Family helps Stampede performers High Valley bring positive vibes to the stage

By Chris Brown on July 19, 2018.

cbrown@medicinehatnews.com @MHNBrown

Look up. Look way, way up. If you squint, maybe even use a pair of binoculars, you might just see the high that High Valley is on right now.

Curtis and Brad Rempel ended 2017 with their first headlining tour in the U.S. and things have only gotten better in 2018. The brothers performed on “Kelly & Ryan” at the end of February. In early March they got their first top 10 single and first Academy of Country Music awards nomination. Then, in July, came the topper.

“We’re nominated with Shania Twain for fans’ choice. It’s crazy to be on the same list. That’s ridiculous,” Curtis gushed last week about the 2018 Canadian Country Music Association awards before adding “any time we can be nominated it’s pretty cool to be recognized at a professional level considering we just casually started playing music at home in our living room.”

Before that ceremony takes place in September the duo will play the Medicine Hat Exhibition & Stampede on July 25. They’ll help kick off the grandstand shows on Wild West Wednesday with Corb Lund.

It’s in the middle of a busy summer that is taking them across Canada and the U.S. for festivals, state fairs and stampedes. Curtis says he and his brother can’t get enough of them.

“It’s just so high energy, everybody’s having a great time,” he said. “It’s always fun playing these outdoor events. So many people come out, so many families come out which we’re huge fans of.”

Family is important to the brothers, who hail from the La Crete area in northern Alberta. They recently added a second bus to the tour so their families could join them.

“We’re getting a lot of quality family time now on the road. It’s pretty easy to be positive and have high energy vibes when you have everything you need with you on the road,” Curtis said. That high energy comes through on the stage and off. Curtis brings a bike along with him on the road and takes any chance he can to explore whatever town or city they hit.

“Whenever we’re out I take the bike out and I look on the map and try to find a river or a lake or something and just go enjoy the scenic parts of the world. I love the doing that sort of stuff,” he said.

In the middle of their summer shows they hope to spend time in the studio working on a new record. It will be a followup to “Farmhouse Sessions,” released in March. That album, acoustic versions of seven songs from their “Dear Life” record, took Curtis and Brad back to their roots.

“There was music in my family I was born and it’s always just been these acoustic vibes. It’s kind of a tribute to the way we grew up and thought we would give people a little taste of the vibe that inspired High Valley to be who wear are,” Curtis said.

He said a portion of their show is stripped back too — “a little bluegrass to let people know where we come from.”

Tickets start at $69 and are available online at mhstampede.com, by calling 403-527-1234 or 1-888-MHRODEO and in person at the Stampede office, the Medicine Hat Mall customer service desk or the Grandstand box office at show time.

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