by Runs Aug. 29th – Sept. 2nd.
Keith Mullins got the beat at an early age. The Cape Breton singer-songwriter remembers sitting on a piano bench next to his aunt Flo Sampson (mother of his cousin, Big Pond singer-songwriter Gordie Sampson), and picking up on the tunes she was playing.
Music-Chameleon Keith Mullins has been playing music all his life. Raised in Cape Breton where his family played all styles of music from the hits to jazz, from Cape Breton fiddling to country, music runs thick through his blood.
Keith is a multiple award winning songwriter with a degree in classical music and has studied with master drummers in West Africa and Cuba. He’s toured the world playing with East Coast’s finest musicians and has worked passionately at the art of music, from creation to performance to production all the while maintaining his focus in the pursuit of forward thinking projects. His album “Localmotive Farm” shares the name with his organic farm in Nova Scotia. His album “The Wood Buffalo Youth Song Project” was a collaborative project where he created a CD that the schools could use for fund-raising. His release “Island Sol”, is a doc./album and is a collaboration between Keith and some stellar Cuban musicians recorded at the famous Egrem Studios in Havana Cuba.
Over the past 10 years, Keith has taken Drumming Workshops Presentations to Schools coast to coast. He has presented in front of thousands of students from pre-school to university. Keith always adapts the workshops to the age group and knowledge base of his audience. He also does Song Writing Workshops. His song writing workshop is a highly engaging, hands-on opportunity for students to create an original song, from scratch, in one hour flat, and then, in an adrenalin-producing moment of instant fame, see their song performed in front of the school and a slew of newly converted fans.
Fort McMurray wildfire inspires Cape Breton musician Keith Mullins to pen a song. Mullins wrote ‘Hard Working Hands in Tragedy’ after seeing negative social media posts about the wildfire. The song flowed out of him and he wrote it in 30 minutes. It took about five days to gather up the musicians and get studio time. Once in the studio, Mullins said the song was recorded, mixed and mastered in three and a half hours.
“It’s been great. It’s got tons of likes and shares. I just think that I am putting to words the way a lot of people felt,” he said.
His new CD, The Heart of Everything – While I am playing 95% of the instruments and vocals, there are some featured musicians on the album including Colin Grant(fiddle) and Gordie Sampson. Co-writes include Sampson as well as Chris Kirby and Dave Sampson. The songs were recorded at Lakewind Studios, co-produced by Mike “Sheppy” Shepherd and mixed and mastered by John Kennedy in Nashville TN.
His CD release for “The Heart of Everything” was on June 25th at the Highland Arts Theatre – It featured an 80 student choir from various schools in Cape Breton. Also featuring Angelo Spinazzola, Colin Grant, Kim Dunn, and Ed Woodsworth and was a Fundraiser for CBmic.
