Welcome to Joan Spalding's website!

Joan Spalding at Purple Hill Country Music Hall (Photo Credit: Tammy Gould Photography).

Joan’s History

I came from a small town in Southwestern Ontario called Mooretown which, at the time, had a population of about 60 people. As a child I watched my aunts, uncles, and dad play music. I learned how to play rhythm guitar at the young age of 11 and had already been playing piano years before that. I so loved music!

I sang all the time and announced to my neighbours I was going to be a star one day. Well, I guess with the title "1st Lady of Bluewater Country" I am! I was given that title by a man I met in Port Huron, Michigan. His name was Louie Cline. I thought he was an uncle or at least a relation to Patsy Cline. He wasn't related; he just loved my singing.

I purchased a Stella 12 string guitar and then traded it in for a Goya. After saving enough money for a brand new Gibson J45 in 1974 I found it was the best guitar ever and I still have it. It now looks like a Willie Nelson guitar....very well played!

As a guest I’ve sung with The Rhythm Ramblers (Lloyd Sarrs), The Jubilares, Roger Quick and the Rainbows, plus many others. I formed my own band "The Foggy Mountain Band" which included a local fiddle player (Bill Alexander), my brother on banjo, my sister on piano and myself on guitar. Dad joined us later and that's how I got started with everything just falling into place.

I've worked in the USA from Arizona (Sun Downer Lounge, King Man Arizona), Florida (The Orange Bar) to Indiana (VFW Club, Rochester). In Ontario, I have worked as far north as Matachewan, Kirkland Lake, Ottawa, Ompah, Renfrew and Smith Falls. In Quebec at The Gatineau, Sherbrooke, and many other venues.

In Southern Ontario, Purple Hill Country Music Hall in Thorndale has featured me many times along with other very talented country performers. The Dow People Place and Canatara Band Shell in Sarnia have been a familiar place to entertain for many years now on a regular basis. The International Plowing Match held in Glencoe was definitely a memorable event as well.

I've performed at many County Fairs, too numerous to mention, sang the National Anthem at Grand Openings such as Hiawatha Horse Park and Birchwood Mall in Michigan. I sang at a major USA/Canada hockey game in Lake Placid, New York I had the honour of singing the National Anthem as well as many local hockey games and events.   

Accomplishments

Joan is a three-time winner of the Canadian Open Singing Contest in Ontario and has been a featured guest on the Jimmy Phair Show, Sun Parlour Country, The Walters Family Show and CKNX radio show in Wingham, Ontario.

Joan is a singer/songwriter who plays many instru ments including the guitar, double reed harmonica, banjo and mandolin.

She has recorded in Nashville with Howard Walker and Gary Buck as her producers, released songs in Europe which went to the Top 10 in the charts.

She can be found performing every weekend in Southwestern Ontario and has performed many times with well known Canadian artists at Purple Hill Country Music Hall in Thorndale, Ontario.

Joan became a fixture in hundreds of homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, performing via Facebook Live from her home in Plympton-Wyoming, every day for more than two years, in an effort to provide the joy of music during trying times. Upon completion of 365 daily Facebook Live shows, she was bestowed with the Rotary Club of Sarnia’s highest honour: the Paul Harris Fellowship Award. Also interviewed on CBC News - The National, CBC Radio, The Show With David Burrows and other local newspapers & magazines as well as received an award from the Plympton-Wyoming for the dedication of 736 daily shows.

Over the decades, she has given her time at nursing and long-term care homes, played countless shows, fairs and dances across the province and parts of the USA - and became a fixture at local venues, while earning numerous honours along the way, including Honorary member of the Purple Hill Country Music Hall in Thorndale, Ontario as well as Nominee for the 2022/23 Breezeway Independent Country Music Awards “Marie Bottrell Award - Entertainer Of The Year - Female”.

Joan has recently released her first book “Life’s Highway - Joan Spalding Biography Country Musician and Recording Artist” She has a country music career which spans 50 years and still going strong; further CD releases to follow, continues to book dates and performs. She loves playing music, doing what she was born to do and loves entertaining her followers/fans, uplifting their spirits.