Cape Breton’s Mike McKenna Jr. and his band return to The Carleton, with opener Gardens, on Friday, June 13th. Show time is 8 PM and tickets are $30 + HST.
Canadian singer songwriter Mike McKenna Jr. has become a rising star on the East Coast music landscape. His raspy, soulful voice, and warm indie folk and americana tones, make for beautiful songs laden with captivating storytelling.
Born in the proud coal mining town of Glace Bay and raised along the Mira River, Mike’s song writing aesthetic points heavily to his roots, growing up in industrial Eastern Cape Breton. Over the course of three award-winning albums, he’s brought the nostalgia of his home through carefully chosen narrative, poetry, protest, and true stories about life and death in Nova Scotia’s coastal working class communities.
In the late winter months of 2016 Gardens (the project name of Brendan Scott Friel) ran away. The long term relationship he was in had come to a messy end. At the same time, his band, that he had just spent most of his life’s savings on, broke up. Brendan was one dead dog away from a cliche country song. Confused and depressed, Brendan spent what little money he had left to go to Holland with just his beat up acoustic guitar and a backpack. He would spend the coming months busking across Europe and rediscovering what excited him about being a musician.
He came back that summer with a new determination and has since released three full length albums: Quiet Cars (2017) which Friel produced and recorded himself, Summer Moons (2021) which saw Brendan team up with Juno Award winning producer James Bunton (Donovan Woods, Joey Landereth, David Myles) and 2021 released October of 2023. These releases have received playlist support and features from Mahogany, Exclaim!, Alex Rainbird Music, Canadian Beats and radio play on CBC, Folk Roots Radio, 93.9 the River, Virgin Radio 96.7 as well as college radio stations across Canada, Europe and the United States.His latest record 2021 and independent singles Piece of You, Through the Rain and Cold Air landed spots on Apple Music’s “New in Singer-Songwriter”and “Acoustic Winter”playlists.