Though Brad Rempel  from  Canadian born country chart toppers High Valley has called Nashville home for 15 years, he still has  deep roots in Southern Alberta.

 High Valley play the Enmax Centre, Feb. 14.

 

“I love it here. My kids are born and raised here,” said Rempel, who formed the band in 1997  with brothers  Curtis and Bryan, in the Mexican Mennonite town of la Crete, Alberta who moved back to Canada.

 Rempel's long time band members Jordan and Andrew  Hemmerling and Raymond Klassen will be joining him on tour.

 

 He brings the popular band back to Lethbridge to play the Enmax Centre, Feb. 14 in support of their new EP Small Town Somethin, which will be released on Feb. 2.

“ It’s the name of the single, the EP and tour,” said Rempel, he said adding audiences have already responded positively to the first singles, particularly “ Give a Boy A Baseball.’

“We’re raising our kids to look at screens . But it is important to go outside and play basketball and baseball and football and get outside,” he said.

 The new EP has a strong religious theme, which Rempel said is usual for the band.

 

“We formed this band when we were kids. Religion was naturally part of growing up. And faith has always been fundamental to our music,” he said, adding he is excited to have new music out.

“ I write music every day, so any time we can release music is great,” he said.

 They also released their 2022 album “ Way Back,” after learning Alison Krauss was a fan of “Do This Life” and wanted to sing it with them.

“Alison heard the song and loved it. But the song was already out and the only way to do it was to re-record it. It’s like the child of bluegrass and gospel music. That’s the dream  of a lot of people, especially me to  sing a song with Allison Krauss. I proposed to my wife to an Alison Krauss song, ” Rempel enthused. 

 High Valley has strong roots in Southern Alberta.

“ We’ve played  everywhere. I think the last time we were in Lethbridge was opening for Lady A or Paul Brandt. But we’ve  played all over, from churches to arenas . We’ve played Vauxhall, Granum and Bow Island where we played a gospel jamboree years ago,” he said, adding  his Mexican Mennonite roots give him a special connection to Southern Alberta.

“We sing a Backstreet Boys song in Low German,” he said.

 

 They have a lot of music  to choose from for the set including early hits“A Father’s Love,’ and ‘On The Combine’ which helped break the band in the beginning.

 

“ That’s not number in the Top 10 of songs that have done the best for us 27 years ago when we started, but it helped break us big. It helped us get started. We’ll have to poll the audience to see if they want to hear it. People respond to it  better in rural areas  like Lethbridge than they do in places like Toronto,” he said.

 

“ We’ll fit as many hits as possible into the set. We like to be well rehearsed so we can respond to people calling out requests,” he said.

 “ A Father’s Love is really special because my parents moved down to Nashville. They bought a house here and come down in the winter,” he said.

He noted getting the VIP ticket gives audiences a peek behind the scenes at sound check.

 You really get to see what happens behind the scene. You can go to soundcheck and call out your requests. It really is a party,” Rempel said.

 “ We’re really excited to be back in Alberta,” he said.

 High Valley plays the Enmax Centre, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m.  Tickets are $38, $49, $60. Tim and the Glory Boys open the show.

— by Richard Amery, L.A. beat Editor