Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mike Younger left home at the age of 17 and cut his teeth as a fledgling street performer in Toronto and Vancouver. At the age of 20, he headed to New York City to seek out the 60’s folk renaissance remnants. It was years later, while performing live on WWOZ in New Orleans, that he caught his first break with a music publisher who heard the broadcast. Soon after, Mike traveled to Nashville to record demos, and his recordings reached the ear of Rodney Crowell. When Mike signed his first record deal, Crowell stepped in as producer, and together they turned out Somethin’ In The Air in 1999. In 2001, Jim Dickinson started producing Mike’s second album, which never saw the light of day, as the record label collapsed before the record was completed. The original Memphis sessions featured rock legends Levon Helm on drums, Spooner Oldham on keyboard and organ, David Hood on bass, Jim Dickinson on piano, and his son Luther Dickinson on electric guitar. The tapes from that session fell into legal limbo and were lost for almost two decades. Now recovered, Burning The Bigtop Down was released August 27th 2021. After the loss of the Memphis sessions and his record deal, Mike left Tennessee, returning to New York City to assemble a band and subsequently release 2005’s Every Stone You Throw, his first independent effort, which carried some of the songs from the lost record. From 2003-2007, he worked the NYC club scene with his band and as a solo performer.  In 2007, he returned to Nashville and began laying the groundwork for 2009’s Hustled By Squares, followed by U.S. touring in the midwest, mid-Atlantic, mid-South, and northeast regions, where his radio supporters and fans encouraged him to keep the hope alive… During the next few years, he developed a friendship with neighbor and guitar legend Bob Britt (Leon Russell, Delbert McClinton, John Fogerty, Bob Dylan). Bob would end up producing 2016’s Little Folks Like You And Me. Mike jumped back into regional touring to promote his work and to support various environmental causes, including the NODAPL standoff at Standing Rock, the Flint Water Crisis, and his own community, all of which were facing environmental degradation by irresponsible corporate actors and their enablers in public office. Little Folks Like You And Me featured the song “Poisoned Rivers“ which became a rallying cry for local community resistance to unwanted fossil fuel development in Middle Tennessee. The community’s position was strengthened by the 2015 Field Study Of Gas Pipeline Safety In Tennessee, which included Mike’s extensive photo-documentation of corroded and poorly maintained interstate gas pipeline infrastructure and haphazard operating conditions across Tennessee.   In 2017, Mike was able to reclaim the recordings he made in Memphis in 2001 and began the long process of completing the production of Burning The Bigtop Down and cleaning up unresolved issues surrounding the record. Having developed exceptional skills as a mechanic over the years, Mike was able to spend significant time during the pandemic restoring and building out a school bus conversion to run on recycled fryer oil in preparation for future touring. With the August 2021 release of Burning The Bigtop Down , Mike Younger’s long journey to recover his lost work has come full circle.

“I remember my mother buying a record, then sitting down next to the stereo with the liner notes in hand, and listening to the whole thing from start to finish, while marking her favourite tracks with a pen”، muses Australian born, Nashville-based Singer-Songwriter and instrumentalist Katie Cole.  Reading liner notes isn’t the only thing that Cole got from her mother.   “My mum was essentially raising my sister and I on her own.  She worked a lot of part time jobs to make ends meet, but she never complained, she just did what needed to be done to make sure we were all taken care of”, she says.  This lesson in sheer determination and persistence has been a motto of Cole’s throughout her journey from a working-class neighborhood in Melbourne, to her current spot as keys player for the Smashing Pumpkins recent arena tour. “I’ve always said, ‘You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it started’” , she laughs.  Cole’s grounded confidence and years of hard work, shine on her current solo EP Rivers & Roads. Cole’s story is a unique one and involves some great luck and a whole lot of fearlessness.  As a kid, she loved to sing, and in her teenage years she taught herself piano and then guitar, studying everything from 80’s pop to Beethoven.  Around age 16 she started gigging, playing mostly covers gigs at bars and pubs across Australia.  As a band leader, her personnel options were limited, so she often found herself responsible for all the parts; teaching bass lines, making charts, and explaining harmony vocals, while relying completely on her ear for guidance.  She was always obsessed with records, and would study every person involved in a recording, from the musicians to the engineers, and especially the producers.  “I actually put a list of my dream producers on my website - it was just a pipe dream, you know, it said ‘by the way if anyone knows so-and-so, I’d really like to work with them”.  As luck would have it, one of her top 3 dream producers, Howard Willing (Ok Go, Sheryl Crow, Glen Campbell) actually found the site, listened to her music, and invited her to come out to Los Angeles. “It’s something that doesn’t happen, but it happened to me!” she muses. Cole’s first ever trip to Los Angeles, paid for out of her own pocket, was the beginning of her American music career.  