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by Stephen Dafoe
Morinville resident and country music artist Justin Hogg has his second single Kiss You Instead hitting country radio across Canada next week.
Although well known in and out of the Morinville area as a country singer, Hogg is equally, perhaps even more so at home, as a songwriter. Hogg said he believes he is better able to express himself and his ideas in song lyrics more so than talking to people one-on-one.
“Songwriting kind of gives me a chance to think about what I actually want to say,” he said.
Though excited about the new release, Hogg said there is not a big story behind the new song itself.
“I was on my way to a co-write with a person I’d never written a song with before, and I was racking my brain trying to do it because I never like to go into a co-write without an idea,” Hogg said of the development of his new song. “This was kind of the last minute idea that came up, and it worked out to be a great song, I think.”
Hogg’s first country single, Smoke Signals, came out last summer and he is hoping to repeat the success with Kiss You Instead.
“I think it [Smoke Signals] made it onto 16 country stations in Canada,” he said. “For a first single, we were really happy with that. It did really well. It was a good introduction to Canadian radio.”
The release of his first signal helped to fuel a number of gigs in and outside of Alberta. The second single will no doubt do the same.
“We’ve recently broken out into playing a full band and headline shows, which is a lot of fun because we get to play all night and really jam out as a band,” Hogg said, noting a recent performance at Ranchman’s Cookhouse and Dancehall in Calgary was a great opportunity. “That place is crazy. It was memorable for sure.”
Hogg has an upcoming show in Edmonton at Boot Scootin’ Boogie Dance DanceHall.
Kiss You Instead will be available Apr. 2 on Spotify, Apple Music and other music retailers.
Details are available at https://www.reverbnation.com/justinhoggmusic
Congrats Justin!
This young man is on his way. Keep on keepin’ on.