Kaleb Hikele Brings His Storytelling Tour & Heart for Small-Town Music to Owen Sound
Canadian folk-rocker Kaleb Hikele talks about his new album Storytelling, his love of small-town shows, and his upcoming performance at The Rumpus Room in Owen Sound.
Canadian folk-rock singer-songwriter Kaleb Hikele has spent the past two decades building one of the most quietly prolific independent careers in the country.
Best known for his work as The Sun Harmonic, Hikele has released twelve studio albums, toured relentlessly, and seen his music featured on platforms from Netflix and CBC Radio to SiriusXM and Stingray Music.
Recognized by Canada’s Walk of Fame, Canadian Musician Magazine, and the Ontario Folk Music Awards, he was named FCLMA’s 2024 Ontario Independent Recording Artist of the Year.
Stripping It Back: The Making of Storytelling
Now, with a new solo project on the horizon, Hikele is stripping his sound down to its essence. His latest single, “Slowly,” is a sweeping folk-rock love song that offers the first glimpse into his forthcoming album, Storytelling. It’s a deeply personal collection written, performed, and recorded entirely by Hikele himself.
This fall, Hikele is taking Storytelling on the road, performing the new album live, front to back, before its official release. The ‘Storytelling’ Tour stops in Owen Sound on Thursday, October 30, 2025, for one night only at The Rumpus Room (7:30 p.m., $15 cover), with special guests James Harris and Michelle Meunier.
Each concert is designed like a listening session: Side A performed in full, a brief pause to “flip the record,” then Side B — no banter, just the music and its stories.
Hikele’s upcoming performance marks a return to his grassroots approach: songs built on honesty, emotion, and the unshakable belief that stories, when shared through music, bring people closer together.
As Hikele prepares to bring his Storytelling tour to Owen Sound, he reflects on the rhythm of life on the road, the intimacy of small-town stages, and what it means to keep creating after two decades in music.
On the Road Again
Owen Sound Current: You have a full run of shows across Ontario this month, including your stop in Owen Sound on October 30. What do you enjoy about connecting with people in smaller music communities along the way?
Kaleb Hikele: “First, I’m really looking forward to making my way back to Owen Sound on the 30th, for my first time playing at the Rumpus Room. Travelling around the province and playing in smaller towns is my way of connecting with the small-town kid in me, where I came from myself.
I was born and raised in St. Thomas, a city of 30,000 people, but I spent most of my teen years living in a smaller borough, Lynhurst, and a smaller music community is where my heart always lies.
I find that in Toronto, where I live now, there isn’t one big music scene at all; it’s many pockets of music scenes and smaller, bubbled communities. Finding the coolest music venue in these Ontario towns is my mission these days, especially if they have a piano or a great “listening room” vibe.
Leaving the big city for better things is my specialty. I’ve always found more loving and caring music fans when you leave the concrete jungle.”
Turning the Industry Model Upside Down
Owen Sound Current: Your upcoming album Storytelling sounds like a deeply personal project. What made this the right time in your life to make such an intimate record?
Kaleb Hikele: “Funny story, but I started making this album in 2021. So it was the right time for me to start making this album when I was 31, but the perfect time for me to perform it is right now, when I’m 35 and still working on finishing the studio album behind the scenes.
The standard music industry prototype is to release an album and then perform the material, don’t spoil it... I’m flipping that on its head, singing the album live and debuting the entire record front to back, before it’s released on Spotify.
I’ve set my priorities straight on this one! Share the songs and stories with live audiences first, then I’ll suffice to put it on streaming to make fractions of pennies per spin.”
The Sun Harmonic and Beyond
Owen Sound Current: You’ve spent years performing under The Sun Harmonic and now tour solo. How do those two sides of your musical life feed into each other?
Kaleb Hikele: “It’s a long story, but for over a decade, The Sun Harmonic was actually my solo outfit! In high school, I released a few Kaleb Hikele albums on burned CDs, but when I moved to Toronto in 2008, I set off to become a solo artist, a singer-songwriter... Sun Harmonic was an outlet for releasing many of my formative albums, including Winter (a double album from 2017) and Coast to Coast (a cross-country folk album, 2021).
But after the pandemic, I felt completely lost. So I was ready to try something new. After 15 years as a solo outfit, Sun Harmonic became my rock band (finally releasing our new rock anthem Glory Days in September 2025) while also setting off on a new solo venture under my real name.
