The Iona Heights Inn

Trivia Night at The Frolic
2024-08-29 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-09-05 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-09-12 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-09-19 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-09-26 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-10-03 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-10-10 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-10-17 20:00 - 22:00 (America/Halifax) and 2 more dates | The Frolic’n Folk Pub & Grill, 4115 HWY 223, Iona, Nova Scotia, B2C 1A3, Canada
Come test your wits & win prizes!
3 Rounds – 12 general knowledge questions each round.
Play solo, or form a team. Funniest team name gets showered with accolades.
Hosted by your man – Ruarí Aonghas Lonce Murphy, every Thursday Night

Céilidh Matinee
2024-08-31 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-09-07 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-09-14 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-09-21 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-09-28 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-10-05 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-10-12 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-10-19 17:00 - 20:00 and 2 more dates
Get a taste of local celtic music & culture with our Saturday ceilidhs (kay-lee).
Expect to see world-renowned talent & budding entertainers from all over our native Cape Breton.
General admission seating ranging from $5-$10
First come first serve at the pub. No reservations. Minors allowed up until 10PM

Cape Breton Celtic Trad Sessions
2024-09-01 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-09-08 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-09-15 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-09-22 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-10-06 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-10-13 16:30 - 19:30
Come and enjoy a casual gathering of musicians who have come together to play traditional Cape Breton celtic music.
Anyone is welcome to join in, or just sit back and enjoy the tunes.
Sundays at The Frolic 430 – 730pm
Full kitchen and bar service.
Minors allowed till 10pm

Songwriters Circle - Woody Woodburn, Steve McIntyre & Dennis Ellsworth
2024-09-20 20:00 - 22:00
Words that make you think. Melodies that get stuck in your head. Steve MacIntyre offers up both in abundance. An East Coast storyteller who makes his home in Cape Breton, Steve grew up surrounded by the best artists and entertainers in the world. It is here that he honed his craft and ability to capture an audience. It is here that he began writing songs of love and loss, travel and reflection, and it is here that you can find him spinning stories that leave people wanting more!
Born & raised in Mississauga, Ontario, with roots in Cape Breton. Woody now calls the small town of Rockwood Ontario home. He has spent time in Cape Breton every summer of his life. His music gives life to your own struggles. Like listening to an old friend. The kind of melodies that linger in your head well after you’ve heard them. Woody is an unassuming, humble guy that will surprise you with his powerful voice. A voice that combined with the real & “come from the heart” lyrics will leave you more hopeful & inspired in your life.
Dennis Ellsworth is a songwriter, performer, sideman, and record producer from Charlottetown, PE. His songwriting career started in high school, filling notebooks with lyrics and poems. He grew up on the Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Ray Charles, Kris Kristofferson, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard. His tastes evolved in grade 6 and he began collecting cassettes. His personal music collection is stylistically expansive. Some might call his love for music an addiction, but whatever.
Over the years he has collaborated with Josh Finlayson and Andy Maize from Skydiggers, Gord Downie from The Tragically Hip, Joel Plaskett, Donovan Woods, Rose Cousins, John Smith, and David Barbe (producer of Drive-by Truckers and bass player for 90’s alt rock band Sugar.)
In 2015 Dennis signed a publishing deal with Cymba Music Publishing in Toronto and has since written songs in a wide variety of styles His music has appeared in television shows for CBC, Netflix, HBO and was featured in the award-winning film, The New Romantic.
Ellsworth has released 2 full length albums with his previous group, Haunted Hearts, an album as a duo with Kinley Dowling, two EP’s and 10 full length solo albums, including his most recent triple album project called Bound by Love.

Lookout Tower
2024-09-27 20:00 - 22:00
Lookout Tower hails from memories of days gone by and of moments yet to come. Storytellers inspired by the cultural landscape of Cape Breton and woven from the yarn of hard times – their songs are the culmination of musical paths not commonly crossed. Defying genres with a no holds barred approach, vintage soul meets modern Americana where footstompin’ old-time harmonies and influences are dashed with Acadian roots, creating their original Winter Swamp Sound – a sonic palette of soulful ballads, rousing blues rock and hypnotic funk.
Their album ‘Fields’ was nominated for ‘Blues Recording of the Year’ at the 2024 ECMAs and for ‘Americana Recording of the Year’ at the 2023 NSMW.
Rankin MacEachern / vocals
Bryan Picard / guitar, vocals
Franzi Habith / bass, vocals
John Pinnington / drums

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Mike McKenna Jr CD Release
2024-10-25 20:00 - 22:00
CANADIAN SINGER-SONGWRITER MIKE MCKENNA JR. HAS BECOME A RISING STAR ON THE EAST COAST MUSIC SCENE: WITH A RASPY, SOULFUL VOICE, WARM INDIE FOLK AND AMERICANA TONES, AND BEAUTIFUL SONGS LADEN WITH CAPTIVATING STORYTELLING.
BORN IN THE PROUD COAL MINING TOWN OF GLACE BAY AND RAISED ALONG THE MIRA RIVER, MIKE’S SONGWRITING AESTHETIC POINTS HEAVILY TO HIS ROOTS GROWING UP IN INDUSTRIAL, EASTERN CAPE BRETON. OVER THE COURSE OF 3 AWARD-WINNING ALBUMS HE’S BROUGHT US 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.

