One of Jasper’s local songstresses, Jessica Heine, will be back in the area this weekend playing at the Old Grind in Hinton on Saturday, followed by shows in Jasper at Cafe Mondo and the D’ed Dog on Sunday.

The 28-year-old’s second album, ‘Songteller Storywriter’, was released in June this year and was given a rave review by Edmonton’s Vue Weekly, which gave the album four out of five stars.

“Heine opens her new record up with a song that is a soft and gentle folk tune at its heart, dressed up with just the right amount of decorations – nothing too extravagant, it’s a steady drum beat with an occasional tap on a cymbal, a bass that sings quietly behind Heine’s lovely voice and an electric guitar that sticks with a minimum of notes to get its point across.”

Now living in Edmonton, Heine is on tour with a German friend, KMT, or Kelly, who will be playing with her husband Toby throughout the two-week tour.

Due to recording her new album and playing festivals this summer, this is the first tour for Heine this summer, but she hopes to be back in Jasper and elsewhere during the winter.

“I haven’t done much touring,” she said, “I played a lot more festivals in the summer, so it’s kind of a new thing for me.”

Much like her album, that Heine said she tried to keep “very authentic,” this tour will be a simple acoustic event featuring the ladies on guitar with Toby on bass.

“There’ll be a back and forth songwriter in round,” she said, “She’ll do a song, then I’ll do a song... it gels well.”

For Heine, the performance aspect is her favourite part of the industry.

“I love it... when it works out it’s great,” she said adding that, “it’s a lot of work, but I love the performance side of it and the singing and the writing.”

While the shows will primarily be songs off her latest CD, the Jasper born artist will also play some new pieces as well as some covers.

According to Heine, the CD was produced in just one week as she wanted to keep the production very organic and “live off the floor.”

“We just did one take,” she said, “I really like the idea, when they used to make records that’s how they did it. It’s something really beautiful and results in a record with a lot of soul.”

Heine’s Hinton show will start at 7 p.m. while the Cafe Mondo show will start at 2 p.m. and the D’ed Dog at 6:30 p.m.