Jolie Blue is a true Canadian treasure. Whether you’re feeling blue
over a girl, praising your god for a little rain in the plains, or
cracking your knuckles as you size up the local grain buyer, his
music is that ol’ reliable friend that has your back no matter what.
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Jolie Blue for only a couple of
years, but despite the 980 miles as the Canada jay flies between us,
I can put on any Jolie Blue song and feel as though we were both
sitting in my living room, smoking a couple Camel clicks, and
catching up on life, hockey, and how canola stocks are doing.
Now, I’ll probably piss off several of Jolie’s cohorts and a few
combine tractors by saying this, but, staring out over an empty
agricultural field is about as awe-inspiring as listening to an
accountant read War and Peace. But somehow, when you put an ear
to Jolie Blue’s music, it doesn’t take long before you start to see the
beauty and proud tradition in those small, everyday snippets of
blue-collar life. It feels like every passing day, we lose another page
out of that pastoral anthology. Jolie Blue is doing his part to keep
that way of life alive.
Jolie Blue’s lyricism is smoother than a menthol cigarette. (Are
those still banned in Canada? Menthol, not the lyrics.) Every song
is a portraiture of life in Western Canada, and you don’t even have
to organize a family pilgrimage to Highway 42 to see the same
lyrical vision Blue has. (Although,what kind of parent would you be
if you didn’t organize a family pilgrimage to Highway 42 in southern
Saskatchewan).
Mark my words. Someday there will be a bronze statue of Jolie Blue,
with a canola straw sticking out his lip and a guitar slung over his s
houlder, erected in Eyebrow’s town square. I’m not sure what’s there
now. But it will be bulldozed.
Jolie Blue is the Hamish Imlach of the Great White North and
hands down the greatest Canadian folk songwriter and storyteller
I’ve ever put an ear to. His songs are written the way songs ought to
be written — from the heart, with honest to goodness life
experience to back them up. There’s no Nashville record producer
who’s watched one too many episodes of Yellowstone penning the
songs you’re about to hear. There’s no hazy IPA-drinking lad dusting
off his turntable with a mint-condition Stetson being heard on this
album. No, no. Jolie Blue’s music is as organic, premium No. 1 as it
comes, and hearing it for the first time is like wrapping your mouth
around a New Holland’s exhaust pipe.
Call it folk, call it country, call it whatever the hell you want. But
before you go drop the needle on ol’ boy’s new release, don’t you
dare do so without washing off all the gunk and grime from
today’s so-called modern country music from the stylus. If you
want to see Canada through the eyes of Jolie Blue, then you put
his music through your ears.
Contact
joelbueckert@yahoo.ca
1-306-759-7625
P.O. Box 125
Eyebrow, SK, Canada
S0H 1L0
THE REVIEWS ARE IN…
Artist Spotlight: Jolie Blue
(Article by Scott Roos, NSMZ)
BIO
A farmer’s son from Saskatchewan.
Heavily inspired by the life and work of Canadian Legend Stompin’ Tom Connors, Blue has spent years travelling Coast to Coast to Coast, following Connor’s footsteps, often sleeping in the bushes and busking to pay his way, and discover his stories. Like Connors, Jolie Blue is geared towards singing songs and telling stories about the people of Canada. The greatest Country in the world.
Jolie has released 2 EP’s, 2 Singles, and 1 full length album which can be heard across all online music streaming platforms, as well on regular rotation on several Country music FM stations across Canada.
The Jolie Blue EP (EP) – 2018
Canadian Drifter – 2020
Picante (EP) – 2021
Wayward Ways & Wheatfields – Dec. 31st 2022
Jolie’s full length debut album, The Canadian Drifter, released in September 2020 featured some Canadian Country heavy hitters such as:
Thom Moon (drummer for Ian Tyson)
Billy MacInnis (fiddler for Stompin’ Tom Connors) &
Spider Bishop (bassist for Tim Hus)
At present Time, Jolie Blue continues to play gigs across the prairie provinces, gearing up for another full length album release. (Wayward Ways & Wheatfields, Dec. 31st 2022) With Canada always being the centre point of his performance, Jolie Blue’s set will get your toe’s tapping, and your patriotism beaming, and is sure to put a smile on your face.
