The Iona Heights Inn

Trivia Night at The Frolic
2024-09-19 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-09-12 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-09-05 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-08-29 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-08-22 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-08-15 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-08-08 20:00 - 22:00, 2024-08-01 20:00 - 22:00 (America/Halifax) and 1 more date | 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

Cape Breton Celtic Trad Sessions
2024-09-15 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-09-08 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-09-01 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-08-25 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-08-18 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-08-11 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-08-04 16:30 - 19:30, 2024-07-28 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

Céilidh Matinee
2024-09-14 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-09-07 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-08-31 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-08-24 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-08-17 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-08-10 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-08-03 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-07-27 17:00 - 20:00
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

Rachel Davis & Darren McMullen CD Release
2024-09-13 19:30 - 21:30
With more than a decade of making records and touring around the world behind them—as members of the award-winning group Còig—Rachel Davis and Darren McMullen now have their sights set on something new—Home.
Recorded with award-winning songwriter, musician, and producer Dave Gunning, Home is Rachel and Darren’s long-imagined, and much-anticipated, duo album. Highlighting the pair’s outstanding musicianship and vocals, Home mixes traditional tunes and songs with original co-writes and signature classics.
Rachel and Darren are well-established and respected instrumentalists in the traditional music world and their playing on this album certainly lives up to that reputation. But over the years, each has also gained recognition for their vocal abilities, most notably with Rachel receiving a 2020 Canadian Folk Music Award in the Traditional Singer of the Year category for Còig’s fifth album, Ashlar. While Còig’s repertoire always included songs, the focus of the group was really on the tunes. Rachel and Darren wanted to shift that focus for this album and feature their vocals more. They take turns on lead vocals and harmonies throughout the 11-track album, which is split about evenly between songs and instrumentals, and the result is a cohesive collection of music performed by some of the top musicians of our times.
From the gentle but commanding riff that opens “River and the Road”, written by Scottish songwriting royalty Archie Fisher, to the unexpectedly bouncy breath of fresh air that is Laurence Gowan’s 1993 hit “Dancing on My Own Ground”, to an old standby from their live sets, “We Remember You Well” by their pal, Cape Breton Music Hall of Fame writer Buddy MacDonald, the songs on Home couldn’t be a better fit for Rachel and Darren’s voices and musical sensibilities.
The pair also wanted to do more songwriting for this album and they hit the jackpot with recording, engineering, and arranging collaborator Dave Gunning and acclaimed singer-songwriter Terra Spencer. Both Gunning and Spencer add harmony vocals to the songs they co-wrote, with Gunning also playing a variety of instruments on the album. Other musical guests include Margie Beaton (piano), Thierry Clouette (bouzouki, foot percussion), and Zakk Cormier (guitar, foot percussion) taking turns on the tunes, and English folk singer Jackie Oates who joins Rachel and Darren on harmony for the lovely Cornish folk song “Sweet Nightingale”, which closes the album.
Listening to Rachel and Darren, it’s obvious that they’ve been playing together for a while—not just as part of Còig, but also as a duo, as guests on each other’s records, and as part of bigger stage productions and ensembles. There’s an easy way about them, a sense of comfort that comes through in the music, in the mix of their instruments, the blending of their voices, and how the arrangements leave room for each other. They seem to know just when to lay back and when it’s time to “give’er”.
Rachel and Darren have had the idea of doing a duo project for a long time, since before Còig took off, really. They just couldn’t ever fit it in with the band’s busy schedule and the solo work they were each involved with. But when the world-wide pandemic shut everything down for an unknown period of time, putting everyone’s plans on hold, some members of the band turned to new opportunities and, apart from one-off shows and the annual Christmas tour, Còig basically found itself on hiatus. That was the push that the project needed, as Rachel and Darren found themselves home together, and lots of time to experiment with material.
Rachel Davis and Darren McMullen’s debut duo album, Home, released in May of this year, with Archie’s Fisher’s “River and the Road” marked as the first single and video.
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J.P. Cormier
2024-08-28 20:00 - 22:00
Nobody really knows who J.P. Cormier is for sure. That’s to be expected, believe me.
In 1974 he was a five year old boy, discovering an innate talent for playing the guitar, I had a little hand in that, guiding him through the beginning stages. He learned faster than I could teach.
By the mid eighties, not out of his teens, he was a sideman for bands and artists of many different genres in Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and all across the deep south. As he travelled and worked he added more and more instruments to his arsenal of capabilities. He became indispensable to the bands he worked for.
In the early Nineties, he became a sideman for one of Canada’s favourite sons, Stompin’ Tom Connors and also became a staple of the recordings at Studio H in Halifax. His work with the CBC there, spanned musical, production and arranging duties.
All this before he was 20.
In the mid nineties he reentered the musical scene of his beloved East Coast and the Island called Cape Breton. He exploded onto the trad music scene there as a fiddler, performing some of the most difficult music ever produced by legends like Winston Fitzgerald and Angus Chisholm with a facility that stunned onlookers. Especially those who knew he wasn’t born there, but born in Ontario to Cape Breton parents. Somehow, some way, his music was the real thing, sounding like he had been steeped continually in a handed-down brew of family tradition from the old country.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
His previous gig was in Nashville playing mandolin and banjo in a grammy nominated bluegrass gospel band and performing on the Opry, and playing television shows with the likes of Waylon Jennings. All those people also thought he was one of them, American, reared in the ways of bluegrass, old time and Americana music. They knew he was from Canada, but it just didn’t seem possible.
Then in 1997, something amazing happened.
An album released in Canada, out of nowhere, called Another Morning. This time it was him as a songwriter and a lead singer.
And what a songwriter he turned out to be. Some of the performances on that album are literally part of the musical vocabulary today in the East Coast. Songs like the title cut, and Kelly’s Mountain, The Molly May (co written with his cousin Gervais) and others. It inspired, 25 years ago, some of the biggest names in the business today. People like Dave Gunning, Matt Andersen, David Myles, Joel Plaskett, all of which will tell you: that record changed things.
The Canadian industry thought so too, and it received a juno nomination and won an ECMA.
And that was just the beginning.
36 years later after stepping on stage as professional union musician for the first time at the tender age of 13, JP is still going, and frighteningly, still getting better.
16 albums followed the success of Another Morning, winning 12 more ECMA’s, another Juno nomination, a Canadian Folk Music Award and 5 Music Nova Scotia Awards. Each album was a snapshot of each thing that he can do. There are fiddle albums, Mandolin, Banjo, Guitar, tribute records, songwriting collections, a purely astounding spectrum of talent and musical vision.
His catalogue of recordings and the 150 or so records he’s produced on other artists, resemble the tapestry he weaves in live performance. Where he used to carry 3 and 4 piece bands, he tours alone now.
Just him and the instruments.
People still leave his shows confused, amazed and wondering what they just saw. Did they see a storyteller? A Songwriter? Arguably one of the best guitar players in the business today? Someone who crosses the lines between different instruments like there are no lines? Who was that masked man, anyway?
Accolades aside, and there are many from people like Chet Atkins, Marty Stuart, Waylon Jennings, Gordon Lightfoot; JP sees himself as just a performer. He’s shy, but has a razor sharp wit and lightning sense of humour. He can be reserved or edgy to the point no return. He speaks for soldiers, first responders, other artists, the forgotten and lost. He speaks sometimes only for himself and refuses rebuttal.
Of all the things he is, foremost he is an entertainer. I think one of the best. After you’ve seen what he does, I’m certain you will too.

