Calgary country-pop singer-songwriter Alex Hughes is set to make her debut on the Coca-Cola Stage at the Calgary Stampede on July 5, a milestone she describes as a 'surreal moment.' The performance comes shortly after the release of her debut EP, Take Me Home, which recently became available on vinyl.
Vinyl Release a Hands-On Experience
Just a week before her first album release party at the historic King Eddy, Hughes received distressing news that the vinyl versions of her EP might not arrive on time due to a problem with one of the manufacturing plates. Fortunately, the required plate was delivered just in time. Determined to ensure everything went smoothly, Hughes visited Calgary's Canadian Vinyl Records to oversee the process herself.
'I hit ‘go’ on the printing of my very first vinyl and got to see it drop from the machine,' Hughes said. 'I totally had full tears in my eyes. It was pretty surreal.'
A True Debut Album
The six-song EP represents Hughes' first full collection since her 2013 self-titled EP, which featured songs written during her teenage years. She views Take Me Home as her true debut, showcasing her growth as a songwriter and vocalist. Hughes co-wrote five of the six tracks, many of which were developed during a songwriting trip to Nashville.
'I booked a Nashville trip and went down and wrote with a bunch of friends and some great writers down in Nashville and we worked on this project,' she said. 'It kind of spans a coming-of-age moment of love songs and breakup songs that all live in this time frame of young adulthood.'
Rising Career and Previous Success
Hughes has been steadily building her career over the past few years. Her 2023 single 'Until This Fire Dies,' produced by British Columbia's Dan Swinimer, became a country-pop ballad about infatuation that landed on Apple Music's Canada's Country playlist and performed well on Spotify, Amazing Music, and YouTube.
'It was definitely something that was on my radar as a bucket list thing to do and I wasn’t really expecting to get it for that single, so it was a huge surprise and a big boost that we were headed in the right direction,' she said.
Diverse Sound on New EP
Recorded in Vancouver, Take Me Home offers a variety of styles, from the moody mid-tempo title track to the bluesy ballad 'You Got Me,' reminiscent of Lucinda Williams, and the pop-infused 'Break All the Way.' The latter is the only track Hughes did not co-write; it was penned by Canadian country-pop artist Madeline Merlot and Nashville professionals Jason Saenz and Todd Clark, and pitched to Hughes through Swinimer.
