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Owen Riegling
“Old Dirt Roads”
About Owen Riegling
Country rising star, singer-songwriter, Owen Riegling drops his second single and accompanying lyric video for “Old Dirt Roads” via Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. The song highlights his talent as a vocalist and undeniable skill as a wordsmith. Riegling traveled to Nashville to record and collaborate with notable producer, Brad Hill (Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris, Brett Young), to bring his storytelling to life.
“I wrote this song at a time when I was living in the city for school. I was real sick of all the cars and traffic and started reminiscing on homeland how I grew up. Thinking about my friends and how we used to drive around backroads cause there was nothing else to do. My family has a 100-acre farm, the view from the back window of the wheat field — and just how peaceful that really is. Sometimes it’s easy to take for granted the simple things like that. But being away from it for a while sure made me want it back,” shares Riegling. “‘Old Dirt Roads’ paints the picture of where I grew up and where I currently still live, a place that is a part of me, a place that I plan to settle down and raise kids so they can have the luxury of growing up in a wide open spaces like I did. The “land of the wicked” if you will.”
About Owen Riegling
Today, country rising star, singer-songwriter, Owen
Riegling drops his second single and accompanying lyric video for “Old Dirt Roads” via Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company. The song highlights his talent as a vocalist and undeniable skill as a wordsmith. Riegling traveled to Nashville to record and collaborate with notable producer, Brad Hill (Brothers Osborne, Maren Morris, Brett Young), to bring his storytelling to life.
“I wrote this song at a time when I was living in the city for school. I was real sick of all the cars and traffic and started reminiscing on homeland how I grew up. Thinking about my friends and how we used to drive around backroads cause there was nothing else to do. My family has a 100-acre farm, the view from the back window of the wheat field — and just how peaceful that really is. Sometimes it’s easy to take for granted the simple things like that. But being away from it for a while sure made me want it back,” shares Riegling. “‘Old Dirt Roads’ paints the picture of where I grew up and where I currently still live, a place that is a part of me, a place that I plan to settle down and raise kids so they can have the luxury of growing up in a wide open spaces like I did. The “land of the wicked” if you will.”
After winning the 2022 Emerging Artists Showcase at the Canadian country music mega-fest Boots & Hearts, Riegling signed his record deal with Universal Music Canada. Since the release of debut single, “Love (The Sweater Song)”, it’s been steadily climbing up the Canadian country radio charts and has garnered over 1.2 million global streams. Selected as iHeart Pure Country’s Future Star and currently Rogers Radio One To Watch for August, Riegling is maintaining his unstoppable pace and ready to make his mark on the music industry. Riegling performed at the 2023 CMAOntario awards and was also nominated for the Rising Star Award.
Riegling’s love for music has taken him from writing songs in his bedroom and playing in local bars to recording in Nashville and performing on the main stage of Canada’s largest country music festival. Fans can see Riegling perform today as opening act for Tim Hicks at Boots & Hearts, along with more festival dates throughout Summer.
About Josh Ross
Echoing the primary themes of country in his pop-rock-infused way, Josh Ross’s take on love, work, and play is often documented through his whirlwind experiences. From moving to Nashville the night of a tornado, leaving only a month later when a global pandemic arrived, to developing an ever-evolving career amidst the drawbacks of injuries, lockdowns, and conflicting relationships, Josh Ross is a country artist bound by the act of forging past and overcoming restraints. “There is something to be said about when your heart is really in the right place to sing something… As an artist, I want the listener and me to go back to a song and remember our exact experiences around it, to encourage connection in all forms,” Josh said. The need for that musical connection began growing up in Burlington, Ontario’s suburbia. Overhearing his parents sing along to Guns N Roses and Bruce Springsteen in their kitchen while he ran around the house pretending to play guitar. Learning in those early years what music was, he found himself writing words in his notebook that, at the time, he didn’t realize were poems and lyrics. Onwards through school, he focused on sports like motocross and football, eventually encountering the injuries that came with each game.
Following several football-related injuries at Ontario’s Western University, the isolation that came from the injuries allowed Josh some time to develop his relationship with music. Taking nearly empty shuttle buses to get to school due to the cast on his leg, learning how to play guitar in his dorm, and on a few noise-complaint occasions bringing two speakers and a subwoofer into the bathroom to belt songs, Josh eventually made the shift of not just listening to music but making his own.
“I had a lot of catching up to do,” Josh said on his first few years immersing himself in the music industry. From practicing in his dorm to playing his first live show at the Boots & Hearts Emerging Artist Showcase in front of 5,000 people, Josh stated that “I used to throw up before the football games because of the anxiety, which is probably why I threw up before that show. ” While the pressure to succeed in his sports days poured over into his music career, the drive to achieve inspired him to connect with various songwriters and musicians, eventually leading him to Nashville.
In conflict with choosing a stable job post-university or setting his sights on the music industry, Josh Ross’s passions, and talent, pushed him to the path of Nashville, where he further began developing his sound and artistry. From 2019 onwards, Josh Ross dove head-first into his music career as an artist with sonic elements in his music, nodding to raw country, soft rock, and hints of 80s pop-rock.
