Country music star Mackenzie Porter came from a small town in Alberta. Her interest in music started early in her life…to be precise, at the age of four. That’s when she took up playing the violin and piano, as well as singing lessons. Although she thought practicing was a pain, she found joy in performing.
And when she wasn’t playing music, she was listening to the local country music radio station, from where she enjoyed the hit tunes by Shania Twain, Terri Clark, the (Dixie) Chicks, Deena Carter and Taylor Swift.
“Shania Twain was a huge influence on me, and Terri Clark grew up in the same small town in Alberta as me. There are so many female artists who are badasses, and they paved the way for girls my age and younger who wanted to pursue a career in music,” said Ms. Porter during an interview that was conducted prior to her performance at this year’s Lasso Montreal festival.
Speaking of Lasso Montreal, this was her first time performing at the festival, which marked its third year at Parc Jean-Drapeau, and was amazed how a country music festival could flourish in a city that’s not usually associated with country music.
“Lasso Montreal is a good indication of how big country music is right now in big metropolitan places and small towns. It’s everywhere,” she said.
Since she signed her first record deal with Big Loud Records in 2016, Ms. Porter has blazed an impressive trail of hit records along the Canadian and American country music scene. For example, “Thinkin’ About You”, her duet with Dustin Lynch, spent six weeks at #1 on the U.S. country radio charts and went platinum; she has accumulated more than 900 million on-demand streams around the world; she is the first country female artist during this century to have six #1 singles in Canada; she tied with Shania Twain for the distinction of the only other Canadian female artist in history to land three consecutive #1 singles on the Canadian country music radio charts; and four years ago, she was recognized by Billboard as the most played artist on their all format Canadian Top 50 chart for four straight weeks.
To top off all of those achievements, Ms. Porter has recently released her debut album “Nobody’s Born With A Broken Heart”. This ambitious 19-track album has already scored three #1 singles from it on the Canadian, U.S. and Australian record charts. But why the decision to release the equivalent of a double album, instead of breaking it up into two separate albums?
“It’s been so long since I put out a big body of music. I wanted to give my fans as much as I possibly could,” she replied. “It originally wasn’t a plan to do so. My team loved a lot of the stuff that we were doing for the album, so it just turned into that. And afterwards, I decided to release the songs from the album in chunks, so that it was easier for the fans to digest.”
The gist of many of her songs are personal in nature, particularly heartbreak and how to deal with it in a brave, strong manner. “This is what music is to me. This is how I listen to music and how I want my fans to listen to my songs,” she said. “I know my life story and what I have been going through, and there are many people out there who are probably going through similar situations.”
One of those personal matters that Ms. Porter used her musical talents and country music industry connections to good use was as a result of her mother being diagnosed with breast cancer, she decided to do something to help other people who are living or fighting with this dreaded disease by organizing Mackenzie Porter & Friends Present: Country vs. Cancer, an all-star concert that took place last November in Nashville and raised over $85,000. “That was such a successful event, and it felt so good to do that,” she said. “It’s great to see performers give back, especially to help people who are going through the hardest time in their lives. To me that’s very important, and I will keep doing it as long as they let me.”
She added that the second Country vs. Cancer benefit concert will take place in Nashville in January or February of 2025.
