Meet Cape Breton-based singer-songwriter Aaron MacDonald.
Aaron’s upcoming full-length album, Rights & Wrongs, is due for release in 2022.
You can find out more about Aaron’s music online at aaronmacdonaldmusic.ca or follow him on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Spotify.
20 Questions with Aaron MacDonald
1. Your first job.
Baling hay at local farms. We’d bounce from farm to farm and get paid $5 an hour. Big money for a 12-13-year-old kid back then.
2. The job you always wanted as a child?
3. Your pet peeve.
Being late for anything drives me insane.
4. Your hero.
John Prine.
5. Your biggest indulgence.
It’s a toss-up between copious amounts of coffee and Lays ketchup chips. However, I am truly and fully addicted to both.
6. One thing no one knows about you.
I love to bake.
7. Three things you would want with you on a deserted island.
8. The one word your best friend would use to describe you.
Busy.
9. If they made a movie about your life, who would it star?
Nick Cage.
10. Hero or villain?
Villain. 100%.
11. Your life’s motto/mantra.
12. The last book you read.
Honestly, I have moved from books to podcasts. Favourites include The Daily, Up First, Under the Influence and countless others.
13. The song getting the most play on your Spotify playlist right now.
1922 by Phil Cook. I cannot get enough of this song.
14. If you were a cartoon character, what cartoon character would you be?
Yosemite Sam.
15. What will it say on your grave marker?
It’s All Good.
16. Who would you most like to have dinner with?
Sturgill Simpson. I’d love to pick his brain.
17. Your idea of happiness.
A cup of coffee on an early sunny morning, sitting on my deck with my dogs.
18. If you could go back in time, what would you tell your twenty-year-old self?
Stop drinking.
19. The one thing in your life that makes you most proud.
This family I have built with Melanie and being sober.
20. To be or not to be?
TO BE! Carpe Diem. Life is short. It is too easy NOT to do things. Not to create. Not to visit that friend. Not to go out and see that show. It’s taken time, but I’ve realized in this life that you have TO BE. You have to do. Seize the day. See the world alive!
Meet Aaron MacDonald
Out of the woods of Mabou, a little town that beats in the musical heart of western Cape Breton Island, comes the soulful, ever-captivating Americana singer Aaron MacDonald. It’s this small-town lifestyle that breeds much of the inspiration for this grizzled ECMA
nominee. A journeyman of performance, his music offers a glimpse into the life of the seasoned songwriter.
Aaron built a strong following on the East Coast and attracted fans across Canada with his alt-country, folk-rock sound. His music comes across as something between the rhythmic soul of Nathaniel Rateliff mixed with the superb simplicity of John Prine. An Aaron MacDonald resurgence has definitely begun. Named as one of CBC Music Searchlight’s Top 100 Artists of 2021, a powerful showcase at ECMA 2022, and sold-out shows across the East Coast, it has only proven fans have been longing to hear MacDonald wave his wand of words.
His upcoming full-length album, Rights & Wrongs, is due for release in 2022.