Duncan-based duo Blue Moon Marquee‘s song “Put Your Feathers On” was longlisted for the 2026 Polaris Song Prize. The annual award honours the Canadian Song of the Year, judged solely on artistic merit, without regard to musical genre or commercial popularity. Launched in partnership with SOCAN during Polaris’ 20th season, the prize awards $10,000 to the winning work, split between the song’s Canadian performers and credited Canadian songwriter(s). The list features 20 songs selected by 205 members of the Polaris jury.
Formed in the early 2010s in British Columbia, Blue Moon Marquee is a swing duo consisting of vocalist and guitarist A.W. Cardinal and vocalist, bassist, and drummer Jasmine Colette. The duo writes original compositions influenced by anything that swings, jumps, or grooves, and performs in any venue that embraces them, from prestigious festivals, jazz clubs, Lindy Hop dance halls, to hospitals, prisons, markets, or motorcycle joints.
Blue Moon Marquee performing at Capitol Ballroom, Victoria, B.C. Photo by Sebastian Buzzalino.
Cardinal and Colette are childhood friends and were both part of the punk and metal scene during their teenage years in Alberta, but drifted apart as they moved away and developed their separate musical journeys. Cardinal’s trajectory took him to New York City, where he worked as a bike mechanic and regularly played at open mics, while Colette hitchhiked through North America performing a vaudeville act of hula hooping, skateboarding and trombone, simultaneously.
In 2012, Cardinal’s album Stainless Steel Heart brought them together to Vancouver. A mutual friend was engineering the solo project and brought Colette on as a collaborator. Their reconnection was instant, fueled by their niche taste and love of rare early blues and jazz. This serendipitous moment led to the formation of Blue Moon Marquee, to over a decade of rigorous touring through Europe and North America, and to a vast repertoire that does not idle in any comfortable category. Their music is blues, jazz, jump jive, folk, country, swing, everything in between and beyond it. This is reflection of years of life experience and of life on the road, mixing into a mysticism that a wide array of audiences find capturing, and that can fit in almost any kind of setting.
Blue Moon Marquee have long been a staple of B.C.’s music scene and have received accolades for their prowess and trademark sound, particularly at the prestigious JUNO Awards. Their album Scream, Holler & Howl was awarded Blues Album of the Year in 2024 and earned them a nomination for Contemporary Indigenous Artist of the Year. They received a second nomination for Blues Album of the Year in 2025 for New Orleans Sessions. Scream, Holler & Howl was also awarded four times at the 2023 Maple Blues Awards, Canada’s highest honour in Blues, and topped charts in Canada and the United States among other distinctions.
Now, the duo has made it onto the Polaris Song Prize longlist for their song “Put Your Feathers On” from the album Get Your Feathers Ready. Released in October 2025, the record is a collaboration with the Alberta group Northern Cree, mixing blues, jazz, and powwow beats and vocals, emerging from Cardinal’s conviction that blues and Indigenous music are spiritually and historically connected. Committed to endlessly evolve their sound, this eclectic album is consistent with their relentless curiosity and joie de vivre approach to music. Recorded in a single eight-hour session, the spontaneity and chemistry between the two groups is palpable and the two genres complement each other, amplifying, energizing, and adding depth. “Put Your Feathers On”, the nominated single, is an infectious ragtime-influenced song merging blues grit with Indigenous drums and vocal traditions.
Discover all artists longlisted for the Polaris Song Prize on their website and listen to the nominated artists on the 2026 Polaris Song Prize Spotify playlist. The shortlist will be announced on July 29, 2026, and the Polaris Concert & Award Ceremony announcement will take place on September 22, 2026, revealing both the Song Prize and Music Prize winners.
Cover image: Blue Moon Marquee in New Orleans. Photo by Lucas McKinnon.
