Warner Music Recording Artists and now 15 X Country Music Award winners The Washboard Union have defied classification and have become one of the most exciting and talked about new bands on the Country music scene.
This year the band took home Roots artist of the year for the second consecutive year at the 2017 Canadian Country Music Awards and were named Country Artist of the year at the Western Canadian Country Music Awards. In addition they won a record 7 2017 BC Country Music Awards this year alone. They have had 3 top 10 singles in Canada with “Maybe It’s the Moonshine” & “Shot of Glory” and now “Shine” and were certified gold this year for their single “Shot of Glory”.
They have recently shared the stage with: The Zac Brown Band, Keith Urban, The Band Perry, Reba McEntire, Dwight Yoakam, Lonestar, Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, Old Dominion and more.
I had a chance to catch up with David Roberts from The Washboard Union about their concert at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool, Nova Scotia in June, their new album to be released later this year and more.
Jenn: First of all, Tell me about The Washboard Union.
David: I’d like to think of us first as storytellers, songwriters and performers. The three of us have been writing & performing together for 10 years but it goes back longer than that with the two brothers (Grain & Duncombe) becoming step brothers when they were in their early teens. The band stems from beautiful British Columbia Canada where we all lived together in a big mansion in Vancouver and so it was natural that we would end up playing music together. The Washboard Union grew out of that friendship and love of music.
Jenn: Your track “Shot of Glory” was your first certified gold single- how did that feel?
David: It felt surreal, it has always been part of the dream but to be honest it has never been the goal… Writing good songs and then learning to write better songs, that’s the goal.
Jenn: You won Roots Group of the year at the CCMA’S and Country Artist of the year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Tell us about that? How did it feel?
David:It was pretty amazing to to be in a room full of people you admire and respect and walk away with an award. The CCMA family is pretty unique and to be invited into that great tradition with open arms speaks volumes about where country music is at right now, where it comes from and the always important where it is going.
Jenn: You are going to be in Liverpool, NS headlining their first Country Concert in June. Tell us about it? Is it your first time in Nova Scotia?
David: Is this our first time in Nova Scotia..? No, and we are looking forward to it because we love it there, plus David is a sailor so any day near the ocean is a good one. It will however be our first time in Liverpool NS and we are excited to be playing The Queens Place Emera Centre June 15th 2018 with our friends Jason Benoit and Autumn Carver. We have a great network of friends in NS which started back in 2015 when we played The Carleton in Halifax. We have been talking as a band about how we don’t spend nearly enough time in Eastern Canada so it will be good to change that…!
Jenn: Can you tell us about your new album coming out in April?
David: We are in Nashville right now putting the finishing touches on the new record before we head back home to Vancouver. We can tell you that we are excited about the new material and looking forward to playing it for our fans. It’s been an exciting album to write and record, in part because we’ve been working closely with two amazing producers Jeff Dalziel out of Toronto ON, and Matt Rovey in Nashville TN. This will be a new phase for us after the success of our last EP; this time it is a full album so we get to dig deeper musically.
Jenn: What other plans do you have for 2018?
David: Touring with Old Dominion is definitely going to be a highlight, we had the chance to play with the band last summer and somehow we were fortunate enough to be selected as an opening act on their upcoming Happy Endings Tour.
Keep up to date with The Washboard Union:
www.thewashboardunion.com
To buy tickets to their Liverpool, NS show on June 15th, 2018:
https://secure.ticketpro.ca/?lang=en&server=ww3#newSyos_achat_QPEC15FS18_ec8477b7-9125-431a-a3f0-10792973a334
