Aaron Pritchett will be just down the road from where he started his music career when he plays Coquitlam on Saturday, Feb. 3.
In fact, the country music singer, who began as a DJ at the now-defunct Rooster’s bar in Pitt Meadows, says his performance at the Great Canadian Casino Vancouver will be like coming full circle.
“Rooster’s is where I got my official start,” Pritchett said in an interview with the Tri-City News.
“At the time, I also did karaoke at the Two Parrots Pub in Coquitlam and the Gillnetter Pub in Port Coquitlam, so I’m familiar with the area. It’s like returning home.”
Pritchett’s rise to fame came in 2001 when he won Project Discovery on CMT; his prize was $10,000, which he used to record an album, and a music video directed by Steven Goldmann.
Two more albums arrived in 2003 and 2006 — the latter with the hit single “Hold My Beer” that earned Pritchett the Songwriter of the Year title at the 2007 Canadian Country Music Awards.
The following year, he signed with 604 Records, a recording company owned by Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, and toured Western Canada with the legendary Toby Keith.
Now, Pritchett is a Juno Award nominee with 13 Top 10 singles to his credit, including “Dirt Road in ‘Em,” “Better When I Do” and “Worth a Shot.”
For his Liquored Up tour that launched in Calgary last Saturday, Jan. 27, Pritchett has a couple of friends along for the 32-date cross-country ride: Matt Lang and Cory Marks.
The tour is named after their new song, of which the video was filmed and directed by Sean Lyons in Pritchett’s hometown of Nanaimo, on Vancouver Island.
The trio will be in Nanaimo the day before their Coquitlam gig.
“We flew Cory and Matt out from Ontario and Quebec in the middle of December for 36 hours to do the video in a local pub,” Pritchett recalled.
“We had a blast, and we were very grateful to the owner.”
Pritchett said he’s happy to be back on the road after a five-year hiatus.
He sees the country music scene in Canada as “flourishing” with emerging artists who are on par with their U.S. counterparts for music and performance.
“I’m proud of what we’re producing," he said.
To see Aaron Pritchett, Matt Lang and Cory Marks in the Liquored Up tour at The Show Theatre at the Great Canadian Casino Vancouver (2080 United Blvd., Coquitlam, visit ticketmaster.ca.
