Singer’s long-distance love ends in ‘I do again’

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This article was published 10/01/2024 (955 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Leanne Pearson flies, there is no doubt she chooses an aisle seat.

If her latest single, I Do Again, is any indication, weddings and marriage are top of mind for the Winnipeg country singer and songwriter in the early days of 2024.

The tune, which came out New Year’s Eve, serves as a bit of a summary of the past four years for Pearson and her husband, Jordan Riley.

Their lives have been a whirlwind that began with their engagement in 2019; a separation caused by a closed Canada-U.S. border during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic; eloping in Nashville for a ceremony officiated by an Elvis impersonator after reuniting in October 2022; and finally, a move back to Winnipeg and the birth of their son, Levi, Jan. 22, 2022, less than a month after Pearson was hospitalized with the coronavirus in Winnipeg.

The dream wedding ceremony and reception they had planned for 2020 finally became a reality this past October in Music City.

“It’s fun how everything has come around full circle,” Pearson says. “I ordered the wedding dress Oct. 31, 2019, and I picked it up almost a year later, September 2020, and I’ve been carting that thing around, through all of our moves, and I finally got to wear it in October.

“Three years later and after a baby it still fit, with only a few small alterations.”

COVID-19 was in their rear-view mirror, and little Levi, healthy, happy and about to turn two, served as their ring-bearer.

“We’re in such a beautiful time in our lives where we need to sit back and enjoy everything that has happened so far,” she says.

I Do Again is in a similar country-rock vein to the sound that has earned her four Manitoba Country Music Awards, most notably Album of the Year in 2019 for Pull it Off.

The outgoing singer hasn’t been shy about writing songs about her personal life, releasing the single Little Man while awaiting Levi’s arrival and Miles Away, a 2020 song detailing the anguish of long-distance love, when Pearson was in Winnipeg and Riley was in Nashville, waiting out the pandemic lockdown.

“I love to be able to write from my heart. I feel this is part two to Miles Away and Little Man, in that realm of ‘This is my love story, this is my life,’” Pearson says.

While many couples use popular tunes for their first dance as a married couple, Pearson found a different solution staring at her in the mirror.

“When I was looking for songs for our wedding, I couldn’t find songs that weren’t overused or (didn’t feel) old or stale, so I decided ‘Well I’m just going to write them.’ I decided to create what I couldn’t find,” says Pearson, who plans to compile those tracks for a future EP.

While she has learned some money-saving dos and stress-inducing don’ts of the wedding experience — both traditional nuptials and themed ceremonies — life’s curveballs have also made her knowledgeable about home renovations.

Her first experience with renos took place with high-profile assistance; she and Riley were part of a Property Brothers episode that had sibling hosts Jonathan and Drew Scott transform their fixer-upper in Nashville into a modern home that included space for a studio.

The pandemic hit and the couple chose to move to Winnipeg, so they used their newly gained knowledge to turn a Charleswood house into their new residence.

However, Pearson’s blooming country music career meant a return to Music City and another home renovation that had the singer serving as general contractor and social-media mentor to fans.

“Nashville was calling me back. I felt like I had so many things I wanted to accomplish I couldn’t do remotely from Winnipeg,” she says. “We learned so much that I ended up writing some blogs about it. I had a lot of people asking me, ‘How do I design my look on a budget? How can I do a reno quickly?’”

Alan.Small@winnipegfreepress.com

X: @AlanDSmall