Meghan Patrick

Canadian country singer Meghan Patrick makes music that suggests a blend of Miranda Lambert and Shania Twain. All this was evident on Grace & Grit, her 2016 debut for Warner Music Canada, but prior to that she'd demonstrated her progressive bluegrass roots as the lead singer in the Stone Sparrows. Patrick's combination of rootsy sounds with pop polish made her an award winner in her native Canada, and 2021's Heart on My Glass found her embracing more sophisticated production as she set her sights on making a breakthrough in the United States. 2024's Golden Child blended country, rock, and pop influences on a set of songs with a strong personal feel.

Meghan Patrick is a native of Bowmanville, Ontario. She learned to play guitar at an early age before picking up the banjo, and played in the Stone Sparrows, a progressive acoustic quartet based in Toronto. The Stone Sparrows independently released an EP and an LP prior to their 2013 split, after which Patrick set out on her own as a solo act. That year, she won KX96's Star Search competition, which led to a publishing deal with Ole Music in 2014. She signed to Warner Music Canada in 2015 and began working on her full-length debut with a host of collaborators, including Vince Gill, Justin Niebank, and Chris Baseford. The first single, "Bow Chicka Wow Wow" (one of several songs on the album co-written by Nickelback leader Chad Kroeger), saw release in February 2016, two months before the arrival of her first album, Grace & Grit, which peaked at 26 on Canada's country chart. Grace & Grit was nominated for Album of the Year honors by the Canadian Country Music Association in 2017, and the CCMA gave her the Female Artist of the Year and Rising Star awards.

After spending 2017 supporting Tom Cochrane on tour, Patrick returned in early 2018 with her second album, Country Music Made Me Do It. The album fared well on the Canadian country charts. The title track became a single that rose to number five on the Canadian Country Singles chart, while another song from the LP, "Walls Come Down," went all the way to number one in the same survey. Patrick was once again named Female Artist of the Year by the CCMA in 2018; they also short-listed Country Music Made Me Do It for the Album of the Year trophy, and the Juno Awards nominated it as Canadian Country Album of the Year. September 2019 brought a six-song EP, Wild as Me; the title track was issued as a single in advance of the set, reaching number 15 on the Canadian Country charts. It was Patrick's first outing after relocating to Nashville with an eye toward breaking into the American country market. She did just that in 2021 with the release of her third studio album, Heart on My Glass, which included the hit singles "My First Car" and "Never Giving Up on You."

On April 11, 2023, Patrick earned one of country music's greatest accolades when she made her first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry. Later that year, she issued a six-song EP, The Greatest Show on Dirt, with the title track becoming another Canadian country hit, peaking at number 15. The song also earned her a nomination for Songwriter of the Year from the Canadian Country Music Association, along with her collaborators Trannie Anderson, Jake Mitchell, and Matt McGinn. A full-length album followed in 2024, Golden Child, which matched the eclectic, polished tone of her most recent work with a tougher, more personal lyrical outlook that spoke of the challenges of life and love. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Mark Deming