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Lennie Gallant
2024-08-21 20:00 - 22:00
East Coast songwriter Lennie Gallant has released fifteen albums of original songs which have won him a host of awards and nominations from the JUNOs, Les Prix Éloizes, and The ECMAs. His songs have been described as “true slices of life delivered with a poet’s flair and a rugged emotional sensibility”. His multimedia production, Searching for Abegweit, ran for 190 shows in Eastern Canada. His song Peter’s Dream, from that show, was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Lennie is an international artist who has performed all over North America and Europe. His songs have been covered by many artists and he has shared the stage with several orchestras and with performers such as Lucinda Williams, Patti Griffin and Roger Hodgson. He has performed with the late Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefers and with David Foster and his band. Lennie struck up a friendship with Jimmy, has two co-writes on his upcoming posthumous album, and was invited to sing on both songs. One of Lennie’s albums also went up to the international space station and circled the planet 248 times. His album, Time Travel, was voted a top ten Album of the Year by a panel of Canadian music industry personnel, and his recent all original Christmas album has received rave reviews.
He and partner Patricia Richard also record and perform as the popular Francophone duo, Sirène et Matelot. Their songs have achieved strong radio play in francophone circuits and have consistently remained on the charts! Lennie Gallant is a member of The Order of Canada and has been recognized for his humanitarian efforts.
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Willie Stratton
2024-08-07 20:00 - 22:00
For more than a decade now, Willie Stratton has been building his good name on stellar sonic shape-shifting and a charismatic, super charged live show. The Halifax-based singer-songwriter has proven time and again that he can dive into any of rock ‘n’ roll’s various iterations—heartsick blues, twanged-up country, hip-shaking rockabilly, groovy surf, anything and everything in between—and emerge, again, as a maestro of the style. But on his latest album Stratton seeks synthesis: Drugstore Dreamin’ finds him playing alchemist, melting down the myriad sounds he’s mastered over the years to create singular sonic gold. As Stratton deftly weaves and mixes musical forms, Drugstore Dreamin’s intoxicating concoction brings his timeless songwriting to the forefront.

