, technicians, and supporters who helped him get started in the music business. He views this JUNO award as theirs as much as his.
“Even though it’s my name that’s called, I still consider it to be an award for my parents, an award for the band, for the entire team, (and) for the Town of Cutknife,” he said.
The JUNO awards are behind him, but the competitions aren’t. Vaadeland is one of eight artists participating in SiriusXM Canada’s Top of the Country competition.
Fans can vote once per day per device, with the top three vote getters advancing to the finals, where they will before on some of Canada’s biggest stages for a chance to win a $25,000 grand prize, and the 2025 Top of the Country crown.
Vaadeland and the Sturgeon River Boys recorded a new single for the competition: ‘Everybody loves my Little Darling’. Vaadeland said he was inspired by musicians like Ernest Tubbs, Flatt and Scruggs, and Hank Williams, who had a lot of “wonderful, simple, down-to-earth songs.”
Voting started on April 1 and runs until April 8.
“I really wanted to go for that old, old Grand Ole Opry sound when they first started transferring from bluegrass to what they called country music,” Vaadeland said. “That (Everybody Loves my Little Darling) was the song that first came to mind when they said you need to record an original song.
“In comparison to my other songs, it’s a really simple song,” he added. “It’s just a fun song—something I penned out in a couple minutes—but one that turned out very good and I’m really happy about it.”
To vote in the Top of the Country competition, visit topcountry.siriusxm.ca.
Vaadeland has a full touring schedule lined up for 2025. He’ll be heading east in May for stops in Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island before returning west for performances in Alberta and Saskatchewan in June.
Vaadeland and the Sturgeon River Boys will perform in Melfort on June 18, Shellbrook on June 19, and Rosthern on June 20. He also has a U.K tour lined up for August and early September.
@kerr_jas • jason.kerr@paherald.sk.ca
