Bio

Sometimes the pursuit of our greater humanity involves jumping into life head first. That’s what McKain Lakey does. You can tell by her songs.

Armed with George the trusty road cat, a carful of instruments, and all the fight of a rambling, rural-raised, queer femme wanderer, McKain Lakey is one to be reckoned with. She’s the rare human who feels as comfortable wielding a chisel as she does a guitar, who can be as often spotted behind the soundboard in a crowded venue as discussing the intersections of race and gender in old time music with a classroom full of 5th graders.

Described by What’s Up Magazine as “a time capsule unearthed, fine-tuned and re-imagined”, Lakey draws creative inspiration from far corners of the American music tradition, tracing the lines of musical lineage that connect Old Time to Rockabilly, Country to Cajun to Dixieland. She’s a dedicated student of tradition, but at once unafraid to stare down convention through the modern lens of her lived experience. Her new album, Somewhere, blurs lines of old and new, referencing musical textures of past eras while unabashedly exploring topics of mental health, family separation, rural identity and queer love.

“My introduction to American folk music was so rooted in the knowledge that I am a part of living tradition, a web connected across time and distance, and built by generations of creative and resilient people.” - McKain Lakey

About New Album Somewhere:

Recorded in August & September of 2020 at Crackle & Pop! Studio in Ballard, WA, Somewhere is a fresh contribution to Alt-Country, blending quick-picking sensibilities with plugged-in rockabilly production, rouged through with the kind of cool-kid sax riffs that tell us we’re on the 2021 indie scene. Producer Johnny Sangster (Mudhoney, The Posies, Neko Case) folds in a taste of Seattle-style grit, all while keeping each song a pristine showcase of some of the best musicianship the PNW has to offer (highlights include Dave Keenan’s electric guitar on Queer AF, and Decibel Jezebel’s heart-piercing sax solo by Jane Covert-Bowlds).

In keeping with the high bar set by this studio band, Lakey herself is no slouch. With appearances on banjo, fiddle, electric guitar, and the acoustic guitar she built by hand, the fact that her vocal and instrumental tracks were captured live-to-tape with the rhythm section is a testament to her hard-earned performance skills, honed on the road.

Rock records don’t come to us from the ether and Americana didn’t spring fully formed from the digital hive-mind of the Nashville machine. Roots musicians remind us that everything came from somewhere else and our songwriters are here to help us make sense of What Is. Listen to Cicadas in the Trees for a soulful reference to Libba Cotten’s Vastopol, and Movies for a 60’s-inflected tribute to the music of Wanda Jackson— there’s a firm foundation here, both wide and deep.

Spiritually, Somewhere is an exploration of forward-facing vulnerability, presenting our most tender moments as a matter of course, from a place of strength and survival. Lakey marshals her upbringing in rural Washington state alongside her experiences living and working across the US to honor what came before, demanding that it honor her in return. At the height of our Divisive Age, Lakey is imagining the place where rural pride and unapologetic allyship walk hand in hand, adding a new voice to the growing chorus of Queer Outlaw Country singers with her sauntering LGBTQ anthem, Queer AF. Woven throughout the album is an invitation for all of us who are ready to own our mistakes, Lakey included. But the call to humility can stop short at the craft itself— Somewhere has nothing to apologize for.

Praise for Somewhere:

"McKain Lakey's new album is a delight...a ton of inventive ideas." -Devon Leger, Folk Alley

"Lakey highlights and subverts forces in society that work to suppress her identity, purely by sharing vulnerable, arresting stories from her life as a queer person on Somewhere...Lakey is clearly someone who knows who she is and what she has to say in her music." -Alexa Peters, Audiofemme

“Lakey brings a strident confidence to her intensely vulnerable songs about anxiety, pain, and triumph…” -Rachel Cholst, Country Queer

"Somewhere is a celebration of multiple traditions by a fiercely devoted artist, who oozes a musical worldliness which is both refreshing and intoxicating." -Declan Culliton, Lonesome Highway

“…the best country album of 2021.” -Alex Sturbaum, Countercurrent

McKain Lakey’s self-released album Somewhere is now available on all platforms.

Press

"Through beautiful and intense original compositions and covers from days gone by, McKain brought goose bumps the whole way through. Holding a degree from Berklee College of Music and trained in the clawhammer style of banjo, she mixed musical virtuosity with one of the most amazing voices you will hear anywhere. A time capsule unearthed, fine-tuned and re-imagined, McKain Lakey shared her exciting perspective on Americana with fullness of heart and soul." -Frank Giokas, What's Up Magazine

Awards & Recognition

2023-24 Cedar Commissions Artist

2022 Folk Alliance International Official Showcase Artist

2019 Arkansas State Old Time Banjo Championship- 3rd Place

2019 Hedgebrook Songwriter’s Residency

Alumnus of Grammy-nominated Berklee Indian Ensemble