The Prairie States

The Prairie States Bio

A newer garden of creation, no primal solitude,
Dense, joyous, modern, populous millions, cities and farms,
With iron interlaced, composite, tied, many in one,
By all the world contributed—freedom's and law's and thrift's society,
The crown and teeming paradise, so far, of time's accumulations,
To justify the past.
- Walt Whitman

Born out of the same creative space as Walt’s poem, a desire for a modern touch on a classic design. Focused on cadence and rhythms of 60’s soul, 70’s rock and teeming with a modern country vibe, the band is poised to cut its own swath through the Canadian music scene. Singer Mat Cardinal met the rest of the band through his relentless parade of open mic spots and cover shows in and around Edmonton AB. Band leader and guitarist Jeff Dick saw a spark and heard a roar from the young Cardinal and assembled a grizzled and veteran group to deliver this voice to the world. The band spent 2 years writing and woodshedding with some of Edmonton’s finest such as The Dungarees, The Boom Chucka Boys, and Jay Sparrow. They periodically took these new songs to the city with opening spots for Joey Landreth, Joey Wright and Todd Stewart. They saw which songs stuck and which needed to go. Armed with a undeniable 8 tracks they got in the studio with producer Jay Sparrow (Scenic Route To Alaska, Owls By Nature) and mixer/engineer Brad Smith (Nuela Charles, iamhill) to lay down their debut record Lost In The Right Direction. It's on track to be released in summer 2018 and the band is planning to hit the road to celebrate... put their boots on stages, let the strings and cymbals ring out over the prairie nights. Like Walt said: “Dense, joyous, modern… to justify the past.”

HOMETOWN: Edmonton

Project WILD Bootcamp song co-write pairing: Mikaila Cooper

LINKS

theprairiestates.com
ThePrairieStatesBand
@prairiestates
@theprairiestates

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5 Questions With... The Prairie States

Mat Cardinal answered on behalf of the band.

  1.  What brought you to country/roots music?
    I grew up in a small town with a lake close by. Every summer my Pops and I would go fishing and he would have the country music blaring. We’d listen to legends like The Highwaymen and Brooks & Dunn. Country music is feel good music that gives me a sense of home.

  2. When did you write your first song - as an artist or with a band?

    Jeff and I started writing a couple years ago. One of the first songs we wrote was “We’re The Storm” which happened to make our new record, Lost In The Right Direction! The funny thing is we weren’t writing to specifically target a country audience, we were just writing and country music came out.

  3. If you could go on tour opening to any performing artist right now, who would it be?
    A couple of the band mates and I went to see Chris Stapleton when he was in Edmonton last September and he blew our minds. The emotion and professionalism he gives on stage is inspiring. It would be a dream of ours to open or co write with that incredible man.

  4. What is the best trend in country/roots music right now?

    The changes in melodies and lyrical composition. We’re fans of the R&B and Rock n Roll melodies that are in songs like Keith Urban’s ‘Blue ain’t your color’, Jason Aldean’s ‘You make it easy’ and the rock/soul sounds of Chris Stapleton.

  5. What part of Project WILD are you most looking forward to?

    We are looking forward to becoming good friends with the other artists. There’s an exceptional amount of talent at Project Wild this year. A week with artistic/ business oriented peers gives us all a big head start in the music business. We’re looking forward to “soaking it all up” at Boot Camp this year!