The Long Road Sit Down with Jade Turner
Now we are well into August, the countdown to The Long Road Festival has well and truly started and once again promises to be one of the highlights of the year in British country and Americana calendar. One of the most memorable events of the festival over the last three occurrences has been the Rissi Palmer curated Color Me Country takeover which looks to bring black, Latinx and indigenous artists to the forefront which will return for a fourth year and is set to feature one of our favourite artist discoveries of 2025.
We first saw Jade Turner back in January during the AMA-UK Americana Music Week at the Canadian Independent Music Association presented Canada House shortly before the release of her wonderful third studio album “Breathe”. Whilst our introduction was fairly late to the proud member of the Misipawistik Cree Nation, with a total of 27 nominations at the Manitoba Country Music Award’s in her native province, Jade has emerged as one of Canada’s most prominent indigenous female country music artists.
Hey Jade, great to see you and after seeing you in January, I’m so happy that you’re coming back. Have you heard from people or seen on socials what you’re letting yourself in for at TLR?
“I’ve seen the videos, I saw on YouTube from what they put out, but I haven't really seen the people's view of it yet. It looks fun though.”
I really like it, nice is just the easiest word to use but that undersells it to you. I’ve been doing festivals for about twenty five years and it’s definitely one of my favourites and the stage you are playing on Saturday is easily the best you will ever get to play! It’s a facia of a log cabin that they build with a working chimney and you get to play on the front porch of it. It'll be fun, are you playing any other shows while you're here as well? or just doing the festival?
“No, I'm just doing that one and I'm coming home. September's my busy time for festivals and stuff that are happening here. I'm just coming there just for that but I think the next time I go there though, I will be trying to plan something a little bit more and find where would be a good place to go for my audience.”
I think a lot of people are going to really enjoy what you do and the way that stage is run on the Saturday, it's a thing that a lot of people really focus on and want to spend a lot of time at. I think the thing that's so cool about what Rissi does with putting on that stage is how some people may think Color Me Country is just a voice for promoting black artists but last year she had Angie K who is from El Salvador playing so it's also a voice for Latinx artists and also people like you who are an indigenous artist.
“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to meeting everybody too, because there's very few of us in this industry and especially in the country music industry, right? So, being able to hang out with a whole group of us is going to be really nice and wholesome I feel like. I believe there's a bunch of us here in Canada, but we're all very spread apart. I try and all the indigenous artists here, there's a few black artists and I know one Latinx artist but there's not very many of us. I think in radio, the last time I’d seen the stats, it was less than 1% for people of colour, which I really like sad because there's a lot of really good storytelling, I know there's good music because I hear it all the time and I know these people then I know that both their stories and their songs are amazing. It's like, what's going on here? I'm really glad that Rissi does what she does because it just helps us, you know, build audiences, like in your area and not just there, but on her radio show and everything like that too. She's such a good person to have for all of the country music industry to go to.”
Country and Americana fans over here have had some exposure to one other indigenous artist from Canada for sure as William Prince who I know is from a different community to you but is someone that has toured here a lot and played a number of really big festival stages.
“A different community but Manitoba is so small that we all kind of know each other right? He is one of the best for sure, he is incredible and he's a really good voice for the indigenous community, for the world really and there is nobody else that can sing like that, he was born to do that. There’s a few more for sure that have been to the UK and I'm glad that there's more of us coming over and getting out there, for sure.”
You personally, you people are Cree, which from what I understand is one of the larger indigenous populations.
“Oh, yeah, there's a lot of Cree, but the community that I come from is a very small community, It's called Grand Rapids or Misipawistik Cree Nation. It's my home, I love it there and my dad was chief there most of my life, actually. He's not anymore, he’s retired now, but there’s definitely a huge community of Cree people all across Canada and I think like maybe in the States too. I'm not even sure, but for sure across Canada, it's one of the bigger populations of indigenous people.”
We first saw Jade Turner back in January during the AMA-UK Americana Music Week at the Canadian Independent Music Association presented Canada House shortly before the release of her wonderful third studio album “Breathe”. Whilst our introduction was fairly late to the proud member of the Misipawistik Cree Nation, with a total of 27 nominations at the Manitoba Country Music Award’s in her native province, Jade has emerged as one of Canada’s most prominent indigenous female country music artists.
