"I moved to Denver on a whim," says King Cardinal founder Brennan Mackey. "I'd been living in Chicago, working a finance job that I didn't love, and I knew exactly what the
rest of my life would look like if I stayed there. I decided I wanted to throw everything
up in the air and see where it landed."
It makes sense, then, that the cover of King Cardinal's stellar debut album, 'Great
Lakes,' depicts a man catapulting himself headlong into the unknown, trading safety
and security for adventure and excitement as he leaps over a protective railing. If the
record is any indication, Mackey's own bold leaps have paid off in spades. Recorded
over seven days at Texas' famed Sonic Ranch studio with GRAMMY-winning producer/
engineer Ted Young (Israel Nash, Banditos), 'Great Lakes' pushes the band's raw roots
rock into lush, sonically daring territory with hints of cosmic country and delicate folk.
Consisting primarily of live performances captured without embellishment or
ornamentation, the album is direct, raw, and loose, with a palpable sense of
camaraderie and musical kinship that showcases the five-piece group's exceptional
musicianship and the powerful emotional depth of the vocal interplay between Mackey
and fellow singer Texanna Dennie.
In its earliest form, though, King Cardinal was a far lonelier enterprise. Ever a self-
starter, Mackey adopted the King Cardinal moniker to record his self-titled first EP as a
mostly-solo project, and after relocating to Denver, built up a fanbase using Reddit to
crowdsource a network of house concerts. His early songs were sparse, acoustic, and
poetic, inspired by the likes of Steve Earle and Ryan Adams, and they earned Mackey
an invitation to perform at the prestigious Telluride Bluegrass Festival alongside stars
like Punch Brothers, Brett Dennen, Lake Street Dive, and more. Perhaps most
importantly, though, the music attracted a crew of kindred musical souls who would go
on to help Mackey flesh out King Cardinal's follow-up EP, 'Once A Giant,' into a full band
affair. Marquee Magazine hailed that collection as "excellently crafted Americana,"
while Westword praised the band's "raw, gut-wrenching emotion," and Scene called the
EP "elegant and blissful" while applauding Mackey's transformation "from solo singer-
songwriter to confident and earnest frontman." Dates with Ben Sollee, Sam Outlaw,
Darlingside, and more followed, as the band expanded its reach beyond Colorado for
the first time with national touring.
King Cardinal is:
Brennan Mackey - Vocals, Guitar, Banjo
Scott Roush - Drums
Andrew Porter - Bass
Ben Waligoske - Pedal Steel
Texanna Dennie - Vocals