Edmonton country rock band the  Denim Daddies are excited , not only about releasing their new album “Northern Goods”  today, March 20, but about returning to Lethbridge to play Shaela Miller’s “After the Masquerade” album release party, Saturday, March 23 at the Owl Acoustic Lounge with Carter Felker.

 “It’s always busy down there when Shaela Miller’s cooking up a new album, I’ll bet,” said Denim Daddies bassist/ vocalist Kurtis Cockerill. The Denim Daddies have played with Shaela Miller a couple of times including fo her Windy City Opry concert series.

“We did the opry a couple years ago and we played a crazy house party in Saskatoon with her in probably 2018. That was  really fun. She’s a friend of ours and we’re stoked to be on that bill,” Cockerill continued.

Calgary’s Carter Felker will be opening  the show with a solo set with the Denim Daddies on second and Shaela Miller closing off the night.

“He (Carter Felker) is one of our favourite folk artists,” he said.

 Cockerill is excited to release the new album ‘Northern Goods” which features more prominent steel guitar.

“Yeah, big time, the steel guitar is on every track except one. Booker (Diduck)’s really becoming a monster . He’s  gotten really good over the past couple years. He’s all over it.”

The Denim Daddies also feature  guitarist/ singer Andrew Brostrom, pedal steel /guitarist  Booker Diduck, drummer/vocalist/ guitarist Matt  King and Pianist/ organist Sahil Chugh.

 The album comes out Wednesday, March 20. They have released a couple singles from it including “Living on the Road” and “Seems To Me” are out on all streaming services.

“The records have come in so last night we did a fun little record listening party at Bent Stick Brewing in Edmonton last night ( March 13), And they actually brewed a beer of the same title. The album’s called Northern Goods  and we were crushing a lager all night of the same title and it was a great time,” he continued.

The album also features a cover of “Grandpa was a Carpenter,” a song by one of  the bands idols  John Prine.

“He means a lot. I think the first time I heard John Prine was, like, hearing his voice sealed it for me that I thought  that could actually sing and write my own songs. He’s a massive inspiration to us . Since we started the band we’ve always done at least one of his songs  per set. So usually we’re doing a couple of John Prines a night. That one really came together with our own flavour— up tempo , lots of harmonies. He’s a great guy. We all miss him. I never got to see him live. During Covid I lost my grandpa only a couple of weeks after we lost John Prine and it kind of felt like I lost two grandpas. It was a tough time but I got through it  And we’re really excited to have that song on the record,” he said, adding they chose that song  because they put their own stamp on it.

“It was more just how it came together. It wasn’t just like we were going through the motions , covering the song . We kind of made it our own with that fancy little  pedal steel intro and the tempo and harmonies. We felt like we were putting our own stamp on the tune,” he said.

 They also added a song about Cockerill’s grandpa,  relating a few of the stories he told Cockerill.

Shaela Miller releases her latest album “After the masquerade” this week with two sold out  release parties  at The Slice on March 22 and at the Owl Acoustic Lounge with Carter Felker and the Edmonton country rock band  Denim Daddies.

 She is also playing an all ages gig at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Saturday afternoon with Eilish Lazenby.

 But first Paul Holden and James Oldenburg return to the Watertower Grill on Wednesday to play some jazz music from 6-8 p.m.

 Aaron Phelan from New Autumn hosts the Slice’s open mic on Wednesday.

 Also Wednesday, Theatre Outré returns to the Owl Acoustic Lounge.  The show features Fawns at 8 p.m., Clover Overboard at 9 p.m. and Crown The Jester closing off the night at 10 p.m. Admission is by donation.

Gabe Thaine hosts  the weekly jam for hunger at Theoretically Brewing, Thursday, March 20.

 Theatre Outré returns to the Owl Acoustic lounge on Wednesday, March 20. 

The Slice will rock on a Thursday night  as they welcome Calgary  band Vogue Villains on Thursday with local  support from 4BPM and Alec Arms.

 Vogue Villains are supporting their  new album “Built on Bones.”

 Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the door.

 Daylan Delaney hosts Honkers Pub open mic on Friday, March 22.

Mike Murchison  and guests play a free show at Central Church of Christ, March 24 at  7p.m.