Now I go around and teach people how to pronounce my name, Kaleb Hikele (like Michael, with an H), and it’s the best choice I’ve made in a long time. It feels real. Genuine, sincere, I have nothing to hide anymore.
Both of these sides of my music, the rock band and the folk singer, are reciprocal and intertwined; they hold hands and dance around together on a daily basis. I am a punk and a classical music nerd at the same time!”
Lessons in Independence
Owen Sound Current: You’ve stayed independent through more than a dozen albums and countless shows. What has that independence allowed you to do or learn that might not have been possible otherwise?
Kaleb Hikele: “I’ve learned what I’m capable of doing on my own. It made winning an award last year — my first award as an artist in 20 years — feel all the more special.
It’s also taught me what I’m good at doing myself, which is making studio albums. I don’t need a big, famous producer to get my songs on commercial radio. But I also don’t need to book my own tours all by myself, even though I still do.
I’ve learned that sometimes you need to ask for help, so I’m doing that more often now. For years, I designed all of my own album art and vinyl records, but in 2024, I finally gave my album cover design up to a friend of mine for ‘My Mind Is Like a Radio,’ and people really liked it. So I’m learning to let go and grow as an artist, collaborating with other artists to grow my own art. It’s cool that way.”
Love, “Slowly,” and Patience
Owen Sound Current: Your new single ‘Slowly’ has been a long time coming — written years ago, recorded later, and released now. What’s it like finally giving that song its moment?
Kaleb Hikele: “I’m happy to release it now. This song wouldn’t have been what it is if I didn’t give it time to breathe, and to sit around and wait for the right album to land on. Up until a few weeks before I released the song, it even had a different name, “Love, A Mystery”, a bit more poetic and metaphorical name that I gave it when I wrote the song in 2016...
But I played the song for Jess, my partner and subject of the song, when we first started to fall in love, and she suggested a new song name to capture the soul of the song. She said ‘Slowly’ and I went with it, no questions asked. The song wouldn’t have been written if it weren’t for her to begin with.
Thanks to Jess, I’m able to record and sing my songs with someone on my side, which is hard to find in this crooked but beautiful world of commerce and art.”
The Changing Sound of Ontario’s Scene
Owen Sound Current: You’ve played shows across the province and watched Ontario’s independent scene evolve over two decades. What’s changed the most for artists like you since you started?
Kaleb Hikele: “CD sales! I used to put together handmade CDs of live albums, demos, EPs, and sell dozens of them at a gig. This tour, I’ve brought a few limited copies of a burned copy of ‘Storytelling LIVE!’ on the road, since the album isn’t available in any other format at the moment.
But that’s the first time I’ve burned CDs for a gig in years. I used to do it all the time. So now vinyl is taking over, and people are even starting collections from scratch (I always give them a copy of every album I have to get it going, haha), and I love seeing a new direction at the merch table that still appreciates the physical medium.
It has always been my favourite way to enjoy music, so I spend a lot of my time and money making sure that people can own and hold a copy of my own album, too.
I would say that the apathy towards live music and supporting artists has also changed; the pandemic is likely to blame for financial reasons and also just showing people how nice it is to stay cozy at home. Any musician reading this would likely agree. It’s just not what it used to be.
But the fight continues, live music is the best thing in the world (in my opinion).”
Why He’ll Never Stop Playing
Owen Sound Current: After all these projects and tours, what still drives you to pick up a guitar and keep creating?
Kaleb Hikele: “I keep making better music than I’ve made before. It’s that simple, just a need and a desire to improve and compete with my previous material. I can’t stop writing songs. I can’t stop wanting to sing my heart out on stage, to laugh and cry in front of an audience and be real for a moment in a world full of fake presentations.
Because social media will NEVER, EVER bring that into our lives. Live music is in the present moment; it’s there in a constantly changing second, and then it’s gone too soon. I never want a show to end.
And it’s the greatest honour of my life to play my original music for anyone who’s willing to listen.”
Kaleb Hikele’s Storytelling Tour stops in Owen Sound on Thursday, October 30, 2025, for one night only at The Rumpus Room (7:30 p.m., $15 cover), with special guests James Harris and Michelle Meunier. The performance will feature the full Storytelling album, played front to back as a live “vinyl experience” — Side A, flip the record, Side B — a rare chance to hear the music before its release. Tickets available online at The Rumpus Room.