In early 2022, Josh pushed even further in his career with his major-label signing to Universal Music Canada, the country’s leading music company, and The Core Entertainment, the management company specializing in discovering and championing new talent in music. He joined the team as the second artist signed to UMC’s joint venture with The Core, a partnership designed to offer Canadian artists a collaborative and integrated approach to releasing music worldwide.
From his 2019 independent debut to now, the Nashville-based singer-songwriter quickly and impressively built a name for himself with a handful of songs that have now generated more than 179 million global streams. Often writing from personal experiences, Josh Ross has delivered versatile lyrics throughout his collection of songs. His major-label debut and now Platinum-certified track “On A Different Night” hit over 28.2 million streams, and his Platinum-certified cathartic ballad on romantic losses “First Taste of Gone” has continued to amass over 21.3 million streams since its release in early 2022 and peaked on the Top 5 Canadian Country Radio Charts. Ross captured attention across the US with placement on Spotify’s top country playlists like New Boots, Next From Nashville, Breakout Country and more. Along with his home country of Canada with the #1 country spot on Spotify Canada’s Viral 50 Chart and more, Apple Music’s Canada’s Country playlist as the cover artist and was selected as Apple Music Canada’s UP NEXT artist September 2022. Ross was also selected as the new face of Country Heat on Amazon Music which included billboards in Toronto and Nashville. Along the way, Ross also landed a spot as one of the SiriusXM Top of the Country Top 3 finalists and was nominated for Rising Star at the Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMA) in 2022. Ross is the top nominated artist at the 2023 CCMA’s including ‘Breakthrough Artist of the Year’, and ‘Single of the Year’. His recent singles, “Ain’t Doin’ Jack” is up to 5.6 million streams since it’s release in July and the radio hit “Trouble” hit #1 at Canadian Country Radio with over 70 million global streams and is certified Platinum.
Recently, Ross won ‘Breakthrough Artist of the Year’ at the 2023 Canadian Country Music Awards, where Ross also performed “Trouble” live on stage for fans in Hamilton and on TV broadcast presented by TD live on CTV / Bell Media.
Ross continues to carve out his place in Country music across the nation with chart-topping music releases and electrifying performances. Performances include opening for Parker McCollum, Bailey Zimmerman, Lee Brice, Tenille Arts, Chase Rice and his recent North American tour opening for Nickelback and Brantley Gilbert’s extensive Get Rollin’ Tour throughout Summer/Fall 2023. Full list of dates available on his website.
With management services from The Core and a recorded music agreement with Universal, watch for much more to come from Josh Ross as he anchors himself as one of 2023’s most promising Country artists. Follow along at joshrossmusic.com.
About Owen Riegling
Owen Riegling is the kind of artist so down to earth his boots are always dirty. He’s a small town kid with his roots firmly planted in the songs he sings. When he sings about old dirt roads, young love or the simple pleasure of a cold beer on a Friday night, it’s not just words. He’s lived it. The 24-year-old singer-songwriter effortlessly captures the relatability of the most timeless country hits. Riegling is the winner of the 2022 Emerging Artists Showcase at Boots & Hearts festival, which is taking him from his small farming hometown of Mildmay, Ontario to Universal Music Canada, which will release his new singles this year. A small-town boy through and through, his music strikes an addictive balance between universal feelings and personal stories performed with his trademark laid-back charm.
About Gord Bamford
Australian-born and Alberta-raised, Gord Bamford stands as one of the most decorated artists in Canadian country music. He has built a loyal fanbase over the past decade with his traditional Country persona and captivating live shows and has been the recipient of 26 Canadian Country Music Association awards including Album of the Year, Single of the Year and Male Artist of the Year wins, along with receiving multiple JUNO Award nominations. With over 100 million streams and 5 billion audience impressions at radio globally, Bamford is a two-time recipient of the CMA Global Country Artist Award, with 28 Top 10 singles in Canada including the No. 1 hits “When Your Lips Are So Close” and “Dive Bar.” Bamford is also the 2019-2020 recipient of the MusiCounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award, presented by The Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation. The award recognizes individuals who have had an extraordinary impact on music education and MusiCounts over the course of its history. Since 2014, Gord Bamford and the Gord Bamford Foundation have donated $200,000 to MusiCounts to support school music programs. Bamford’s 2020 Drive-In for Mental Health performance series raised more than $100,000+ for Mental Health charities in Alberta. In addition, Bamford is the recipient of the 4-H Canada Distinguished Alumni Award and the CCMA Humanitarian of the Year Award. To date, Bamford has raised more than $5.08 Million dollars for various charities through the Gord Bamford Foundation. In January 2023 Bamford released “One Heartbeat From Heaven”, the emotionally-infused track included on his 11th studio album Fire It Up available now. Bamford will showcase the new album on his headlining cross-country Canadian Dirt Tour with stops through 2023 and more set to be announced at a later date.
About The Prairie States
Mixing the old with the new, The Prairie States formed out of a desire to put a fresh touch on a classic design. With eleven Country Music Alberta Awards under their belts including the 2023 Group Of The Year, as well as a recent nomination for 2022 CCMA Songwriters Of The Year, this Canadian country band is moving in the right direction.
Waiting On You, the new single from The Prairie States, a song all about how the best things in life are worth waiting for, is available now wherever you find your music