Julia Vos didn’t have to go looking for the hook on “Cigarette Sundays.” She’d been living it for a while.
She and her partner have a habit that’s all their own. When the timing works out and life starts to pile up, they head outside and share a cigarette. No plans, no agenda. Somewhere along the way, those afternoons picked up a name, and that name ended up being the title of a song.
The idea came up while she was writing with Kyle McKearney, the CCMA-nominated artist, and the two of them were trading stories about what life as a working musician actually looks like.
“As Kyle and I were talking about our lives as artists, I shared how my honey and I have this little ritual where, if the timing lines up and life feels like a bit too much, we’ll sit outside and share a cigarette. Somewhere along the way we coined those days ‘Cigarette Sundays’. We immediately knew that was the hook and the rest of the song really wrote itself.”
“Cigarette Sundays” Slows Things Down
The song sounds the way that ritual feels.
“Cigarette Sundays” is laid-back … a little romantic … and built on the traditional country sound and lived-in storytelling that run through most of what Julia puts out.
For Julia, the point was to write something that made room for the people who matter, even when a music career keeps pulling her in every direction.
“This song is really an ode to my life right now,” she says. “In all the craziness of being on the road and chasing this dream, it’s important to remember to pause, take it easy, and make time with someone you love.”
There’s a music video for the song too, up on her YouTube channel.
Three in a row with Bart McKay
“Cigarette Sundays” is the third straight single Julia has made with McKay, and the partnership has been good to her.
Their first, 2025’s “I Only Kiss Cowboys,” landed on two Spotify editorial playlists, got picked up by SiriusXM Top of the Country, and won her a Country Music Alberta Award for Music Video of the Year. It was her first CMAA win.
“Jesus Drank Whiskey” followed in spring 2026. That one earned five editorial playlist spots across Spotify, Amazon Music, and Apple Music, and SiriusXM Top of the Country added it as well.
“Cigarette Sundays” kept the streak going, with Amazon Music placing it on its “Fresh Country,” “Just North of Nashville,” “Country du Moment” and “Brand New Music” playlists.
The Road That Led to “Cigarette Sundays”
Nine singles in, Julia has spent years doing the work. She took “Nashville North Star” honours at the 2016 Calgary Stampede, played the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist Showcase in both 2018 and 2023, and made the Top 12 of Project WILD in 2019. She’s played Big Valley Jamboree, the Country Thunder mainstage in 2025, and the CCMA Country Crawl.
In 2026 she wrapped a busy summer at the first-ever Boots and Hearts West in Edmonton, then played two shows at BreakOut West in Victoria.
That pace is exactly why a song like this matters to her. Her own description is the best one going: “It’s a song you can throw on, lean back, let the world slow down for a minute and celebrate the quiet moments of being with your someone.”
In country music, the Front Porch has long been a place of reflection. A place where you can look at the life you have inside that front door. A place where time almost seems to stand still, where you can get away. It’s also a place where you can go to observe the world as it passes by you. To think about your place out there beyond the driveway.
