If you're a fan of vocal stylings like Bonnie Raitt, and harmonica skill reminiscent of Little Walter and Sonny Terry, then you'll love Manitoba’s Tracy K. She has thrilled audiences with her expressive voice, exceptional harmonica playing, excellent songwriting and her inviting, innate showmanship. Tracy K has toured Folk, Blues and Jazz festivals and events from Canada to the Caribbean, Manitoba to Memphis, as an acoustic duo or with tastefully appointed band members. Her energy packed shows deliver catchy originals mixed with toe-tapping blues, jazz and roots covers. She’s shared playbills with the likes of John Sebastian, Koko Taylor, James Cotton, and Ramblin' Jack Elliot. First Runner Up in the Toronto Blues Society’s Talent Search she was also featured at their annual Harmonica Workshop and Women's Blues Revue. Tracy K has enjoyed the distinct honour of performing two stunning concerts with the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra in full diva glory. This songstress has collected nine awards during her decades long celebrated career and is Canada’s (potentially, the world's) only award winning female harmonica player.
Known by her legal name Tracy Mastaler, she started her music career in the late 1980s in Toronto, utilizing her outstanding harmony skills in live and studio work. The moniker 'Tracy K' was born out of her spouse's surname, and she embarked on a solo career upon moving back home to Beausejour, Manitoba, with her family in the 1990s. Tracy K quickly became a regular in demand on the local Jazz and Blues scene, and released her first record of originals in 2000. This led to touring and showcasing across Canada and USA, Blues, Jazz and Folk festivals, theatres, women-in-blues events, often sharing the stage with A-list international blues performers. Her songwriting catalogue boasts two commissions for feature films and two International Songwriting Competition Awards.
Thunder Bay, Ontario, became home for Tracy K and her three children in 2004 for a decade where as a newly single mom (she got to keep the "K" in Tracy K) she attended college and worked as an Educational Assistant. Tracy K’s career continued in their musically vibrant community where she released a second album in 2007, ‘Old, New, Borrowed & Blues’, and then the five-star studded acoustic duo album 'Canned Heat' in 2011. Both were recorded in Thunder Bay, and resulted in several National and International awards. In 2014, she was the sole Canadian included on Ruf Records Blues Harp Women compilation album, and Mary4Music's Keeping the Blues Alive: Volume Six. Tracy K would represent Thunder Bay at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tennessee as a band in 2013 and duo in 2014, and returned in 2015 as one of the judges. Impressing her new Southern friends, she was asked to arrange harmonies on a song at Ardent Studios and had fun recording tunes at Sun Studios.
Moving back home to Beausejour, Manitoba in 2014 as an empty nester, Tracy K continued singing and followed the trend she calls the seven year itch of recording. She released 'What's the Rush?' in 2016, an album that kicked Tracy K's career into high gear yet again. Aptly named, 'What's the Rush?' was the catalyst responsible for bringing Tracy K a nomination for Blues Artist of the Year 2018 by the Western Canadian Music Awards, followed by touring. Through the pandemic years when live music was detrimentally threatened, Tracy K worked as a scenic artist in the Film Industry and created a home based business repairing all types of objets d'art and sentimental pieces, part of her previous School of Art training and knowledge - a true artist, in so many ways! As the music industry returns to more live shows post-lockdown, Tracy K is moving in the same direction, excited to see the world once again embrace live music the way it always used to.
Yes, there’s still a lot of life-after-life waiting for Tracy K. And she’s still not in a rush to get there.
