The Demos, Jess Moskaluke Interview & 5 Quick Questions
As we manage our ways through a Canadian winter, a pandemic, and an uncertain immediate future, Jess Moskaluke is preparing to release a new album called The Demos. We caught up with Jess over Zoom to talk about the album, how it came together, what it took to make it, and more.
We also played a new round of 5 Quick Questions with her, and you can hit play on that video a little further down in this post.
Our call started with congratulations on The Demos, but not just in the usual context of having new music to release, but with the added weight of doing it at a time when artists and writers and producers can’t gather to work together on the music the way they usually would. What we learned from Jess though, is that the pandemic is the reason we have this album, not something that held it back.
“It’s kinda funny. It’s because of the pandemic that this record did happen to be totally honest. I was gung ho that I didn’t want to put out an album after the last album, which was Past The Past, I was like ‘Okay, this is probably my last album for a while. For the foreseeable future, I want to put out singles.’ Not that I wanted to stop making music, I wanted to put out more music, more often. And in my mind, releasing singles was the way to do that. But, then the pandemic changed and it wasn’t easy to get into a studio.” She talked about the challenges of changing guidelines and being able to her ability to record as well as her producer’s ability to get into his Nashville studio to work on music. And that leads us to the album.
“I thought, we could wait out the pandemic and hope that it ends soon, or we could do something to spite it. And I went back into my catalogue and I realized I have so many songs that I have not properly recorded that I love that don’t have a home yet.” Jess told me that when she writes, she likes to write to track (which includes creating a beat and musical track while writing the lyrics) which meant that she had a library of partially produced songs in demo form. And because we don’t know when anything will get back to normal and safe, she decided “You know what, we could add to these. We could fix these up from afar, virtually, and they can sound just as good as any of my other songs.”
That idea and process is also what drove the title of the album and the inclusion of three demo tracks on the album (Mapdot, Leave Each Other Alone, Halfway Home) – and it works.
Jess Moskaluke – Mapdot
While we were talking about The Demos as an album and collection of songs, I also asked Jess about the theme of love that I found running throughout.
Joshua: “The very first thing I noticed when I was listening, (is that) there’s a lot of love on this record. Like, in different ways. Country boys love country girls and the love of a good man in a small town and first date meet at the bar love… did you know this going in, is this a theme?”
Jess: “It wasn’t necessarily intentional, but in some ways it was… Halfway Home was the first song that I had written after Clay and I got married, so I was like ‘I guess it’s probably time to stop writing about breakups because it doesn’t look like that’s going to be happening any time soon.’ So ya, it’s natural that you would see that that’s a theme and it’s a happier album and it’s a little more love song-y than normal… It’s definitely a half-intentional theme if that makes sense. I knew I was doing it, but I wasn’t intending for this to be a love song album.”
We also talked about the process of making these songs, finishing the production and recording and I asked if there’s anything Jess has learned in the making of The Demos that she’ll be able to hold onto for future projects. She said that realizing that having solid vocals on writing days has been a revelation she’ll keep in mind for the future as well as knowing that, in a pinch, these alternative ways of working with her producer (for example) is available to them. Jess also told me that she’s been learning more about the recording process of her vocals at home, which is not something she’d done before.
She laughed and said, “When people are asking if we’re learning new hobbies, I’m like ‘no, I’m learning new things that I have to do for my job’.”
Jess Moskaluke – Halfway Home
Note: We talked a bunch on our call about Jess Moskaluke’s duet with Australian artist Travis Collins on Leave Each Other Alone. The duet and the solo demo of the track are both on The Demos, stay tuned for the release so you can hear them and for our review for some insight from Jess about the song and process.
One of the questions we often (almost always) find ourselves asking on calls like these is, what’s next? And even in the most perfectly normal of times, that question is awkward because we are simultaneously celebrating the completion of something and getting ready for its release – and jumping right past it to whatever the next shiny new project might be. And, in the middle of a pandemic, it’s even more awkward.
Jess started her answer with the matter-of-fact point that she was supposed to be on tour right now. But she’s not. “I really don’t know what’s next,” she said, “I genuinely, for the first time in my career, have no clue.”
She talked about the hope that this new album connects with fans and does well and the hope that things open up again soon (and safely), but balanced the hope on that last one with the reality that it may be further away than we all have hoped or would like it to be.
And so, with all of that in mind, I don’t know seems like a very fair answer.
Jess Moskaluke won her first of three consecutive Female Artist of the Year Awards and the CCMAs in 2014. At that time, there wasn’t much radio play for women (especially Canadian women) and the list of women being nominated was consistently talented, but rarely well-known for current hits. In the years since, we’ve seen the rise of artists like Meghan Patrick, MacKenzie Porter, Madeline Merlo, Tenille Townes, Tenille Arts, Lindsay Ell, and more. There has been more radio play and chart success. And, when we see the final list of nominees each year, we notice who is not there because we know these artists and hear more of their music on a regular basis.