Lyrically Stratton delivers a dose of gravitas as-yet unheard in his catalogue, as he and his characters grapple with the pain of loss, of growth, of sallying forth; defeats both intimate and grand in scope; and failure to break old habits.
From the tremlo-heavy highway tune, “The Way She Holds Me”, to the album’s heart-wrenching piano ballad “Chasing Rabbits” finale and everything in-between, true blue craftsman Willie Stratton achieves a harmony of style and elevation of substance that remains rare in our modern world, resulting in his most moving—and grooving—collection of songs to date
The award winning album was produced by Carleton Stone and created with contributions from some of the world’s finest musicians, including Stone, Brad Kilpatrick, Aaron Goldstein, Andrew Boulos, Laur Joamets, Robbie Crowell, Jon Radford, Melanie Stone, Todd Lumley, and Ashley MacIsaac. Recorded in Nashville at Creative Workshop, and in Nova Scotia at The Sonic Temple in Halifax and The Loft in Cape Breton.
“Willie Stratton’s Drugstore Dreamin’ Retro-feeling country rock for fans of Orville Peck and early Johnny Cash sees Stratton earn a spot on our list of the year’s best records.” — The Coast

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Irish Mythen
2024-07-31 20:00 - 22:00
Bio
Irish Mythen was born in Ireland and now resides in Charlottetown Prince Edward Island Canada.
“This Island creates music and musicians, art and artists. I found a shift to take things more seriously when I moved here.” And she did just that.
Her latest release, Little Bones, gained her recognition around the globe, including a 2020 JUNO nomination for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, seven Music PEI 2020 nominations and two wins — Touring Artist of the Year and Roots Contemporary Recording of the Year, and a Canadian Folk Music Nomination for Solo Artist of the Year. Her previous self-titled album, Irish Mythen, garnered awards and nominations from Music PEI, East Coast Music Association, Folk Alliance International and SOCAN. Write-ups in Australian Guitar Magazine, Rollingstone and a plethora of other print and online media world wide have helped plant Irish firmly on the map of Must-See Artists.
Irish’s live performances are a thing of raw power, emotion and a connection with her audience that just has to be seen to be believed.
Recent Highlights

Juno Awards 2020 – Contemporary Roots Album of the Year nomination
Canadian Folk Music Awards 2020 – Solo Artist of the Year winner
Music PEI Awards 2020 – nominated in seven categories; two wins
Concert at the Sydney Opera House 2017
Australian Tour with Melissa Etheridge 2016
Saturday night main stage Bluesfest in Australia 2016 and 2017
Closing the Philadelphia Folk festival 2016
Winner of Roots Album of the year East Coast Music Awards 2016
Nominated for international folk artist of the year by FAI 2017

Discography

2019 – Little Bones
2015 – Irish Mythen
2012 – Open Here
2009 – Sweet Necessity
2006 – Fallen Here

They Said about Irish
Irish Mythen is one of the few performers I have seen who bowls me over each time I see her, she makes me cry with her poignant lyrics and passionate vocals and makes me laugh with her cheeky Irish banter, I love her work and cannot understand why the whole world doesn’t agree with me. Now living in Prince Edward Island in Canada, Mythen has played worldwide and at last seems to be gaining the recognition she deserves.
~ Rachel Griffin, Brighton and Hove News
I had no idea what to expect when this five foot nothing lady took the stage, all smiles and twinkling eyes and guitar. Then, she opened her mouth and out flew a voice that came straight from the Heavens with all the power and the glory and the truth of someone destined to be a singer. I’ve been blessed with seeing and hearing a lot of talented musicians in my life, but I have never experienced anyone quite like Irish Mythen. She is a force of nature and a gift from Almighty Herself.
~ Lisa Schwartz, Philadelphia Folk Festival
I was amazed at your ability to hold such a massive crowd as if it were a tiny one.
~ Dougie MacLean, Artist
By vote, the three most requested artists to return to Mariposa Folk Festival have been 1) Joni 2) Gordon, and 3) Irish Mythen
~ Mike Hill, AD Mariposa Folk Festival

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