At a time where music sales are difficult to come by, fans have been buying Canadian-duo High Valley’s latest single, “Make You Mine” featuring bluegrass icon Ricky Scaggs, at an impressive rate. It’s just been awesome,” Brad Rempel says of their journey with the song.
The upbeat single reflects Brad and Curtis Rempel’s self-proclaimed status as “bluegrass freaks.” “My brother and I grew up on so much harmony,” Brad explains. “We love Shenandoah, Diamond Rio and Alabama.” In particular, he says, “Ricky Scaggs was our role model growing up,” which gives “Make You Mine” a special place in the duo’s hearts.
In writing for their latest album, “County Line,” the brothers combined their inspiration from these traditional influences with the modern day “bluegrass flair” they’d heard on pop radio from bands like the Lumineers, Mumford and Sons, and The Civil Wars. To fully capture the pop elements inherent in contemporary hits from these bands, the brothers hired Grammy-winning producer/songwriter Seth Mosley (KING & COUNTRY, Michael W. Smith, Francesca Battistelli) as their producer for the album.
“We tried so hard to push the elements of the production way pop,” Brad explains. “Then vocally, lyrically we kept it real bluegrass-y. Curtis and I call it pop-grass. People are stomping their feet and having a hoedown at our shows, but at the same time it’s also current sounding music.”
Part of the duo’s success lies in their ability to serve as a bridge between the modern sounds of today’s country and the faith based values on which the genre was founded. “I think for a lot of artists right now, when they’re being real and authentic, they’re singing about the Friday night parties and all that kind of stuff. For Curtis and I, when we’re being authentic, we’re singing about faith, family and farming.”
In putting together County Line, Brad and Curtis aimed to put a slightly different spin on these three signature elements of faith family and farming. “Sometimes, because we sing about such serious topics, our albums can be a little heavy lyrically,” Brad explains. “This time we were like man, let’s make sure this is more fun than people have ever had listening to High Valley both live and on the record.”
For High Valley fans, the County Line fun started far before the album’s release date. The duo enlisted the help of their fan club to help narrow down the final track listing from 18 to 10 songs by sending the contenders out and asking the fans to vote for their favorites. “It’s just cool for us. If you had told us a few years ago that we’d have fans in the first place we wouldn’t have believed it,” he laughs.
It’s safe to say that High Valley will be amassing quite a few new fans throughout the rest of the year, as they’re slated to play on some pretty impressive stages in 2015, including opening for Justin Moore and Brad Paisley at the Boots and Hearts Festival in Toronto. In addition to hearing them perform their usual album hits, fans will get the rare treat of seeing them cover bluegrass versions of pop songs from artists like the Backstreet Boys, One Direction, and Buck Owens. In between rocking out to various covers and their own hits, Brad says that concertgoers can expect to enjoy a taste of High Valley’s “weird sarcastic sense of humor” on stage.
When they’re not hard at work on songwriting, recording, or on the road, you’re likely to find Brad and Curtis cheering on the Nashville Predators at home games. Brad jokes, “at the end of the day I only sing country music so I can meet hockey players!”
Stay in touch with High Valley this summer as they hit the road on Facebook, Twitter, and their Website.