Jess said that she’s very happy to still be acknowledged in a group with those artists as the recognition grows. And she’s happy with the increase of success for everyone, not just the women, in Canadian country – pointing directly at the increased frequency and amount of #1 singles. She said, “For a long time, Canadian artists across the border were almost sort of looked down on because we couldn’t get #1s in our own country so they kind of always felt like they always had the upper hand, and I don’t think it ever needed to be that way. So I’m really happy to see that we can get that support here in our home country… It’s a good time for Canadians in general right now,” adding, “Kudos to our friends at radio for making sure Canadian songs are first and foremost.”
As we wrapped up that topic Jess said something that I think encapsulates where we’re all at with celebrating the overall success of the industry – and also whenever anyone in our own orbit does well. I noted that we’ve hit a point where we can look at the 5 finalists for the Female Artist of the Year Award and wonder how a bunch of women aren’t on the list and Jess replied, “Exactly, what a great problem to have. I mean, that sucks, and like, every single year, there are more people I’m like ‘Oh my God there’s no way I’m going to make this list’… It’s so cool to celebrate those things with everybody, but in the back of your mind you’re like ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve gotta step it up!’”
Now, hit play on the video for a new round of 5 Quick Questions with Jess Moskaluke (we previously played a round in October 2017 and for the 2020 holiday season) to find out which album she’s reaching for, who she’d love to tour with, where she would like to fly away to on vacation, and more!
5 Quick Questions with Jess Moskaluke
Thank very much to Jess Moskaluke for taking the time to hang out and catch up. We look forward to seeing her in person again when it is safe to do so, and for all of you to hear the 11 tracks on The Demos.
Now, hit play on Jess Moskaluke’s very first #1 single, Country Girls and stay tuned for more!
Related: Jess Moskaluke Scores First #1 Single with Country Girls
Jess Moskaluke – Country Girls
Jess Moskaluke, The Demos Tracklist
1. Country Girls
2. Nothing I Don’t Love About You
3. Mapdot
4. Too Much Too Soon
5. Leave Each Other Alone ft. Travis Collins
6. Halfway Home
7. Drive His Truck
8. No Place Like You
9. Mapdot (Demo)
10. Leave Each Other Alone (Demo)
11. Halfway Home (Demo)
Author profile
creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.
(Click Image)
Black Lives Matter. Learn. Donate.
The Demos, Jess Moskaluke Interview & 5 Quick Questions
By Joshua Murray
As we manage our ways through a Canadian winter, a pandemic, and an uncertain immediate future, Jess Moskaluke is preparing to release a new album called The Demos. We caught up with Jess over Zoom to talk about the album, how it came together, what it took to make it, and more.
We also played a new round of 5 Quick Questions with her, and you can hit play on that video a little further down in this post.
Our call started with congratulations on The Demos, but not just in the usual context of having new music to release, but with the added weight of doing it at a time when artists and writers and producers can’t gather to work together on the music the way they usually would. What we learned from Jess though, is that the pandemic is the reason we have this album, not something that held it back.
“It’s kinda funny. It’s because of the pandemic that this record did happen to be totally honest. I was gung ho that I didn’t want to put out an album after the last album, which was Past The Past, I was like ‘Okay, this is probably my last album for a while. For the foreseeable future, I want to put out singles.’ Not that I wanted to stop making music, I wanted to put out more music, more often. And in my mind, releasing singles was the way to do that. But, then the pandemic changed and it wasn’t easy to get into a studio.” She talked about the challenges of changing guidelines and being able to her ability to record as well as her producer’s ability to get into his Nashville studio to work on music. And that leads us to the album.
“I thought, we could wait out the pandemic and hope that it ends soon, or we could do something to spite it. And I went back into my catalogue and I realized I have so many songs that I have not properly recorded that I love that don’t have a home yet.” Jess told me that when she writes, she likes to write to track (which includes creating a beat and musical track while writing the lyrics) which meant that she had a library of partially produced songs in demo form. And because we don’t know when anything will get back to normal and safe, she decided “You know what, we could add to these. We could fix these up from afar, virtually, and they can sound just as good as any of my other songs.”
That idea and process is also what drove the title of the album and the inclusion of three demo tracks on the album (Mapdot, Leave Each Other Alone, Halfway Home) – and it works.
Jess Moskaluke – Mapdot
While we were talking about The Demos as an album and collection of songs, I also asked Jess about the theme of love that I found running throughout.
Joshua: “The very first thing I noticed when I was listening, (is that) there’s a lot of love on this record. Like, in different ways. Country boys love country girls and the love of a good man in a small town and first date meet at the bar love… did you know this going in, is this a theme?”
