Music player on Dan's website ׀ Download photos ׀ Dan on Youtube
Brochure copy and short bios. ׀ Full Living Tradition review ׀ www.danmckinnon.ca
"Undoubtedly the hit of Cleckheaton Festival this year... "
Though he can trace his family back to the Skye McKinnons, only a few generations removed from Scotland, Dan himself hails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the Canadian Maritimes, an area rich in the musical and cultural traditions of the North Atlantic.
"A special night with Dan McKinnon. Marvelous powerful voice delivering many thought provoking original songs with great story telling to set the scene... and a couple of Stan Rogers songs added for audience participation. Very accomplished guitar accompaniment using several different tunings to great advantage... Just lovely..."
- - Cramlington Folk 2022
Dan's warm baritone voice, superb guitar arrangements and original compositions have won him widespread praise. Dan's thoughtful compositions and smooth melodies cover the entire folk spectrum, with themes traditional, historical, contemporary and universal.
A gentle unassuming man - one of nature's gentlemen, in fact - who travels around the UK by train and bus with a backpack and a guitar on his annual tours from Canada. Dan has tremendous stage charisma and engages an audience - both hearts and minds. He's equally happy on a large festival stage or a small folk club, telling stories in song. And what stories... tales of the British war brides of Canadian servicemen in the 1940s... the story of how Canadian merchant navy sailors eventually got the recognition they deserved for their war service - sixty years late... tales of his own grandfather and learning about Aesop's fables as a child... the true tale of a bride who wanted the best wedding dress and lost her beau by chasing her dream...
In addition to his many solo performances and recordings, Dan has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia and toured Atlantic Canada and Ireland as part of an International Theatre Festival show about the life and times of Stan Rogers.
Download the Living Tradition article about Dan (pdf) or Read as a jpg
"An excellent night of music from Dan McKinnon at Catshill last night. Great songs sung with a truly awesome voice and introduced with interesting and entertaining chat. A true master of his craft. First time at Bromsgrove but certainly not the last."- Bob Bignell, Brosgrove Folk Club and Festival
Dan McKinon was fantastic on Monday, best we have ever seen him,' - Tudor Folk, Chesham, November 2012
"One hell of a treat to see. He's a great singer, great songwriter, and a great performer." - Mick Peat, BBC Radio Derby
"Dan put down nothing short of a stunning night for us at the Old Oak. Warm, humorous, immensely talented guitarist and a splendid singer of his own songs and those of the great Stan Rogers. A very special performer indeed." - Keith Kendrick, Old Oak Mini-concerts.
"A super man and a fantastic performer with first-rate songs. We book him for Alcester and Arden Festival whenever he's in the UK at the right time of year." - Alcester and Arden Festival
"Although not his first CD, Fields of Dreams and Glory is my first encounter with this incredible artist. Hearing Dan McKinnon for the first time reminds me of the first time I heard Stan Rogers or James Keelaghan.” - Rich Warren, Sing Out Magazine, USA
In addition to his own repertoire of well crafted, intelligent songs, Dan also has a complete repertoire of Stan Rogers songs, so in addition to Dan Sings Dan - if you are booking him for your festival you can also have Dan Sings Stan as a completely separate one-man-show lasting up to two hours. Not only Stan Rogers' songs, but snippets about the the life and times of Canada's best loved folk songwriter, who died at the tragically early age of 33. This is Dan's version of Mary Ellen Carter.
Dan is picking up an enormous amount of airplay from all over the world for tracks from his CDs and he's received nominations for two MIANS Awards: Folk/Roots Recording of the Year & Male Artist Recording of the Year! People keep giving him other awards, too: As far back as 1998 he was given the AMTEC Award of Merit in the audio category for the album Between Wind and Water and he was the Nova scotia winner in the tenth and final CBC Atlantic Song Contest for the song, "Lakes of Bras d'Or."
With half a dozen TV and video credits, hundreds of airplays, six CDs to his credit - the sixth. Just Another Day, produced by Paul Mills, Stan Rogers producer, Dan is well established in his native Canada and is rapidly gaining an enthusiastc fan base in the UK and airplay across the world.
See Dan's own website for all gig details
Next Tour Booking Now September-October 2023
MAY 2022
Fri 6th
Behive Folk Club Harthill, Sheffield
Harthill Village Hall, Winney Hill, Harthill, Sheffield S26 7YL
Sun 8th
Scrag End Folk
The Railway Inn, 31 Ashby Road, Moira DE12 6DJ
Mon 9th
Mansfield Folk
Forest Town Arena on Clipstone Road West, Mansfield, NG18 0ED
Tue 10th
St Neots Folk Club
The Priory Centre, St Neots PE19 2BH
Sat 14th
Houseconcert
York
Mon 16th
White Horse Folk Club, Conservative Club, Wylies Road, Beverley, HU17 0PR
Wed 18th
Cramlington Folk Club
Benedictine Social Centre, Glenluce Drive, Cramlington. NE23 6YD
Fri 20th
Northwich Folk
The Royal British Legion (Social) Club, Firth Fields, Davenham, Northwich CW9 8JB
Sun 22nd
Bothy Folk, Southport
The Bijou Cinema, 8 Post Office Avenue, Southport, PR9 0US
Mon 22nd
Stirling Folk Club
Stirling Rugby Club, Bridgehaugh Park, Causewayhead Road, Stirling, FK9 5AP
Tues 24th
Glasgow - Live at the Star
Avant Garde, 34-44 King Street, Glasgow G1 5QT
Fri 27th
Stonehaven Folk Club
Stonehaven Bowling Club, Recreation Ground, Stonehaven AB39 2RD
Sun 29th
Grimsby Folk Club
Spiders Web, Carr Lane, Grimsby, DN32 8LN
JUNE 2022
Wed 1st
Spalding Folk Club
The South Holland Centre Function Hall, Market Place, Spalding, PE11 1SS
Sun 5th
Twickfolk
Cabbage Patch, London Road, Twickenham, TW1 3SZ
Mon 6th
Chichester Folk Club
Chichester Inn, West Street, Chichester, PO19 1RP
Tue 7th
Dartford Folk Club
Dartford WMC, Essex Road, Dartford, DA1 2AU
Thur 9th
Bromsgrove Folk Club
Catshill Social Club, 13 Meadow Road, Catshill, Bromsgrove B61 0JJ
Fri 10th
Bingham Folk Club
Rugby Club Pavilion, Brendan Grove, Bingham, Nottingham, NG13 8TN
Wed 15th
Cottingham Live
The Back Room 173 Hallgate HU16 4BB
Thur 16th
Lyceum Folk Club
Crindau Constitutional Club, 45 Malpas Road, Newport, NP20 5PJ