YORKTON - It’s turning out to be a notable spring for Cut Knife, Sask. musician Jake Vaadeland.
Vaadeland will soon kick off his ‘Retro Man’ Tour with 23 dates in Canada and the United Kingdom this Spring – including April 18 at the Anne Portnuff Theatre in Yorkton. This follows a well-received 14-date run through the USA as support for The Dead South, as well as being selected to perform at the Great Escape Festival in Brighton, UK this May.
The tour celebrates the release of his upcoming album Retro Man – More & More set for release on April 26.
The latest single from the project Until the Day I See You Dear, will be released to Canadian Country radio April 2, 2024.
For those headed to the Anne Portnuff Theatre event expect some old fashioned bluegrass-based music.
“All of my music is bluegrass at heart, but when each of the Sturgeon River Boys bring their own styles of playing into the picture, then we end up with a very unique sound,” Vaadeland told Yorkton This Week.
“Some describe it as simply a mixture of bluegrass, rockabilly and old time country music. But we just call it our own sound.”
Vaadeland said those attending the Yorkton show should expect to be well-entertained.
“Folks should expect to be entertained with good old fashioned, toe tapping entertainment,” he said.” We always put on the best show that we can, and we want everyone to leave with a smile on their face.
“We have fun on stage while playing music and telling jokes, and we dress for the occasion too.
“All the guys, including myself, wear the best suits that we have in our collection whenever we preform, and we make sure the stage is as eye catching as possible. We use old Omni Microphones that resemble those used by the Grand Ole Opry, and it makes for a very unique show.
As for bluegrass it is almost genetic for Vaadeland.
“My parents played bluegrass, and I always got in on the bluegrass festivals that were held around where I grew up,” he said.
“The country church I used to attend where I grew up also got me into it. Instead of playing a piano or an organ, everyone would get out there guitars and banjos and fiddles and we would play the hymns that way.”
Certainly family played a big part in setting the 20-year-old’s feet set in the world of music.
“My parents were very musical, and both played in bands when I was growing up,” he said.
“That, and I grew up in a musical farming community. All my friends and neighbours played instruments and gathered at each other’s homes for jam sessions regularly.
“I also attended a lot of the music festivals that were put on at Ness Creek, not far from the ranch I grew up on.”
And of course with an interest in bluegrass Vaadeland began to listen to the style more closely.
“My main influences is a fella named Lester Flatt, who, in my opinion, was the king of bluegrass music, and the best entertainer to ever work the music industry,” he said.
“The list of my influences after him goes on forever. But Earl Scruggs, Johnny Cash, and Mother Maybelle Carter are also at the top of my list, just to name a few.”
Not surprisingly Vaadeland has plunged into writing material too.
“I have written all of the songs that we do during our shows so far,” he explained.
“I have many bluegrass and country music influences, such as Lester Flatt, Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Buck Owens, and Johnny Cash. All of the songwriters who wrote simple songs. I don’t like to write songs that are too complicated and lyrically strong, just as they didn’t.”
