Sask. small town singer vies for title of Canada’s top country artist

WATCH: A current resident of Cut Knife, Saskatchewan is proving to be quite a force in the music industry.

Jake Vaadeland recently took home a Juno Award for Best Traditional Roots Album, and the 21-year-old is continuing to receive recognition in the music industry.

“The last couple of days have been wonderful. Coming home to my small town here, I drove into town, and everybody was waving and congratulating me...it’s been really good. I’m very happy to be home now with all my friends and neighbours that treat me so well here.” Vaadeland said.

Originally from a farm near Big River Saskatchewan, the country singer now resides in Cut Knife, a town 55 kilometres west of North Battleford.

Vaadeland says he’s particularly proud of his prairie roots and always looks forward to coming home.

“I can’t even say winning a Juno was a goal. That’s just something nice that can happen...my goal is to maintain it and be able to make my living doing this, own my home and my 1947 Dodge [truck], so I can drive it around and be able to support local here in this town and buy my groceries here and be here with these wonderful people in the small town.” Vaadeland said.

Following his big win at the Junos, Vaadeland is now in contention to be named Canada’s Top of the Country 2025, an award facilitated by SiriusXM and the Canadian Country Music Association.

• Get the latest news from Saskatoon, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App

As part of the competition, Vaadeland is back to Canada for a day while touring in Europe in order to record a new song and video courtesy of SiriusXM. The musician says while the process was a busy one, he is happy to be in the running. In addition to the title, the winning artist will be awarded $25,000.

“Whoever wants to vote for us, of course, anybody that feels so inclined, we would really appreciate it....if we win, it definitely will help us get to different places where we have a lot of audience, especially in the United States, where we’ve never really been able to go.” Vaadeland said.

Voting is open to the public online until April 8. While Vaadeland says the prospect of winning is exciting, he is happier to be able to continue doing what he loves.

“As long as I can make my living doing it, I’m happy...I like to keep busy as if I’m actually doing work. Everybody’s got to work for a living. I don’t need to sit at home and do nothing. So, I like to get out and be, be an entertainer, get on the stage and work the crowds.” Vaadeland said.

The country singer has toured across Canada and much of Europe but always looks forward to returning home to his Cut Knife community.

“It means a lot to me to have a lot of people from Saskatchewan letting me know how much it means to them. I never would have thought that anybody really care about what I’m doing, but to see how much people actually support you go out of their way to tell you that they’re happy for you and that you make them proud, just by doing what you want to do, that’s really something.” Vaadeland said.

The next big project for Vaadeland will be the release of his new album ‘One More Dollar to Go’, near the end of the month.