Although she’s still living at home with her parents in Waverley, N.S., singer-songwriter Mo Kenney has taken a huge step in her evolving musical career — she quit her day job at the Dollar Store. That’s big time.
With a catchy new tune called “Sucker” getting steady radio airplay across the country and a revered rocker by the name of Joel Plaskett showcasing her skills and producing her debut album, Kenney, playing at the Rivoli in Toronto on Feb. 13, is fast approaching Next Big Thing status. But it hasn’t happened overnight.
Kenney has been in love with music for as long as she can remember, even going so far as going to sleep with her guitar on her chest as a kid.
“I’ve just always been obsessed with music since I was a kid,” she says.
Her first exposure to the music that would end up influencing her own direction was through movies such as The Royal Tenenbaums, where she first heard Elliott Smith. The late American singer-songwriter would have a major impact on Kenney.
In her teens, Kenney and a number of other Nova Scotia bands played some demo recordings for Joel Plaskett. A few years later, Kenney was offered a spot in songwriter Gordie Sampson’s writing camp thanks to a recommendation from Plaskett.
The collaboration was afoot, and Plaskett signed on to produce her album at his Scotland Yard studio in Halifax, even co-writing a few songs with Kenney.
The album, released in late 2012, written over a number of years, reflects a few different periods of Kenney’s young life, but it tends to gravitate to the sadder side of things. A product, she explains, of her penchant for using her songwriting as a form of therapy.
“I feel really good when I write, but it usually comes from a darker place, I guess, even if the songs are upbeat,” she says. “I guess I’m kinda like that, and I like that kinda music. It is the stuff I write that is most true to me and genuine.”
Since the album’s release, Kenney has received a number of accolades from the press, in addition to a few from heavyweight Canuck crooners such as Ron Sexsmith.
“I’m just in my room writing these songs and hoping that they are good, but I don’t really know,” says Kenney. “Having that affirmed by Ron or Joel, it makes me feel good because I know that I’m on the right track.”
Mo Kenney at Rivoli, 334 Queen St. W., 416-596-1908. Feb. 13