Hey Jade, great to see you and after seeing you in January, I’m so happy that you’re coming back. Have you heard from people or seen on socials what you’re letting yourself in for at TLR?
“I’ve seen the videos, I saw on YouTube from what they put out, but I haven't really seen the people's view of it yet. It looks fun though.”
I really like it, nice is just the easiest word to use but that undersells it to you. I’ve been doing festivals for about twenty five years and it’s definitely one of my favourites and the stage you are playing on Saturday is easily the best you will ever get to play! It’s a facia of a log cabin that they build with a working chimney and you get to play on the front porch of it. It'll be fun, are you playing any other shows while you're here as well? or just doing the festival?
“No, I'm just doing that one and I'm coming home. September's my busy time for festivals and stuff that are happening here. I'm just coming there just for that but I think the next time I go there though, I will be trying to plan something a little bit more and find where would be a good place to go for my audience.”
I think a lot of people are going to really enjoy what you do and the way that stage is run on the Saturday, it's a thing that a lot of people really focus on and want to spend a lot of time at. I think the thing that's so cool about what Rissi does with putting on that stage is how some people may think Color Me Country is just a voice for promoting black artists but last year she had Angie K who is from El Salvador playing so it's also a voice for Latinx artists and also people like you who are an indigenous artist.
“Yeah, I’m really looking forward to meeting everybody too, because there's very few of us in this industry and especially in the country music industry, right? So, being able to hang out with a whole group of us is going to be really nice and wholesome I feel like. I believe there's a bunch of us here in Canada, but we're all very spread apart. I try and all the indigenous artists here, there's a few black artists and I know one Latinx artist but there's not very many of us. I think in radio, the last time I’d seen the stats, it was less than 1% for people of colour, which I really like sad because there's a lot of really good storytelling, I know there's good music because I hear it all the time and I know these people then I know that both their stories and their songs are amazing. It's like, what's going on here? I'm really glad that Rissi does what she does because it just helps us, you know, build audiences, like in your area and not just there, but on her radio show and everything like that too. She's such a good person to have for all of the country music industry to go to.”
Country and Americana fans over here have had some exposure to one other indigenous artist from Canada for sure as William Prince who I know is from a different community to you but is someone that has toured here a lot and played a number of really big festival stages.
“A different community but Manitoba is so small that we all kind of know each other right? He is one of the best for sure, he is incredible and he's a really good voice for the indigenous community, for the world really and there is nobody else that can sing like that, he was born to do that. There’s a few more for sure that have been to the UK and I'm glad that there's more of us coming over and getting out there, for sure.”
You personally, you people are Cree, which from what I understand is one of the larger indigenous populations.
“Oh, yeah, there's a lot of Cree, but the community that I come from is a very small community, It's called Grand Rapids or Misipawistik Cree Nation. It's my home, I love it there and my dad was chief there most of my life, actually. He's not anymore, he’s retired now, but there’s definitely a huge community of Cree people all across Canada and I think like maybe in the States too. I'm not even sure, but for sure across Canada, it's one of the bigger populations of indigenous people.”
In terms of when you sort of started making music, you said there hadn’t too many people that been prominent from the indigenous community but were there people that you were able to look up to and show you that it was possible?
“Definitely Crystal Shawanda for sure. I remember when she came out with a song called “You Can Let Go” and she was the first person I'd seen on CMT that looked similar to me, it was such an incredible feeling, I was like, oh my gosh, you did it. She’s not the only one, like, Willie Nelson is indigenous but there's a thing that we like that we like to point out in the indigenous community, which that there are a lot of Indigenous people out there, but the problem that we're having is that the indigenous people that are getting supported happen to be the ones that are very white presenting and, you know, like, that's not that's still not helping, right? Like, it does and we're very thankful, obviously, but it's not helping the overall situation of, there's different faces out there and there's different people. You've got to, you know, put more people of colour on your stages that actually look like the people in the reds. For me that was Crystal Shawanda and then there was also Shane Yellowbird who has now passed but you could tell immediately that they were indigenous and there were no questions about it. That representation really, really does matter to me. Crystal has helped me throughout my career and we wrote “Deadweight” together after that. She’s such an incredible voice for our indigenous community too, she's been in the business for so long, so she knows a lot more than we do and has dealt with a lot more than us. She's such a great writer and such a great human too, she's really, really been on my side, you know, for quite a while so, I'm really happy that she ended up on CMT that and I was able to see that. I watched her at Dauphin’s Countryfest, which is a country festival here in Manitoba and I was just so proud of her because I knew what that meant for the indigenous community and for brown people to be able to look at her and be like, oh, I can do this too.”
