Critically acclaimed Yukon songbird, Joey O'Neil, is bewitching audiences across Canada with hauntingly heartfelt anecdotes from a woodland life.
Offering vulnerable vocals, engaging banter, and bittersweet wordplay floating atop a bed of fingerpicked guitar, O'Neil is sure to make you laugh and cry simultaneously. With a decade of touring to her name, her live performance has been described as “gentle and intimate” by Exclaim! and “absolutely touching, even a little heartbreaking” by NEXT Magazine. Her third album, Phantom Vibes (2023), weaves poignantly personal storytelling with her theremin's ethereal howls and a mélange of folk-jazz instrumentation produced by Aaron Goldstein (Le Ren, Julianna Riolino). Her clever sincerity has earned her regular spins on CBC Afterdark, an appearance on Global News' The Morning Show, as well as a place on !earshot's National Folk/Roots/Blues chart.
When not chopping wood and hauling water around her off-grid Klondike cabin, O'Neil hits the Trans-Canada Highway in her vintage camper. She's played over 200 concerts around the country, has warmed stages for Basia Bulat, Jennifer Castle, and Julie Doiron, and has showcased at Folk on the Rocks, Dawson City Music Festival, Highlands Music Festival, Atlin Arts & Music Festival, Folk Music Ontario, BreakOut West, Wintersong, NXNE, and Contact East. After the release of her canine-centric album, Ever Ahead (2020), O'Neil and her road dog, Oblio, embarked on a national dog park tour, performing socially-distanced shows for humans and their best friends at 13 parks across five provinces.
“Such a great storyteller.”
— Odario Williams, CBC Music
“An excellent singer-songwriter with a voice as haunting as a Klondike winter.”
— Grant Lawrence, CBC Music
“…gentle and intimate…”
— Exclaim!
“…absolutely touching, even a little heartbreaking.”
— NEXT
“The album is rife with playful poetry and sees O'Neil casually bounce between tongue-in-cheek lyrics and a true sense of heartbreak.”
— CBC Arts
“O’Neil delivers something disarmingly organic here...”
— Country Queer