Canadian Carleigh Aikins has put in her "ten thousand hours" as a collaborator/session/live vocalist whose soulful, dynamic voice has been heard across world stages with Paper Bird and John Oates, Bahamas and Jack Johnson, Macy Gray and Galactic, Dwayne Gretzky, The Head and The Heart, Royal Wood, La Force and a great number of other acts. She now emerges with her solo record JUNK JEWELRY (Fall 2021); boasting musical contributions from Marcus Paquin, Don Kerr, Drew Jurecka and members of The Barr Brothers, Patrick Watson, The Mynabirds and Zeus. "Every musician I know owes Carleigh Aikins a favour. We’d cross paths at a summer festival, or five. She’d sing in a band that was performing, or three. Never centre stage- but she would inevitably end up the focal point. It was never her name on the badge around her neck, but everybody knew her and she knew everybody. She was my favourite part of every band she didn’t lead, on or off the stage. She is a magnet.  It turned out she’d been writing her own songs the whole time, making wildly creative demos. She was stockpiling ideas. Like a student who takes a decade to complete a dissertation that revolutionizes their field. It wasn’t that she was intentionally pulling focus in her collaborative roles over the years. It’s that we as an audience can’t help but notice when honesty is occurring. Watching Carleigh sing makes me feel like a teenager. It feels like an action for the sake of the action. It feels like joy. " -Dan Mangan