Do you feel that now as your career keeps progressing and more people are becoming aware of you, there is a bit of pressure or feel obliged to be sharing your story and representing the indigenous community in the same way Crystal was able to do for you? You know a way of showing what can be done where someone may see what you are doing and hope to follow you?
“I think so for sure, I don't want to, you know, represent my community in any negative manner so, I always make sure that I always come there ready to work, that I do a good job and not be horrible to the people that are working and all that kind of stuff because unfortunately, people try to paint the whole community as a whole where you don’t want people to remember oh, I met this Cree woman and she was not nice. It’s unfortunate that it happens because we're not all the same, obviously, but for me and for my family, I need to represent myself and my family in a good way. I don't look at it this pressure, though, I look at it as this is just how you should behave in general. The pressure for me, I guess, is continuing on it and trying to break down those doors that I just keep closing. They opened up for a little while and even just for women, like the women in the industry, when we talk about radio, I think that it used to be about 22%, which is really high back then and now it's down to 8%. It's just like, what is going on? Why are we going backwards again? I heard all these heartbreak songs from female artists when I was growing up but now it’s like where have these songs that can actually help people go? I feel like that's kind of gone lately and it's part of that, is because they won't play women but we have to play these stories too. Artists have a purpose in life and I think that's helping people, whether it's in a fun way or in the sad songs. There has always been so many good singer-songwriters and now I feel like it's just that those topics are gone, you know like, slowly going, not getting played.”
I think that's one of the cool things about “Breathe” when you listen to it as a record, where you've got a lot of different sounds and a lots of cool things in there. You’ve put out a couple of albums now and you know, a first record is this is my life's work so far and this is who I am, then your second record is, this is what I've got to say, and by the time you get onto record three, it's like, okay, I've done this for a little bit, I know kind of how things work and it becomes the chance to say this is the real me, I guess. Is that a fair way to sum up what “Breathe” is?
“I think so and I also was going through just a really tough time in my time where I just needed to let it out. Music for me has always been like an outlet for all the hard times too, right? I think I just got to the point where I was like, you know what, I just have to write what I want to write and I have to sing about these songs because I went through this for a reason. I'm one of those people that just can't go through something really crappy and then not get something positive about it, I have to get something positive, I have to win so, this is my way of like, okay, I'm going to come on top.”
One of my favourites on there is “Stay Wild Child and that one, along with a couple of the others on there, you wrote with Murray Pulver who is obviously one of the best in all facets of music.
“He's so amazing and he’s one of my really good friends at this point, because we've been working together for so long and he really gave me the chance to be comfortable in my song writing, he's really helped me open up and just tell me, no, you're good at this, just keep going. He’s been such a huge part of my music career for sure.”
What makes him so good to work with and as a writing partner? What makes Murray so special?
“I have a really strange way of writing, I don't play any instruments, I never have and I don't know if I ever will because I just can't pick it up, I don't know what it is. In my head, I could hear the song, but it's hard for me to portray that when I don't know how to say, you know, I don't even know what key my song is in most of the time. These guys tell me and I know that a lot of them are in B or B Minor and I'm like, oh, okay, cool and I'll just relay that later acting like I know what I'm doing, but I really don't ha-ha. When I write my songs, I wrote one this morning, actually, I finished one this morning I can hear it in my head so I sing it. I sing it into a voice note and I send it to him and then we just kind put the pieces together and it's like such a great experience because not very many people can get it the way that he does. He just hears it right away and it just flows really nicely. He's so talented, like, he's been in this business for a very long time and there's not very many like him. I got really spoiled, very spoiled actually so when I play with other guitar players, it's very hard for me to not be like, you’re not playing that right ha-ha. I’m really hard on everybody because I’m so spoiled with him and like, I have a really hard time hiring people now because Murray’s guitar playing skills are incredible and if you can't play it, you can't play it.”
