What began as a joke now has Winnipeg folk-pop singer-songwriter Cat Jahnke touring Western Canada with New York singer-songwriter Clair Reilly-Roe.
Jahnke (pronounced Yong-Kee) and Reilly-Roe will be playing Carlson’s On Macleod in High River on Aug. 27, one of 13 tour stops across Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C.
Although they will be spending every moment of the next month on the road together, Jahnke and Reilly-Roe were essentially complete strangers just a few days before their first gig.
“I’m touring with a woman who I’m never met before,” said Jahnke with a laugh, calling from the road during their first day of the tour in Saskatchewan. “I just met her on Wednesday.”
The idea for their pairing came about when Jahnke met comedian Daryl Lennox, who is Reilly-Roe’s husband, at a comedy club she frequents in Winnipeg.
“I would go every week, and usually afterwards I would go say hello to the comic and they’d sign my prestigious loose-leaf Hall of Fame where all my autographs are,” she explained.
After chatting with Lennox, Jahnke emailed him a link inviting him, as a fellow performer, to listen to her music. The next time Lennox was in Winnipeg, he spoke with Jahnke after the show to tell her his wife is also a singer-songwriter.
Born in Ottawa, Reilly-Roe had never before experienced what Jahnke described as the “rite of passage” for many Canadian musicians, spending weeks at a time driving across long stretches of land with little to no population and performing concerts non-stop every night.
“He told me that she plays a lot in New York, but she hasn’t toured yet,” Jahnke recalled.
Lennox proposed the idea for an exchange, to bring Reilly-Roe to tour Western Canada, and to have Jahnke join Reilly-Roe to perform several concerts in New York next year.
Jahnke, who at first though he was kidding, eventually agreed to take Reilly-Roe under her wing and give her the Canadian tour experience.
“I really do feel like if you can go to a place where people maybe haven’t heard of you and they’re maybe a little reluctant, but you can win them over in the end, you feel so much more confident,” said Jahnke.
“And it’s always good practice to know what to expect when you’re on the road, when you need to be peeing in gas stations, doing your makeup in the car, and rushing around.”
As for learning the rules of the road, Jahnke is the best possible teacher Reilly-Roe could ask for. Over the past few years, Jahnke has toured over 150,000km and played over 300 shows throughout Canada in an effort to make a name for herself.
“I don’t even know how many times I’ve been through Canada,” she said. “Maybe half a dozen?”
Her hard work is starting to pay off as Jahnke just released her highly acclaimed album The Stories are Taking Their Toll, tracks of which have received impressive recognition.
“Sweetie Pie” was a semi-finalist in this year’s International Songwriting Competition, while “Apple” was chosen as the theme song for hit NBC web series Ctrl. Another song, “You Do Me Wrong,” won best original score at the 168 Hour Film Festival in Los Angeles.
Her newfound Hollywood fame aside, Jahnke is content on taking in the Canadian landscape as she makes the more than 1,000km trek across the provinces with a new friend at her side.
To help pass the time on the road, the two—with Jahnke on ukulele-- have been singing harmonies together over Journey, Katy Perry and Lady Gaga songs.
“I’m not going to toot my own horn, but I think I could give Lady Gaga a run for her money on ukulele,” said Jahnke, adding with a laugh, “Although I don’t know if those will be showing up in the show.”
Although they’ve only known each other for a few days, Jahnke said she has a sneaking suspicion they could end up being good friends once the tour wraps up.
“It’s strange, because she and I kind of look the same,” she said.
Looks aside, their music is distinctively unique yet complementary to each other, said Jahnke.
“I was worried people would get us confused, but her sound is also folk-y but it has some different reggae elements in it,” she explained. “It’s a cohesive show, but it’s not going to be the same thing.”
Tickets to Jahnke and Reilly-Roe’s performance in High River, which starts at 8 p.m., are $15 each. For advance tickets, call 403-601-8774. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/catjahnkemusic.
While on the road, Jahnke is daring fans to communicate with her on her Facebook page.
“I’m a little bit of a perfectionist and I like to respond to all the comments that I get,” she explained. “So I’m challenging people to overload me with comments and I’m going to see if I can keep up while I’m on tour.
“I got an iPhone so that will give me something to do on the long drives,” she said.
