JAKE SOBERLAK * I´M IN TROUBLE *

SINGLE COVER 

 At 17-years-old, Jake Soberlak of Kamloops, British Columbia plays the blues with the authority of someone who has lived inside the music for half a century. Today, the young guitarist, singer and harmonica player shares his debut single "You Gotta Leave," the first taste of his forthcoming album 'I'm In Trouble', arriving September 11, 2026. The song announces the arrival of one of the most compelling young voices working in Canadian blues today.

Soberlak's path into the blues began with a discovery that reached across generations. Digging through a collection of his grandfather's old records brought over from England, he found something scratchy, raw and utterly alive that grabbed hold and never let go. He followed the threads the way devoted blues listeners always have, one name leading to another, one record to the next, building a deep self-education in a tradition more than a century old. B.B. King, Peter Green and Eric Clapton became his teachers. He picked up guitar at thirteen and harmonica at fourteen, and word soon spread through Kamloops that something special was happening.

"You Gotta Leave" is an original Soberlak composition, and its origin offers a window into how completely he has absorbed the form. He wrote the song after hearing "Wine, Whiskey and Women" by Papa Lightfoot, a recording where the vocal sounds as though it is being sung straight through the harmonica microphone. Soberlak set out to write something where he could capture that very effect, channeling a vintage technique into a fresh new song. The result swaggers with confidence, anchored by a piano solo that he counts among his favourite moments on the entire record.

The lyrics carry the plainspoken directness that defines the best of the genre. "You gotta leave now babe go away from my door," Soberlak sings, "it's over now baby I don't want you around no more." There is a knowing assurance in lines like "won't you tell me where you learned to be so cold," delivered by a young artist who understands that the blues was always about connecting to something real and giving it your own honest take.

The single arrives from sessions that honour the way the great records were made. Soberlak cut his debut album at Afterlife Studios in Vancouver with producer and drummer Leon Power, known for his work with City and Colour and Frazey Ford. Power assembled a seasoned band for the dates, with Darren Parris on bass, the acclaimed Darryl Havers on piano and John Raham engineering. Every track went down live off the floor across two days, four musicians playing together in a room, capturing the spontaneity and feeling that the form demands.

For a teenager recording his first album alongside players of that caliber, the experience proved joyful and affirming. "They're all great people and great musicians, and it was so much fun," Soberlak says. He approaches the music with a humility that runs deeper than his years. "Not all blues songs are sad," he explains. "It's really a reflection of life. I like finding songs from the 30s, 40s or 50s, these gems that I really connect with, and I enjoy giving them my own take once I've learned them."

Soberlak has been building his live reputation across Kamloops and the surrounding region one room at a time, and his goals remain refreshingly uncomplicated. "I just want to be playing music and gigging," he says. "That's all I want to do." That clarity of purpose runs through every note of "You Gotta Leave" and points toward a debut album that introduces a genuine old soul finding his voice.

Info :  

www.ThatEricAlper.com

Jake Soberlak

An Old Soul Finding His Voice in the Blues

There’s a moment in the history of the blues, somewhere between the Mississippi Delta of the 1920s and the electrified Chicago clubs of the 1950s, where the music stopped being just music and became something else. A language. One for longing, for resilience, for the full and complicated weight of being human. Most people spend decades trying to learn it. Jake Soberlak, at 17, already speaks it fluently.

Jake grew up in Kamloops, British Columbia, a city better known for its high desert landscape and hockey culture than for anything resembling a blues scene. Music ran in the family - his father is a musician who gave Jake his earliest lessons - but it was a chance discovery that changed the direction of things. Digging through a collection of his grandfather’s old records brought over from England, Jake found something that reached across generations and grabbed him. Those albums, scratchy, raw, utterly alive, lit afire that hasn’t gone out.

“It was through old records,” he says of how the blues found him. “Just listening, and then reading back and seeing who’s playing on this, and then they’re playing on another album…” He followed the threads the way great blues devotees always have. One name leading to another, one record to the next, building a self-education in a tradition more than a century deep. His favourites tell the story: B.B. King, Peter Green, Eric Clapton. Three players, each finding their own way into the same river.

Guitar at 13, harmonica at 14. Within a couple of years, word was moving through Kamloops that something unusual was happening. Longtime local musicians, people who’d spent their lives with this music, were paying attention. Here was a kid who wasn’t playing at the blues. He was playing it, with the feeling and authenticity the form demands.

When someone pointed out that this music was built from a lifetime of hardship and experience he hadn’t lived yet, Jake answered with the kind of clarity that’s hard to teach. “I don’t have as much experience, you know, like that, but not all blues songs are sad. It’s really a reflection of life. Happy and sad and everything in between. I like finding songs from the 30s, from the 40s or 50s, these gems that I really connect with. That’s really fun for me, and I enjoy giving them my own take once I’ve learned them.” There’s a humility in that, and a genuine understanding that the blues was never just about suffering. It’s about connecting to something real. Finding a song from 1938 and feeling it in your chest isn’t about pretending to have lived someone else’s life. It’s about knowing that human emotion doesn’t age out.

His debut album, recorded at Afterlife Studios in Vancouver, is where all of that understanding gets put on tape. Producer and drummer Leon Power, known for his work with City and Colour and Frazey Ford, assembled a serious band for the sessions: Darren Parris on bass, the acclaimed Darryl Havers on piano, with John Raham engineering. Every track was cut live off the floor. No overdubs. No fixes after the fact. Just four musicians in a room, playing together, getting it or not. Exactly the way those old records were made.

For a teenager cutting his first album alongside musicians with decades of professional experience, it would be easy to fold under the weight of it. Jake felt something else. “It was just such a good experience,” he says. “They’re all great people and great musicians, and it was so much fun. Two days in Vancouver, live off the floor.” The veterans treated him with real respect.

They took his ideas seriously and gave him room. “I don’t think about it too much when I’m playing,” he says. Which is maybe the most telling thing a blues musician can say. The blues have never had much patience for overthinking.

On the record, Jake sings and plays guitar, slide guitar, and harmonica, the classic spine of the tradition. The slide work alone would raise eyebrows on a player twice his age. Slide guitar exposes you completely; there’s nowhere to hide in it. Jake plays it like someone with something to say.

He’s been building his live reputation in Kamloops and the surrounding area, one room at a time. His goals are uncomplicated. “I just want to be playing music and gigging. That’s all I want to do.” No hedging. No backup plan. Just the music.

Jake Soberlak’s debut album arrives September 11th, 2026. It’s the opening statement from a young man who found his grandfather’s records, heard something true in them, and decided to spend his life chasing that.

The blues have always found their messengers in unexpected places. It found one here.

Info & Photos : 

jakesoberlak.com