After a meeting with Willing, her plan was formed.  After months of work back in Australia, and a lot of money saved, she secured a Visa to live in the United States, and with a production deal signed, she picked up everything she knew and moved to Los Angeles.  With Willing, she created her first double EP, Lost Inside a Moment / Melodiem and then a full-length LP, Lay it All Down, which included the song “Penelope”, featuring Kris Kristofferson.  Both recordings gained some traction and radio play, especially in the United Kingdom on BBC Radio 2, and led to high profile opening spots for Glen Campbell and the Smashing Pumpkins, a gig that would turn into years of touring work when Billy Corgan asked her to join the band on bass and vocals then later, on keys and guitar. Cole’s sophomore offering, Things That Break, Part 1. Features rootsy instrumentation, weaving Americana moodiness with Cole’s own brand of soaring melodies. The resulting music is both personal and profound, akin to the storytelling of Patty Griffin or Lucinda Williams. In the Gospel-inspired song “Graceland”, she writes “It’s a long road I’m on to get me here / when all the lights have gone out but the stars / so I’ll follow them, wherever they lead me dear / far away, far away from your heart”.  Her emotive vocals ring clearly throughout the EP, from the heartfelt, acoustic “Time on My Hands” right through to the Lou Reed/ Nico-infused “All My Winters”. Next up was the acoustic-focused EP Rivers & Roads. “I wanted to get back to the song being the focus.” Says Cole. This was made in the midst of the covid pandemic. Katie explains “I was doing a lot of livestreams and connecting with people, so I wanted to create something more organic to mark the moment. Remind us, what matters most”. Cole back out on the road touring with the Smashing Pumpkins through much of 2023 and then 2024 marked a large-scale tour with Interpol in Europe and Green Day in America playing stadiums. These seemingly dreamy opportunities have been anything but an easy road for Cole.  “My mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, then Breast Cancer, then later on it was Lung Cancer. I learned so much of who I am as a human from my mum, and being away from her has been awful,” she says.  “I know she’s happy that I’m over here pursuing a dream, but I would drop anything in a heartbeat to be where I need to be for her.” Her mother passed away in 2024 during a scheduled trip to Australia. Cole and her family were quick to plan a funeral then she would continue onto a stadium tour. “Life doesn’t wait for you” she remarks, “you just have to be prepared to start again at any given time. I’ve done that before a few times”. Cole continues to say “The world feels very different without my Mum in it, but I try to take her with me wherever I go in the world”. Working with the Smashing Pumpkins, has afforded her a great opportunity to create BGV arrangements for albums including “Cyr”, “ATUM” and “Aghori Mhori Mei” Katie brings a softness and connectivity with her vocal offerings in this different landscape. Fresh off a recent European and American stadium tour with Green Day, playing to more than 800,000, Katie says “I’m ready for something new”, speaking of her upcoming offering “Forest”. “I’ve wanted to make a record that spans multiple genres”, and this is present throughout Forest with the majority of songs containing rich and emotional string arrangements. This album for Cole was two years in the making with crowdfunding and fan support at the forefront. Whether solo, livestreaming, performing with the Smashing Pumpkins or her current spot fronting an orchestra for a Lord of the Rings concert across Europe and America, Katie Cole takes pride in giving her fans a front row and back stage pass. “I love showing people what touring is actually like. The tour gets you to the venue and locations, but I love to find the hidden spots, landmarks, a great coffee and show you my view from the stage.” The lead single “Always Do” will be premiering on Country Note. It features acoustic instrumentation, weaving Cole’s own brand of melodies and story-telling into soaring orchestration created by Tim Lauer. The single and album is Produced and mixed by Cole’s long-time collaborator Howard Willing (Ok Go, Sheryl Crow, Glen Campbell). It showcases a stellar line-up of LA and Nashville’s best musicians. The resulting music is both personal and profound, akin to the storytelling of Patty Griffin or Lucinda Williams meets the timeless musical landscape of Nick Drake, Dusty Springfield and Fairport Convention. Despite the challenges that she has come up against, Cole has never fallen into the trap of making music solely for the purpose of commercial success.  “I really have had to give up a lot to get where I am”، she says.  "I just want to make music that makes me excited and proud, and if I'm being truthful in it that will make me really happy.  If I’m not doing that, with everything I’ve sacrificed, what would be the point?”. Recently she has been selected to perform at Namm, Folk Alliance conference and an exclusive Spotlight showcase at SXSW hosted by Bluegrass Situation and Yamaha Guitars. Writing, Recording, Touring and in the Studio, Katie Cole is a force to be reckoned with. “Forest” is out now.

reamy Indie Rock from the hills of Appalachia. NPR Music Slingshot artist. Praised by Paste Magazine. Described as Indie/Alt Rock/Americana. Compared sonically to Yo La Tengo, Big Thief, and Lucinda Williams.