“Definitely Crystal Shawanda for sure. I remember when she came out with a song called “You Can Let Go” and she was the first person I'd seen on CMT that looked similar to me, it was such an incredible feeling, I was like, oh my gosh, you did it. She’s not the only one, like, Willie Nelson is indigenous but there's a thing that we like that we like to point out in the indigenous community, which that there are a lot of Indigenous people out there, but the problem that we're having is that the indigenous people that are getting supported happen to be the ones that are very white presenting and, you know, like, that's not that's still not helping, right? Like, it does and we're very thankful, obviously, but it's not helping the overall situation of, there's different faces out there and there's different people. You've got to, you know, put more people of colour on your stages that actually look like the people in the reds. For me that was Crystal Shawanda and then there was also Shane Yellowbird who has now passed but you could tell immediately that they were indigenous and there were no questions about it. That representation really, really does matter to me. Crystal has helped me throughout my career and we wrote “Deadweight” together after that. She’s such an incredible voice for our indigenous community too, she's been in the business for so long, so she knows a lot more than we do and has dealt with a lot more than us. She's such a great writer and such a great human too, she's really, really been on my side, you know, for quite a while so, I'm really happy that she ended up on CMT that and I was able to see that. I watched her at Dauphin’s Countryfest, which is a country festival here in Manitoba and I was just so proud of her because I knew what that meant for the indigenous community and for brown people to be able to look at her and be like, oh, I can do this too.”
Do you feel that now as your career keeps progressing and more people are becoming aware of you, there is a bit of pressure or feel obliged to be sharing your story and representing the indigenous community in the same way Crystal was able to do for you? You know a way of showing what can be done where someone may see what you are doing and hope to follow you?
“I think so for sure, I don't want to, you know, represent my community in any negative manner so, I always make sure that I always come there ready to work, that I do a good job and not be horrible to the people that are working and all that kind of stuff because unfortunately, people try to paint the whole community as a whole where you don’t want people to remember oh, I met this Cree woman and she was not nice. It’s unfortunate that it happens because we're not all the same, obviously, but for me and for my family, I need to represent myself and my family in a good way. I don't look at it this pressure, though, I look at it as this is just how you should behave in general. The pressure for me, I guess, is continuing on it and trying to break down those doors that I just keep closing. They opened up for a little while and even just for women, like the women in the industry, when we talk about radio, I think that it used to be about 22%, which is really high back then and now it's down to 8%. It's just like, what is going on? Why are we going backwards again? I heard all these heartbreak songs from female artists when I was growing up but now it’s like where have these songs that can actually help people go? I feel like that's kind of gone lately and it's part of that, is because they won't play women but we have to play these stories too. Artists have a purpose in life and I think that's helping people, whether it's in a fun way or in the sad songs. There has always been so many good singer-songwriters and now I feel like it's just that those topics are gone, you know like, slowly going, not getting played.”
I think that's one of the cool things about “Breathe” when you listen to it as a record, where you've got a lot of different sounds and a lots of cool things in there. You’ve put out a couple of albums now and you know, a first record is this is my life's work so far and this is who I am, then your second record is, this is what I've got to say, and by the time you get onto record three, it's like, okay, I've done this for a little bit, I know kind of how things work and it becomes the chance to say this is the real me, I guess. Is that a fair way to sum up what “Breathe” is?
“I think so and I also was going through just a really tough time in my time where I just needed to let it out. Music for me has always been like an outlet for all the hard times too, right? I think I just got to the point where I was like, you know what, I just have to write what I want to write and I have to sing about these songs because I went through this for a reason. I'm one of those people that just can't go through something really crappy and then not get something positive about it, I have to get something positive, I have to win so, this is my way of like, okay, I'm going to come on top.”
One of my favourites on there is “Stay Wild Child and that one, along with a couple of the others on there, you wrote with Murray Pulver who is obviously one of the best in all facets of music.