Jess: “It wasn’t necessarily intentional, but in some ways it was… Halfway Home was the first song that I had written after Clay and I got married, so I was like ‘I guess it’s probably time to stop writing about breakups because it doesn’t look like that’s going to be happening any time soon.’ So ya, it’s natural that you would see that that’s a theme and it’s a happier album and it’s a little more love song-y than normal… It’s definitely a half-intentional theme if that makes sense. I knew I was doing it, but I wasn’t intending for this to be a love song album.”
We also talked about the process of making these songs, finishing the production and recording and I asked if there’s anything Jess has learned in the making of The Demos that she’ll be able to hold onto for future projects. She said that realizing that having solid vocals on writing days has been a revelation she’ll keep in mind for the future as well as knowing that, in a pinch, these alternative ways of working with her producer (for example) is available to them. Jess also told me that she’s been learning more about the recording process of her vocals at home, which is not something she’d done before.
She laughed and said, “When people are asking if we’re learning new hobbies, I’m like ‘no, I’m learning new things that I have to do for my job’.”
Jess Moskaluke – Halfway Home
Note: We talked a bunch on our call about Jess Moskaluke’s duet with Australian artist Travis Collins on Leave Each Other Alone. The duet and the solo demo of the track are both on The Demos, stay tuned for the release so you can hear them and for our review for some insight from Jess about the song and process.
One of the questions we often (almost always) find ourselves asking on calls like these is, what’s next? And even in the most perfectly normal of times, that question is awkward because we are simultaneously celebrating the completion of something and getting ready for its release – and jumping right past it to whatever the next shiny new project might be. And, in the middle of a pandemic, it’s even more awkward.
Jess started her answer with the matter-of-fact point that she was supposed to be on tour right now. But she’s not. “I really don’t know what’s next,” she said, “I genuinely, for the first time in my career, have no clue.”
She talked about the hope that this new album connects with fans and does well and the hope that things open up again soon (and safely), but balanced the hope on that last one with the reality that it may be further away than we all have hoped or would like it to be.
And so, with all of that in mind, I don’t know seems like a very fair answer.
Jess Moskaluke won her first of three consecutive Female Artist of the Year Awards and the CCMAs in 2014. At that time, there wasn’t much radio play for women (especially Canadian women) and the list of women being nominated was consistently talented, but rarely well-known for current hits. In the years since, we’ve seen the rise of artists like Meghan Patrick, MacKenzie Porter, Madeline Merlo, Tenille Townes, Tenille Arts, Lindsay Ell, and more. There has been more radio play and chart success. And, when we see the final list of nominees each year, we notice who is not there because we know these artists and hear more of their music on a regular basis.
Jess said that she’s very happy to still be acknowledged in a group with those artists as the recognition grows. And she’s happy with the increase of success for everyone, not just the women, in Canadian country – pointing directly at the increased frequency and amount of #1 singles. She said, “For a long time, Canadian artists across the border were almost sort of looked down on because we couldn’t get #1s in our own country so they kind of always felt like they always had the upper hand, and I don’t think it ever needed to be that way. So I’m really happy to see that we can get that support here in our home country… It’s a good time for Canadians in general right now,” adding, “Kudos to our friends at radio for making sure Canadian songs are first and foremost.”
As we wrapped up that topic Jess said something that I think encapsulates where we’re all at with celebrating the overall success of the industry – and also whenever anyone in our own orbit does well. I noted that we’ve hit a point where we can look at the 5 finalists for the Female Artist of the Year Award and wonder how a bunch of women aren’t on the list and Jess replied, “Exactly, what a great problem to have. I mean, that sucks, and like, every single year, there are more people I’m like ‘Oh my God there’s no way I’m going to make this list’… It’s so cool to celebrate those things with everybody, but in the back of your mind you’re like ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve gotta step it up!’”
Now, hit play on the video for a new round of 5 Quick Questions with Jess Moskaluke (we previously played a round in October 2017 and for the 2020 holiday season) to find out which album she’s reaching for, who she’d love to tour with, where she would like to fly away to on vacation, and more!
5 Quick Questions with Jess Moskaluke
Thank very much to Jess Moskaluke for taking the time to hang out and catch up. We look forward to seeing her in person again when it is safe to do so, and for all of you to hear the 11 tracks on The Demos.
Now, hit play on Jess Moskaluke’s very first #1 single, Country Girls and stay tuned for more!
Related: Jess Moskaluke Scores First #1 Single with Country Girls
Jess Moskaluke – Country Girls
Jess Moskaluke, The Demos Tracklist
1. Country Girls
2. Nothing I Don’t Love About You
3. Mapdot
4. Too Much Too Soon
5. Leave Each Other Alone ft. Travis Collins
6. Halfway Home
7. Drive His Truck
8. No Place Like You
9. Mapdot (Demo)
10. Leave Each Other Alone (Demo)
11. Halfway Home (Demo)
Author profile
creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.
One comment on “The Demos, Jess Moskaluke Interview & 5 Quick Questions”