Angus McKinney, a.k.a. Joel Kircher, is a singer/songwriter/rock n’ roller based in New York State. His songs are hard fought and pain forged. This is music anyone can enjoy, especially if you have learned to value life through hard times. Angus McKinney has carefully collected 30 years of music influences and distilled it into one of the best albums I have heard in some time. Two things you will notice about Angus McKinney is that his voice is deep and his lyrics are direct.

He recently finished his first proper album, Never Forgotten, which was produced by Jesse Sprinkle. I am listening to it now and it’s bringing a huge smile to my face. Never Forgotten is an album about relationships, loss, faith and love. It is beyond fantastic and well worth the wait for an artist far more people should know about. My first time ever playing guitar publicly I opened for Joel and we have played shows when possible since then. Please listen to his record below.

Joel sent me some words about his album and I think you need to read them:

“The album is entitled Never Forgotten… after the painting that I used for the front cover. It was painted by Lynnsy Deferio as a memorial for the three babies that she lost to miscarriage. Monika and I also lost three babies during that time, which was when the bulk of this album was written.”

Listen to Angus McKinney’s debut Never Forgotten below:

For more information visit: angusmckinney.bandcamp.com

Angus McKinney will be contributing a song to Nate Allen’s Kickstarter Mixtape. This playlist includes over 30 artists and is included with any pledge amount. Order by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday Nov 5.