Laurie LeBlanc harnesses the power of summer in his album, Long Weekend
New Brunswick-based bilingual country artist Laurie LeBlanc unveiled his seventh album, Long Weekend, in August, along with his single of the same name.
The release is a double EP comprised of six brand new songs in English and sex in French.
Working with top producer Jason Barry once again, Laurie crafted the songs to convey a feel-good summer vibe in both languages. It’s all there in the second single, “Long Weekend.” Co-written by LeBlanc and his wife Jeannette, the song gives us the feeling of freedom and fun, the kind that Long Weekends give us.
Listen to Long Weekend below and learn more about Laurie via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi, My name is Laurie LeBlanc, and I’m a country music singer-songwriter from Bouctouche, NB. Since the debut of my solo career in 2010, I have recorded eight studio albums (four in French, two in English, and two bilingual). I’ve been very fortunate to tour the Canadian Coast to Coast and honoured to have received numerous nominations and awards by SOCAN, ECMA, Music NB, Canadian Country Francophone, Josie Music Awards, ADISQ, Éloizes, etc.
Tell us a bit about your music and writing style
My music style is somewhere between the 90s Country and today’s Country. I love to bring joy and happiness to my fans, so I generally write positive, feel-good, funny stuff. My French stuff has a distinctive style with a sizable helping of east coast Acadian flavour.
How have you been keeping creative during the Pandemic?
I had just finished recording my sixth album, When It’s Right It’s Right when the Pandemic started. We did a virtual release party in June 2020 in an empty theatre – no fun. After that, we realized we would have more time… we got to do summer stuff we never get to do during our busiest season. We did a lot of boating, fishing, campfires, etc. And boom… We had an idea… A summer album. We started writing summer songs (both French and English), and the whole concept started to fit together. We spent a lot of time writing at our family camp during the winter season. Writing fun summer songs during the year’s coldest days was challenging – in confinement. On August 19, 2022, we released our seventh recording project, Long Weekend, a double EP album.
At the start of the pandemic, we wanted to find a way to stay connected with our fans. We started a live video podcast on my Facebook Page titled “Monday LIVE with Laurie.” I’m still doing a live every Monday and proud to say that we just did our 113th “Monday LIVE with Laurie” on October 10, 2022.
If you were asked to suggest only one of your songs for someone to hear, which would it be?
Ouff, that’s a tough one. I will say “When It’s Right It’s Right” – a great song written by my friend and great international singer-songwriter “Don Mescall.” It tells us that when something happens, there’s a reason for it.
Canadian Beats is all about Canadian music, so who are your current favourite Canadian bands/artists?
There are so many great Canadian artists that I enjoy listening to. Among my favorites are Tenille Townes, Dean Brody, Brett Kissel
Connect with Laurie LeBlanc:
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