AWARDS:
Western Canadian Music Awards, 2018 Blues Artist of the Year Nominee
International Blues Challenge, Memphis TN, Quarter Finalist, Band 2014
International Blues Challenge, Memphis TN, Quarter Finalist, Duo 2013
International Songwriting Competition – Blues Award 2007
International Songwriting Competition – Performance Award 2007
Ontario Independent Music Award – Best Blues Song 2007
Toronto Blues Society Talent Search – First Runner-Up 2007
Winnipeg Blues.com – Harmonica Player of the Year 2006
Winnipeg Blues.com – Female Vocalist of the Year 2006
Winnipeg Blues.com – Electric Act of the Year – Nomination 2006
A FEW PAST PERFORMANCES (SELECT LIST):
Home Routes Tour (2018)
Winter Blues Fest, Winnipeg (2018)
Fargo Bluesfest, ND (2017)
Blues on the Red, Grand Forks, ND, (2017)
Santiago Shakedown, MN (2017)
Winnipeg BBQ & Bluesfest (2012, 2014, 2016)
Winnipeg Jazz Festival (1999 - 2005 inclusive)
Saskatchewan Mid-Winter Blues Festival, Regina/Saskatoon, (2005, 2008, 2015)
Women’s Blues Fest Minneapolis (2003)
Live from the Rock Music Festival, Red Rock, Ont. (2003, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2014)
Thunder Bay Blues Festival (2002, 2003, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013, 2014)
Great Woods Music Festival, Beausejour, MB (1998-2003 inclusive)
Toronto Blues Society's Harmonica Workshop (2003)
Women's Blues Revue – Toronto ON (2002)
Women In Blues International Showcase - Memphis Tennessee (2013, 2014, 2015)
Fed Ex International Showcase - International Blues Challenge, Memphis Tennessee (2014)
ALBUM RELEASES:
What’s the Rush (2016)
Canned Heat (2011)
Old, New, Borrowed & Blues (2007)
Welcome to my Fantasy (2000)
COMPILATIONS:
Blues Harp Women – Ruf Records (2015)
Keeping the Blues Alive Vol.6 – Mary4Music (2014)
SINGLES:
Science of Being Distant – CBC Radio One Bandwidth
3 Singles for Prairie Fire Project – Canadian Diabetes Foundation (2003)
Rock This House – licensed to Zernick Von-Sertner Films, L.A. (2002)
QUOTES:
"This is outdoor-festival music, tailor-made for a big stage and (even) bigger crowd." - Rainey Wetnight, Blues Blast Magazine, 2017
"What’s The Rush? has grit and soul, and is rough around the edges in just the right places. As a singer Tracy K is like Bonnie Raitt and Koko Taylor, and she blows some of the best blues harp this side of Little Walter. Production at Winnipeg’s award winning Bedside Studios by Len Milne is perfect - rowdy, deep and intimate. Throwing this on is like walking into the middle of the best party ever. Stunning." 5+ rating - Gonzo Okanagan Music Reviews, 2016
Canadian "mojo mama" Tracy K has been around the proverbial block; while What’s The Rush? is just her fourth album, it feels like the work of a case-hardened musical veteran. Ms. K gets her personal stories across with style. The engineering by Len Milne at Winnipeg’s Bedside Studios is razor-sharp: it's obvious she and her compadres didn’t rush through these tracks, but instead gave them enough attention to make the grade. - Jeff Monk, Winnipeg Free Press, 2016
"There’s only eight tracks here but I’d rather have quality than a CD stuffed full of filler so this works a treat. She has a very listenable voice and there is an insistent groove to her music that works really well. Also, she can blow a mean mouth harp." - the Rocker UK, 2016
"This lady has more than thirty years of music experience and that is evident. The songs are well-written and well-considered, each of them are little stories. And they are all wrapped in beautiful blues and boogie." - BarnowlBlues, NL, 2016
“…a powerful and rich vocalist and a harmonica player of the highest order… Navigating between folk blues, pure juicy blues and blues that is tinged with pop, Tracy K pulls no punches.” - Zicazine, 2016
"Next to her beautiful voice, she is also a gifted harmonica player. It is easy to understand that Tracy K must have a large and loyal fan base in her home country, with Europe and the rest of the world to follow very soon." - Rudolf’s Music 2016
"Her raspy vocals and 'smokey' style of harmonica playing just fascinates, and the accompanying musicians create original musical expression, deeply engraved feelings and an atmosphere of the best traditional blues, and urban blues in general. This completely justifies all the saliva glistening reviews made by numerous music critics." - Soundguardian, Mladen Loncar, 2016