Moskaluke hoping to make it four wins in a row
Jess Moskaluke is looking to continue her reign as top female artist
Jess Moskaluke has attended the Canadian Country Music Association Awards only a handful of times, but she’s already a veteran of the experience. The Langenberg native is the reigning Female Artist of the Year. Not only that, she’s been awarded that title the last three years running.
Moskaluke will try to make it a four-peat at the awards ceremony on Sunday. With the show and Country Music Week in her home province this year, she admits she feels the pressure.
“I don’t know if it’s pressure that people have put on me or pressure that I’ve put on myself, but for whatever reason there is,” she said.
“I think that’s healthy, though, to feel pressure in your career.”
Moskaluke first attended the CCMA Awards and Country Music Week in 2013. It was a whirlwind then and still is today.
“The most memorable part of that particular weekend was participating in the New Artist Showcase, which is now called the Discovery Showcase. You show up and you play a couple of songs. It’s adjudicated, so they select a winner. It was an amazing experience and I ended up walking away with a win.”
No longer a newbie, Moskaluke has recently helped out with the showcase as a mentor. It’s a great way for young artists to get to know the industry and have opportunities to build their careers.
Moskaluke said that kind of support is reflective of the Canadian country music industry as a whole.
“The Canadian country music scene is a big family. Now that I know a lot of people in the industry and now that it’s not my first time at the awards, the general feeling of going to the awards is a big family reunion.”
Moskaluke will arrive at this year’s Country Music Week with a rather large addition to her resume. She won her first Juno Award for Country Album of the Year (for her album Kiss Me Quiet) at the ceremony in April. It was a huge and unexpected moment for the young musician.
Then there was the time Moskaluke became the first female artist in nearly a decade to break into the Top 5 on Canadian country radio (her song Drive Me Away actually took the Top 3 spot). Such a thing hadn’t happened since Terri Clark’s In My Next Life reached No. 1 in 2008.
It was a moment Moskaluke was proud of, but she said it also shows that more needs to be done in the industry to increase female representation.
“That was an amazing moment for me as a person, but I think more so, it was an amazing moment for us as females, just breaking that eight-year streak. There’s a lot more than can be done and I think we just need to continue to have this conversation, so eventually, it’s a conversation that sounds silly.”
Moskaluke is involved in several Country Music Week events, including an intimate performance at Village Guitar & Amp on Sept. 8. The performance will be taped for Sirius XM.
She’s also performing at the awards ceremony on Sept. 10.
Moskaluke said she always expects the unexpected during Country Music Week and fans should do the same.
“The whole weekend is so amazing for Saskatoon. There are country stars running around everywhere all weekend and you really never know when or where you’re going to see them,” she said.
“Take in as much as you can, because you really, genuinely don’t know what’s ever going to happen.”
Moskaluke’s next album comes out in November.