Multi-award winning Canadian country artist Leanne Pearson yearns for connection amidst COVID with her sweet new single “Miles Away” — available now.
“This is a song straight from my heart,” Pearson lays plainly. “I’ve never released such a personal and emotional song before.”
At 350,000+ streams on Spotify alone, Pearson is well-known for her bop-worthy brand of country rock. With a feature on HGTV, and three Top 100 singles at Canadian country radio — including the Top 50 hit, “Get Outta My Heart” — she won Album of the Year at the 2019 Manitoba Country Music Awards for her debut LP, Pull It Off, as well as Music Video of the Year for her single, “Hot Pursuit.”
But this year hit different for the 2018 MCMA Female Artist of the Year.
While she released “Checkin’ Out Your Truck” earlier in 2020, Pearson was then inspired by the emotional struggle of being away from her fiancé for months in the midst of the nation’s travel and safety restrictions. As a result, “Miles Away” lands as an intimate and heart wrenching release that reveals the Winnipeg artist’s vulnerable sentiments as she grappled with the situation.
“During a time of challenge and pain, I wanted to pour my heart and soul into the music I was creating,” Pearson shares. “Out of the struggle, came beauty. I posted myself singing ‘Miles Away’ the day I wrote it, and the response was overwhelming. People from all over the world seemed to connect with the song, and started sharing their own personal struggles of being away from a loved one.
“So many people are hurting right now,” she continues. “I want to spread positivity and love during this challenging time, and ‘Miles Away’ was a perfect way to do that.”
At the board for “Miles Away” is award-winning producer Murray Pulver (Crash Test Dummies, Doc Walker), and mastered by Nathan Dantzler (Avenue Beat, Niall Horan, Ellie Goulding); Matt Kelly (City and Colour) contributed steel guitar.
In addition to the song’s official music video is an American Sign Language (ASL) version with special importance to Pearson. “My two Nana’s were my best friends and biggest supporters; one was blind and one was deaf,” she explains. “One of them never got the chance to see me play live, but she could hear me, while the other couldn’t hear me, but could see me jumping around the stage and having fun.
“Together, they were the eyes and ears.
“When I stumbled across Sign A Song, I was completely blown away at the opportunity to share ‘Miles Away’ through sign language. It’s a perfect marriage, and a dream come true.”
Speaking of marriage, Pearson and her partner Jordan’s love story continues to traverse unexpected terrain.
“Jordan and I had to push our wedding festivities many times due to COVID, but at a certain point, we just couldn’t wait any longer! We decided to get married and make it a fun, memorable event for everyone.”
This meant forgoing their initially planned festivities for an impromptu ceremony at an Elvis chapel in Nashville, Tennessee this past November — the footage from which will soon become Pearson’s official music video for “Miles Away.”
“We live streamed the event and our family and friends thought we were going to the courthouse, so they were so surprised when Elvis walked out,” she recalls. “We also had our cat as the ‘Cat of Honour.’
“After we got married, Jordan and I had a frozen pizza for dinner alongside a $4 bottle of champagne and a cake from the grocery store’s frozen aisle. We plan on having a big celebration when COVID-19 is long gone, but for now, this was the most perfectly imperfect day!
“I guess this is what getting married during a worldwide pandemic looks like!”