“He's so amazing and he’s one of my really good friends at this point, because we've been working together for so long and he really gave me the chance to be comfortable in my song writing, he's really helped me open up and just tell me, no, you're good at this, just keep going. He’s been such a huge part of my music career for sure.”
What makes him so good to work with and as a writing partner? What makes Murray so special?
“I have a really strange way of writing, I don't play any instruments, I never have and I don't know if I ever will because I just can't pick it up, I don't know what it is. In my head, I could hear the song, but it's hard for me to portray that when I don't know how to say, you know, I don't even know what key my song is in most of the time. These guys tell me and I know that a lot of them are in B or B Minor and I'm like, oh, okay, cool and I'll just relay that later acting like I know what I'm doing, but I really don't ha-ha. When I write my songs, I wrote one this morning, actually, I finished one this morning I can hear it in my head so I sing it. I sing it into a voice note and I send it to him and then we just kind put the pieces together and it's like such a great experience because not very many people can get it the way that he does. He just hears it right away and it just flows really nicely. He's so talented, like, he's been in this business for a very long time and there's not very many like him. I got really spoiled, very spoiled actually so when I play with other guitar players, it's very hard for me to not be like, you’re not playing that right ha-ha. I’m really hard on everybody because I’m so spoiled with him and like, I have a really hard time hiring people now because Murray’s guitar playing skills are incredible and if you can't play it, you can't play it.”
Well, to be fair, that instrument you use is pretty incredible as well. I saw you at Americana and was like, wow! This girl has some serious pies! Coming back to The Long Road, I'm assuming that's going to be a full band set that you're going to be playing on the Saturday, are they people you're bringing over with you or is it Rissi’s band that plays for everybody?
“I'm not bringing any of my players with me, Rissi brings the whole band in and yeah, all the artists kind of share the band. I have never met them before, I arrive on Thursday morning in London and Thursday afternoon, I'm rehearsing with them and that's all I got. I'm really excited for that experience because to pick up a whole band that I've never met before, hopefully it's portrays really well on the stage, like we jam together and I think it'll work, I think it'll be really great, I’m really looking forward to it and I’m really excited.
Like I said earlier that Front Porch Stage is probably the best stage I’ve seen at any festival in terms of the sound, the theming and the aesthetic plus the atmosphere is always really good. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat, I’m really looking forward to getting to see you again where you will show everyone what you do and show off those pipes girl!
“Yes! I'm gonna come sing away and sing for everybody I'm so excited, I'm really looking forward to it!”
The new album “Breathe” from Jade Turner is out now and available HERE. Jade returns to the UK this month to perform at The Long Road festival in Lutterworth and you can keep up to date with all that she is up to on her WEBSITE INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK.
The Long Road Festival takes place at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire over the weekend of August 22nd to 24th where you can find ticket details and further information on their WEBSITE and you can be the first to know all updates ahead of the event by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
“I'm not bringing any of my players with me, Rissi brings the whole band in and yeah, all the artists kind of share the band. I have never met them before, I arrive on Thursday morning in London and Thursday afternoon, I'm rehearsing with them and that's all I got. I'm really excited for that experience because to pick up a whole band that I've never met before, hopefully it's portrays really well on the stage, like we jam together and I think it'll work, I think it'll be really great, I’m really looking forward to it and I’m really excited.
Like I said earlier that Front Porch Stage is probably the best stage I’ve seen at any festival in terms of the sound, the theming and the aesthetic plus the atmosphere is always really good. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat, I’m really looking forward to getting to see you again where you will show everyone what you do and show off those pipes girl!
“Yes! I'm gonna come sing away and sing for everybody I'm so excited, I'm really looking forward to it!”
The new album “Breathe” from Jade Turner is out now and available HERE. Jade returns to the UK this month to perform at The Long Road festival in Lutterworth and you can keep up to date with all that she is up to on her WEBSITE INSTAGRAM & TIKTOK.
The Long Road Festival takes place at Stanford Hall in Leicestershire over the weekend of August 22nd to 24th where you can find ticket details and further information on their WEBSITE and you can be the first to know all updates ahead of the event by checking out their socials on INSTAGRAM or FACEBOOK.
