Canadian Country Artist Amanda Keeles Releases New Single From Upcoming Debut Album, “Can’t Stop Me Now”
London, Ontario-based finance professional turned Country artist, Amanda Keeles, recently celebrated her first full year in the music industry. Having waited until her children reached adulthood and breaking free from a long-standing relationship that hindered her creative pursuits, the soaring vocalist and emotive songwriter made her triumphant entrance into the Canadian music scene one full year ago in January 2023.
In her debut year, Keeles’ first three singles made waves, landing on SiriusXM’s Top of The Country channel and receiving extensive airplay on Canadian commercial radio. Her ethereal vocals, coupled with storytelling lyrics, evoke the essence of Country music tradition. With zero to over 17,000 followers on social media, Keeles’ burgeoning fan base and attention from music industry heavyweights attest to her rising star power.
Pulling from the pages of her songbook she continued to fill throughout the years, Keeles courageously stepped down from her role in finance and into the artistic world, partnering with Grammy and Canadian Country Music Award (CCMA) nominated producer Johnny Gasparic at Calgary’s five-time CCMA winning recording studio, MCC Recording Studio, where she recorded all of the songs on her upcoming debut album.
Announcing the release of Can’t Stop Me Now – her very first album, decades in the making, Amanda has just released a biographical, and inspirational single of the same name.
Recorded at the award-winning MCC Recording Studio in Calgary, AB, “Can’t Stop Me Now” was produced by Johnny Gasparic and features musicians Justin Kudding (Brett Kissel), Joey McIntyre, Keith Floen, Therry Lawson, and Bill Blayney. “Can’t Stop Me Now” was written by Keeles herself, and brought to life by Gasparic and the all-star team of Canadian musicians.
Congratulations on your first full year in the music industry and the release of “Can’t Stop Me Now”! How does it feel to have made such significant strides in your music career in just one year?
It’s been wild, really when you think about it! The momentum just keeps growing. I released three singles last year. Each song is very different. The radio was warm to welcome each song to air. All three made it to the top 10 on the Canadian Indie Top 100 chart, Sirius XM radio, US stations as well as Australia and UK. One of them was a finalist in the World Songwriting Awards and appeared several times as top downloaded and Spotify streamed. My music videos suddenly started gaining a lot of watches.
While I did not do many live performances last year, I was watching other artists, learning about the industry, and writing and recording the final songs for the album.
In 2024, we are hitting the ground running. debut album release March 2nd, title track release to radio this month, an outstanding group of musicians making up our band, on my first headlining tour hitting some of the best venues in Ontario and CMA Ontario Artist of the Month.
This year is going to be a full year of touring and promoting the album. Several singles from the album will be released to radio this year.
“Can’t Stop Me Now” is both biographical and inspirational. What inspired you to write this song, and what message do you hope listeners take away from it?
This song sums it up for me. I wrote “Can’t Stop Me Now” as I really cannot describe this journey any other way. The bold life changes I made, the empowering feeling of doing what I love, and shaking things up to find that inner happiness.. which for me is creating music. When listeners hear this song, I hope they feel that driving energy and empowering feeling to create their own destiny by doing what makes them happy. Finding the courage to make changes, find new paths, to get you to where you want to be.
Partnering with Grammy and CCMA-nominated guitarist & producer Johnny Gasparic at MCC Recording Studio must have been an exciting opportunity. Can you tell us about your experience working with him and the team of musicians on your upcoming debut album?
I was very fortunate to have Johnny agree to record my songs! And at MCC Recording Studio, the 5-time CCMA Recording Studio of the Year. I sent my simple piano and acoustic demos to him. He never commented on them, so I never knew what he was thinking! But he told me once, that a song will have a new life in the studio. From the minute he hears the demo, his ideas start to flow. Johnny is incredibly creative when adding instruments and vocals to a track. He called in some of the best musicians in the industry, Justin Kudding, Chris Byrne, Joey McIntyre, Keith Floen, Bill Blayney, and Therry Lawson. I was in the booth listening to my song coming back in stereo, so full and so much life. Johnny has that special way of setting tempo, blending instruments, and knowing harmony sweet spots. I listen closely to him when I am in the booth laying the vocal tracks. He is an amazing guitar player as well as specialty instrument player.
We recorded the first songs in 2022. I flew back to Calgary twice last year to record the final songs for the album and was fortunate that the same musicians came in for each song. Justin Kudding played bass on 3 of the tracks this past October including “Can’t Stop Me Now”.
Your singles have already received significant attention on platforms like SiriusXM’s Top of The Country channel and commercial radio throughout Canada. How does it feel to see your music resonate with audiences on such a wide scale?
I am so thrilled that people are enjoying my music! To see it get added to rotation on commercial radio across Canada and other countries, popular playlists, and SiruisXM, is an awesome feeling! Every song on my album is completely different, written at different times of my life. Some classic country, pop, and rock influences. Something a little different for every listener. I can’t wait for everyone to hear them!
Your fan base on social media has grown exponentially in just one year. How do you engage with your fans, and how has their support influenced your journey as an artist?
I did not use any social media prior to January of 2023. I actually had someone help me get started! As soon as I began getting comfortable with posting I started getting more and more messages from people. I experimented with a few ads as an introduction to my Facebook music page, adding links to my music, and suddenly my page was lighting up with followers and likes. I answered those who reached out and said they liked my song and thanked them for listening and liking my page. And those people are still following me and sending messages months and months later. Instagram is still growing and I really need to TikTok more!!
Connect with Amanda Keeles:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok