Singer-songwriter Mike Sixonate proudly represents his home province on his new album Rant & Rave
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Few musicians this side of the Atlantic are as proud of their homeland as Newfoundland’s own Mike Sixonate.
Indeed, Sixonate has dedicated the better part of his career as an artist to promoting this island. It would come as no surprise to fans of his powerful performances that Sixonate’s studio debut, Rant & Rave, is a love letter to Newfoundland and Labrador. 
‘We’re Hearty’
“It’s a collection of songs that I’ve been working on for several years,” Sixonate shares. “It’s been a long time in the making. I’ve been putting out amateur recordings for about 10 years, but this is the first time I’ve had the chance to get in the studio, get some good studio musicians and put out a really solid product. I’m really excited about it.”
Sixonate will launch Rant & Rave on June 18th at the Captain’s Pub in Twillingate – where he is the artist in residence from May to September – an album featuring notable collaborators Chris Donnelly, Paddy Byrne, Rowan Sherlock, Evan Grace, Andrew Laite, Josh Sandu, and Georgie Newman.
“For anybody who is not familiar with Newfoundland, when they’re done listening to this start to finish, they’ll have a better idea of who we are as a people,” Sixonate shares. “I really put a lot of thought into how to represent us. We are different from the rest of Canada – not in a better or worse way. We persevere, we’re hearty and I wanted the album to reflect that to the rest of the world.
Not All ‘Diddley Dees’
“I think this record is a reflection of taking songwriting back to not just being fiction,” he adds. “This is definitely a non-fiction album. I hope people will recognize my songwriting as true and honest and shows that I’m humbled to be a Newfoundlander. There’s music from all different genres, and it’s a good representation on how myself as an artist, I want to portray that Newfoundland music isn’t all diddley dees and diddley doos. Newfoundland music is not all about what people persevere Newfoundland music to be. There’s much more depth to it. I really hope that this is a reflection of not just my own songwriting, but many other artists from Newfoundland that are in the similar vein.”
For more on Mike Sixonate visit mikesixonate.com and visit him at the Captain’s Pub in Twillingate.