by WGO Staff
Three Cape Breton artists—Morgan Toney, Isabella Samson, and Jesse Cox—release their new music to Bandcamp today. Supported by the Cape Breton Music Industry Cooperative artist development program, the three spent the last six months each making a solo album with 2021 ECMA Musician Achievement Award-winner Keith Mullins at Barn Bhreagh Studios in Baddeck. They will be performing together in a COVID-friendly livestream on Saturday, May 22nd at 7pm to promote their albums.
Artists releasing new music in a pandemic need to find ways to make up for their lost gigs and revenue. Unlike most digital streaming platforms, Bandcamp offers artists a large percentage of the sales, and sometimes takes no profit themselves, putting more hard-earned money in the pockets of artists. So with this in mind, Toney, Samson, and Cox are releasing their albums to exclusively to Bandcamp first. This gives supporters and fans the opportunity to support their music and have it first. The three have released lyric videos for one song each and all have been accepted to CBC Music’s Toyota Searchlight competition. Voting for Searchlight runs May 11th at 3pm until May 20th at 3pm.
Mullins, Toney, Samson, and Cox have put together a super group, Barn Bhreagh, to back each other on their songs, sung in English, French, and Mi’kmaq, with some Cape Breton fiddle tunes included in the mix.
Morgan Toney is a 21-year-old Mi’kmaq singer-songwriter and fiddler from Wagmatcook First Nation. Toney combines his Mi’kmaq roots and his love of Cape Breton Celtic tunes in the creation of this fresh new music which they are calling “Mi’kmaltic”. He has a debut album on the way which is being produced by multiple award winner Keith Mullins. Toney’s video for previously-released single “Kojua” has already gathered 12K YouTube views, and his CBC song commission for “Alasutamaqn” has gathered close to 40k views. He is currently working on a showcase with the International Indigenous Summit which has partnered with Apple to create a mini-documentary of Toney’s music. Out of the 21 Indigenous artists, Toney is the only one working with his language. Watch the video for “Msit No’kmaq” featuring Ashley MacIsaac HERE.
Born and raised in Cape Breton, 16-year-old folk-pop singer-songwriter Isabella Samson is an up-and-coming East Coast / Acadian artist who has been part of the local music scene for a number of years. In spite of her youth, Samson has shared the stage with such notable East Coast musicians as Keith Mullins and Colin Grant, and has been recognized for her mature sounds and remarkable ability to evoke emotion both vocally and on the piano. Her debut album, If It’s Not Forever, features original songs and co-writes with Keith Mullins, Kelli Loder, and Jordan Coaker of Quote the Raven, and contains the sweeping vocals and catchy melodies Samson has become known for. Her controlled sound, as well as her ability to adapt to diverse genres of music, never fails to capture and entertain her crowd. Watch the video for “If It’s Not Forever” HERE.
Raspy-voiced Jesse Cox’s songs are grounded, rootsy, and earthy, like his home “down north” in Cape Breton Island. He was enveloped in music from a very young age, being hauled around live music venues by his touring folk musician parents Dennis and Lori even before the 1980 release of their album The Welcome Table. Passionate about his music, Cox’s songs are ingrained with the cool harshness of being a fisherman in Northern Cape Breton and working with our First Nations youth. Teaming up with veteran multi-instrumentalist and producer Keith Mullins on his first full album, they have cultivated a surefire memorable creation of Canadiana songs. Cox’s album features artists like Shaun Verreault (Wide Mouth Mason) and Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar). Watch the video for “Whipping Post” featuring Shaun Verrault HERE.
Morgan Toney, Isabella Samson, and Jesse Cox’s albums will be released world-wide on all platforms this summer with a “Fingers Crossed” tour featuring all three artists being planned for August 2021.
