By Adam Frisk Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Jessica Pearson and the East Wind is set to take the stage at the Haliburton Legion on Saturday (May 30), and the audience can expect to be taken on an emotional rollercoaster.
Pearson, the frontwoman of the Ottawa Valley-based trio, and her bandmates have spent the past few years turning heads across the Canadian folk scene. Winner of the 2025 Folk Music Ontario’s Performing Artist of the Year award, and nominated for Recording Artist of the Year, the threesome is preparing to bring their highly-praised live performance to the legion on May 30, featuring an opening set by Haliburton’s own Jocelyn Regina.
The band, made up of Pearson, Sam Stone, and Malia Rogers, leans into classic country storytelling, Americana, and traditional Celtic sound into an emotionally-charged show.
Speaking to The Highlander, Pearson opened up about the personal history, matriarchal strength, and the vulnerability that fuels the band’s uniqueness.
“For myself and for my two bandmates, we have been surrounded by amazing women growing up. All of our moms are just so kind and caring,” the singer explained. “My mom and my grandma were massive figures in my life. They taught me about the power of our voices, especially as women, and being able to speak up, the power in it, but also how important it is to keep our voice and to say what we need to and to stand up for each other.”
That personal philosophy extends into how Pearson views the music industry, where female acts are faced with limited opportunities with only a handful of festival slots, for example.
“I was raised in a world where, as women, we were taught to compete and compare ourselves to each other,” she said.
The singer said that the band channels solidarity in their tracks like Salt the Earth, which speaks to the political climate down south, where “women’s voices are being turned off and taken away.
“Salt the Earth is all about how important it is to fight for that, how important it is to stand up for each other in that space,” she said.
“We talk about things from the joy and love of community and being together, the privilege of having friendships and relationships that you truly feel loved in,” Pearson said. “Then we talk about a lot of things that are hard to talk about.”
She went on to explain that songs like Better allowed her to shed the shame and guilt of her late ADHD diagnosis and to choose joy and love instead.
“We try to build a space where people can come in and feel what they want to feel, no more, no less.”
As for the band’s name, it turns out the east wind is a direct nod to the nature of their music. Pearson recalled a story from a friend on the East Coast whose uncle lost his entire front porch to the east wind during a massive New Brunswick storm.
“The east wind can be so many different things,” she said. “It can lightly brush by you and bring a warm breeze, softness, and safety. But it can also be fierce, strong, and powerful. For me, that wind symbolizes our voices. We can be soft and vulnerable, but we are also fierce when we share these stories.”