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Steve Poltz - Nova Scotia Homecoming Tour
2024-10-31 20:00 - 22:00
It might’ve even been last night, but Steve Poltz just played the greatest show of his life. Guess what?
The next show will be even greater, making that show the greatest show of his life.
Are you starting to notice a trend?
He isn’t shy about it either.
Even after most likely thousands of shows (but who’s counting?), he hits the stage with the same amount of energy and always makes sure to declare, “This is the greatest show of my life.”
It’s why he’s quietly emerged as the kind of live phenomenon celebrated passionately by a diehard fanbase worldwide and renowned as a festival favorite everywhere from Bluesfest in Byron Bay and High Sierra Music Festival in California and Telluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado to Cayamo Cruise (where he actually got married). It’s why his music has crept into pop culture via collaborations with everyone from Jewel and Billy Strings to Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, Nicki Bluhm, Oliver Wood, and even the late Mojo Nixon. It’s why after over a dozen albums, he’s still creatively firing on all cylinders and critically acclaimed by the likes of Rolling Stone, Associated Press, Billboard, and many more.
Nevertheless, the next gig will be the greatest show for him (and maybe for you too)…
“I started doing it years ago, because I feel grateful to still be alive,” he notes. ”Even today, I still do it, and I believe my own bullshit. I convinced myself that every show is the greatest show I’ve ever played. They’re all different, and it depends on my mood each day, but I know I’m there to entertain people. It always cracks me up when I stumble into some sort of weird thing that’s handed to me like a gift from the freaky deadly heavens above.”
Steve might as well be “a gift from the freaky deadly heavens above” himself. He was born in Nova Scotia—Halifax, to be exact. Somewhere along the way, he began his relationship with the guitar at six-years-old. “We’re joined at the hip and lip and it’s always near my grip,” he affirms. He grew up in Los Angeles and Palm Springs (where he “met Elvis and Liberace”) and settled in San Diego (where he cut his teeth “under the tutelage of The Beat Farmers”).
He kicked off his musical journey in San Diego-bred underground favorites The Rugburns. However, the world got to know Steve when co-wrote two tracks from Jewel’s diamond-certified debut Pieces Of You, including the multi platinum Billboard Hot 100 #2 “You Were Meant For Me” (he’s also in the video). He delivered his own full-length debut One Left Shoe in 1998 and paved the way for an extensive solo catalog defined by what he calls “evocative lyrics mixed with positivity and traces of tragicomedy.”
If you so choose, you can trace his evolution from “Everything About You” (which popped up in Notting Hill) to the staple “Can O’ Pop”— christened “a fizzy delight” by Rolling Stone. The latter graced his 2022 album, Stardust & Satellites. Co-produced and created with The Wood Brothers, it garnered widespread acclaim. HOLLER. hailed it as “a wonderfully energized, often joyful and wryly provocative release from the charismatic Steve Poltz,” while No Depression dubbed it “poignant and ultimately uplifting.” Glide Magazine applauded how, “He takes chances like few others and seems to be increasingly more unconventional as he embraces Americana.”
Simultaneously, a myriad of artists continue to seek him out as a collaborator in the studio. Whether it be “Leaders” with Billy Strings or “Million Miles” with Molly Tuttle, he’s got dozens of cuts with various friends under his belt. He contributed two tunes to Deer Tick’s Emotional Contracts with frontman John J. McCauley going on to profess to Brooklyn Vegan, “Steve Poltz may be the biggest, most direct inspiration for me on this record.”
Steve adds, “Usually when these folks and many others come over to my house in Nashville we end up with something I love. I try not to overthink it. There are no rules. It’s kind of like fishing. You don’t catch anything if you don’t throw your rod in the water. So I guess I just try to be available for inspiration, mixed with perspiration and exasperation.”
Speaking of perspiration, he regularly travels far and wide to audiences of all ages and all continents most every day.
“I travel from town to town and fool people,” he grins. “I sing them songs and tell them stories and somehow they decide to pay money to obtain some merch and witness the spectacle. Then I return a year later and fool them again.”
In the end, Steve is probably gearing up for the greatest show of his life as you read this.
Thankfully, that will never change.
He signs off, “I’m just a weirdo, a freak, a bon vivant, a rounder, a rabble rouser, a workaholic, a people pleaser, an idiot and a grateful kid who ran away and joined the circus.”
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