CUT KNIFE — The Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music Society Festival have announced its lineup for the Aug. 14 weekend, with Juno Award-winning Jake Vaadeland & The Sturgeon River Boys headlining on Aug. 15. Although this is the first time the group will grace the stage together, it is not the first time the Vaadeland name has been announced at the annual festival.
Vaadeland’s father, Gord, was one of the first board members to establish the festival in 2006. As a frontman for a few different bluegrass bands at the time, Gord was approached with the idea of the festival, was asked to join the board of directors and became the group's entertainment director.
“I knew a lot of bands, so really that first year we kept it pretty small. We brought in bands that we knew would be cohesive, and we got a decent turnout for the first year,” said Gord. With many of the board members also being associated with the Ness Creek Festival, the Northern Lights Bluegrass Festival was able to use the site for their August dates.
“The group has a lot of people who knew how to put on a festival. We had access to professional people, like a stage manager, sound technician crews, other foundational people to make things easier,” he added.
For the first few years of the festival, Gord served not only as a board member and entertainment director, he also MC’d the event and played on stage with some of his bands. With the festival so close to his home near Big River, Gord was also able to bring his young son, Jake, for many years as well.
Jake said that he remembers attending the festival as a kid, with lots of impromptu jam sessions and varying sounds of the musicians. It was also where he met Jaxon Lalonde, his banjo player.
“We never really met; we just always knew each other there. I’d see him playing banjo and thought he was pretty cool. I actually looked up to him at one time, as he is a little bit older than me and he had known how to play banjo long before I did,” said Jake. Lalonde’s mother was also a member of the Northern Lights Bluegrass Festival board.
During his younger years attending the festival, Jake spent a lot of time backstage with the performers, which inspired him to hone in on his signature sound and musical style. Although the young musician was unable to recall all the bands' names that helped influence him, he recalled watching the Po’ Ramblin’ Boys on the Northern Lights Bluegrass stage.
“They were all dressed up in suits and hats, and they revolved around an older-style microphone, like the one I use. The way they performed was so good; they would go from song to song, sometimes without a pause in between, and then they would do their talking bit. I thought that was so tight and the most traditional way of performing I had seen at the festival,” said Jake.
At the time, 12-year-old Jake admired the band’s banjo player, Jereme Brown.
“The way he stood up there with a good, straight posture, his banjo way up high and belting it out there, it inspired me to pick up the banjo. When I saw him and how he was on stage, I kind of wanted to be that guy too. I never had a chance to tell him that; I wonder if I’ll run into him again someday,” he added.
The Northern Lights Bluegrass and Old Tyme Music Society has seen some big names from the bluegrass genre on stage over the past 20 years. Sierra Hull, a two-time Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter and mandolin player who has been endorsed by Allison Krauss; Los Texmaniacs, a group who won the 2010 Grammy for Best Tejano Album; Le Vent du Nord, a Quebec folk band that features the French instrument, the hurdy-gurdy; and Molly Tuttle, the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Guitar Player of the Year award, are just a few names to show their talents at the Saskatchewan music festival.
Gord decided to leave the board after five years, turning his attention to running a tourism company and allowing fresh ideas to come to the table. Although he was no longer on the board, he stayed involved as MC for a few more years until he became more involved in Jake’s music career as manager.
With Jake and the Sturgeon River Boys headlining on Saturday evening, Gord said the band is being recognized not only as a local homegrown act, but also for the merits of their success.
“They weren’t given this; they’ve earned it. It’s super cool, and it’s a big feather in the cap for the festival to ultimately grow your own headliner,” added Gord.
The young musician has recently released an album, This is Jake Vaadeland, where he recorded 23 songs in one day with an old RCA microphone and his guitar. He has also recorded another album with his band, which will be released sometime in 2027. The group will continue to tour across Canada before travelling back overseas to tour across the United Kingdom.
