Back together again!
After a 2023 (almost) fully sold-out Canadian tour, Danny Michel & Steve Poltz are joining forces again, weaving songs and stories into a one-of-a-kind experience. Different shows from city to city to city.
Danny Michel is one of Canada’s most dynamic, engaging musicians. With his distinctive guitar skills and fresh songs, Danny’s live shows are infinitely charming. He’s also an award-winning producer, space buff, skier, forester, recluse, adventurer … and a passionate slot car enthusiast.
Halifax-born, California-raised Steve Poltz is a little bit Robin Williams and a little bit James Taylor. With a sweeping repertoire and joyous energy, he takes audiences on a musical rollercoaster from laughter to tears and back. In the music world, Steve Poltz is a live show giant.
With their spontaneous collaborations and playful energy, Danny & Steve are the antidote to ennui.
The two fast friends—both of them audience favourites and critical darlings in equal measure—are teaming up to play a marathon of 16 shows in four provinces in just under one month. Get set for a night of clever wordplay and pitch-perfect tunesmithing, as wrangled by a couple of top draws with a time-tested, God-given ear for melody. (Okay, that’s four ears, if you want to get technical.)
It’s a must-see of an evening, bringing together two of the wittiest, most accomplished writer-performers on today’s scene. And don’t expect some perfunctory “Okay, who goes on first tonight?” affair either: In their past outings together, Michel and Poltz have shared the stage with a camaraderie that’s left attendees beguiled by how perfectly they mesh—and inspired by the affection between them that’s both obvious and genuine.
It’s a textbook case of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts. Not that the parts are anything to sneeze at. Effortlessly straddling the genres of rock, pop, folk and world, Danny Michel has earned a peerless reputation for songcraft that tickles the brain without sacrificing an iota of emotion. His thematic range is on full display on his most recent album, 2023’s Ghost Town, which veers from the personal mournfulness of the title track to the chant-along uplift of “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself.”
Past recorded triumphs have earned Michel multiple nominations for Junos, The Polaris Prize and the CBC’s “Heart Of Gold” and “#1 Fan Voted Song of the Year”, and most recently the “Producer of the Year” and “Oliver Schroer Pushing the Boundaries” awards at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
A committed environmentalist whose devotion to progressive causes shows up regularly in his music, he’s performed at Jane Goodall’s 85th birthday party and recorded an entire album aboard a Soviet-era Russian icebreaker during an 18-day Arctic expedition. Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me, his 2012 collaboration with Belize’s Afro-Amerindian cultural group The Garifuna Collective, was called “one of the finest musical works of our time” by Billboard.
In addition to indulging his inexhaustible yen for musical exploration, Michel is all over YouTube with his comedy/sci-fi/music show, Dan’s Space Van.
Steve Poltz was first thrust into the public eye as co-writer of Jewel’s 1995 smash, “You Were Meant for Me.” Since that yolk was broken, and the requisite smiley face made, he’s brought his endearing quirks to collaborations with everyone from Grammy-winning bluegrass artist Billy Strings to the late Mojo Nixon. As a solo performer in his own right, he’s made over a dozen albums and played more than 1,000 shows, including major festivals like Bluesfestin Byron Bay and the High Sierra Music Festivalin California – the state where the Halifax-born Poltz cut his musical teeth – and nearly every Canadian folk festival from coast to coast including Mariposa, Winnipeg, and Calgary. His droll, slightly off-kilter approach to Americana has won high praise from Rolling Stone, the Associated Press and Billboard, among other major outlets.
Poltz’s delightfully skewed worldview was again showcased on 2022’s Stardust & Satellites, which included the playfully rhyming concoction “Can O’ Pop.”
Ecstatic audience members who caught Michel and Poltz on their 2023 jaunt together are still raving about it, calling their pairing “pure joy,” “mind-blowing” and “one of the best, most intimate & hilarious & heartwarming shows I have ever seen.” That’s a tough act to top, but rest assured that these dedicated, boundlessly talented boys will find a way. And if you miss it—well, then you can be hard on yourself.
November 1, 2024 The Carleton Halifax, NS
November 6, 2024 Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts Kingston, ON
November 7, 2024 Shenkman Arts Centre Ottawa, ON
November 8, 2024 St. Paul’s United Church Perth, ON
November 9, 2024 St. Paul’s Centre Orillia, ON
November 10, 2024 Aeolian Hall – Performing Arts Centre London, ON
November 11, 2024 The Great Hall Toronto, ON
November 13, 2024 Meaford Hall Arts And Cultural Centre Meaford, ON
November 14, 2024 Market Hall Performing Arts Centre Peterborough, ON
November 15, 2024 The Biltmore Theatre Oshawa, ON
November 16, 2024 Royal City Mission Guelph, ON
November 17, 2024 Fort William Historical Park Thunder Bay, ON
November 19, 2024 West End Cultural Centre Winnipeg, MB
November 21, 2024 KMSC Law Performing Arts Theatre Grande Prairie, AB
November 22, 2024 Myer Horowitz Theatre Edmonton, AB
November 23, 2024 River Park Church Calgary, AB
November 24, 2024 Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre Vernon, BC