Mohawk rocker turned folk and soul musician Logan Staats began as a diamond in the rough on the streets of Brantford, Ontario. He had no formal musical training, no connections, just a good ear and raw lyrical talent- and always a guitar in hand. He played the local circuit for years before his 2015 debut release ‘Goodbye Goldia’, an unvarnished yet hard hitting solo acoustic album. He went on to win CTV’s ‘The Launch’ in 2018, gaining commercial success and touring across North America and Europe.
But traveling the world can really open your eyes to what’s going on right at home, and the fight for indigenous sovereignty has become a focal point for Staats in recent years. It all intermingles with the music; the passion, the rage, the love, and most of all the healing. He’s making roadtrippin’ music for those traveling ‘the red road’; a path towards reconnecting and relearning indigenous ways. “I wanted to bring my songwriting back to the medicine inside of music, to the medicine inside of reclamation,” he says.
This is the driving philosophy behind his sophomore album ‘A Light In The Attic’, released 2023. These songs are a healing salve, contemplatively composed and offered to listeners in need of comfort. His sound draws heavily from the rich blues and rock legacy of Six Nations. His music has garnered a Juno nomination, multiple Native American Music Awards, and the SOCAN Indigenous Songwriter of the year. Nowadays, he’s cooking up a southern country-flavored third album, and touring the back of Turtle Island and beyond.