Taya Lebel Ready to Bring Her Country Sound Home Before the CCMAs

by Scott Roos

photos by Tracy Creighton (Copperblue Photography and Design)

There’s something fitting about an artist returning to where it all started just as things are beginning to take off. For Taya Lebel, that means a September 16 stop at the Rock Trout in Prince Albert, where she’ll share the stage with fellow up-and-coming Canadian country artists Jeremy Grey and Justin Sutton. With the 2026 Canadian Country Music Awards heading to Saskatoon, the evening offers a pretty good snapshot of the next generation of Saskatchewan-connected country talent — artists who are still building their audiences, but starting to see some very real momentum. For Lebel, that momentum has been hard-earned.

“I’ve been playing a lot, like pretty much every weekend, Friday and Saturday since the start of July,” she says. “I’ve been really busy and then just trying to squeeze in songwriting whenever I can, but I don’t have a whole lot of time for that.”

That’s a pretty good problem to have. Lebel has spent the summer playing regularly around Waskesiu, where she’s also working as a server. The two worlds have ended up complementing each other nicely, giving her plenty of opportunities to develop a local following while continuing to sharpen her live performance.

“I’ve been playing a lot in Waskesiu just in the bars there and I have a lot of locals there that are really excited for my set and all my co-workers as well,” she says. “So that’s been awesome.”

The bigger shift, however, has come through recorded music. Lebel’s latest single, “Didn’t Get Far,” might sound like another step in an emerging artist’s catalogue, but to her it represents something much more personal. In fact, it was the first song she ever completed.

“That is actually the first song I ever finished, like, started and finished,” she says. “I wrote that one in June of 2023, I think it was. Or 2024, maybe. So, yeah, it’s been a long time.”

The song itself takes a decidedly playful turn, built around the kind of country scenario that practically begs for a knowing grin.

“It’s a little bit of a scandalous one,” Lebel says. “It’s a little getting caught up with your partner in a car when you’re driving somewhere and pulling off onto a dirt road and getting lost in a moment.”

It’s also evidence of an artist finding her voice. Compared with her earlier release, “Life We’re Living,” “Didn’t Get Far” feels like a progression in both songwriting and production, something Lebel credits to the work of her producer, Andy Schumack.

Lebel with Schumack at the Capitol Music Club

“He did an awesome job on both songs,” she says. “But yeah, you can hear the difference between it, too. He’s definitely getting better and better.”

And apparently, so is Lebel. She has been playing music since she was eight years old, but releasing her own songs has changed the way people see her and, perhaps more importantly, the opportunities coming her way.

“I feel like I’m kind of stepping up now,” she says. “Whereas before it didn’t seem like I really had an audience or like a fan base, but now people are kind of stopping and staying for a while.”

That translates directly into better gigs.

“I’m getting a lot of support with both songs and lots of different gigs that are coming out of finally having music released because I’ve been playing for a long time,” she says. “Like I’ve been playing since I was eight years old, but just the level of gigs I’m getting now after finally releasing music is just a whole lot bigger.”

The timing couldn’t be better. With the CCMAs coming to Saskatoon in just a few short weeks, Lebel has landed a Country Crawl slot as well as a performance at Capitol Music Club with Kieran Gardner. She’s also been keeping busy with other Saskatchewan shows, including a Backyard Bash she’s particularly excited about after attending the event last year.

But before all of that, there’s a hometown stop. Lebel admits she doesn’t get many opportunities to play Prince Albert, which makes the Rock Trout show particularly meaningful.

“I’m pretty excited to come play the Rock Trout,” she says. “There’s lots of people that can’t really make it out to Saskatoon to watch me play. So there’s a lot of people that are excited that I’m playing closer to them, like family and friends.”

There’s another reason the show matters.

“I feel like I kind of lost touch a little bit with Prince Albert for a while,” she says. “I don’t know, I feel like a lot of people don’t know I’m from Prince Albert originally, and lots of people think I’m from Saskatoon, because I kind of really started picking up with music in Saskatoon.”

Her goal now is to change that.

“I really want to build a relationship with my audience in Prince Albert and kind of prioritize that and then build out from there,” she says.

On September 16, Lebel will perform an acoustic set alongside Grey and Sutton, giving audiences a chance to hear three artists who are still very much in the process of figuring out exactly where this music can take them. For Lebel, the destination is surprisingly uncomplicated.

“Long term wise, I really just want to make this a career somehow, some way,” she says. “I don’t have to be famous or Taylor Swift level or anything. But just to be able to pay the bills with music is kind of my goal.”

Then comes the line that probably says more about her ambitions than any grand declaration could.

“It’s the only thing I really, really, really enjoy doing.”

And for an artist whose music is finally opening doors, that might be more than enough.

The next one opens in Prince Albert on September 16.