Honeybear

Honeybear (Vancouver, BC) is a vintage inspired soul, blues & roots quartet, taking you on an old school road trip through the dusty back roads of American music. As music blog “B- Side Guys” puts it “It’s as if The Teskey Brothers decided to collaborate with the ghost of Muddy Waters”. While Honeybear is a relatively new band formed in 2023, the 4 band members are old friends and have been playing together in other formations for well over 20 years, crossing paths on tours across Canada, down the West Coast, and beyond. As individual performers, they’ve played at most major Folk, Jazz/Blues festivals in Canada. When the pandemic struck and live music was at a standstill, the 4 friends found themselves jamming outdoors in parks, with amps and PA’s hooked up to jerry rigged motorcycle batteries, just to bask in the joy that is playing live music with like minded souls. Necessity is the mother of invention, etc. The rest is history.

Their debut album “I Was Wrong“, self released in June 2025 on their own Playmor label, has received over 6 Million streams on Spotify and have been featured on official Spotify Editorial playlists like Retro Soul, Got blues and Best Blues of 2025. The band is also receiving airplay on CBC, NPR, CKUA and other indie/co-op radio stations across the globe.

The band is fast becoming a festival favorite with appearances at Rifflandia, Barnside Harvest Fest, Vancouver Jazz Festival, Harmony Arts, Wapiti, Starbelly and many more, as well as recent sold out club shows at some of our favorite dive bars in the country, like The Horseshoe in Toronto, the Rainbow in Ottawa and the Ironwood in Calgary.

Honeybear has been recently nominated for a Blues Music Award from the Memphis based Blues Foundation as well as being included in the Vancouver Sun’s “10 Artists to Watch in 2026”. The band was also named Roots Music Canada‘s “New Discovery of the Year”.

Fun fact: Keyboard player Mike Kenney has the distinction of playing more sold out shows at Vancouver’s Rogers Arena than any other musician – as the organ player for the Vancouver Canucks!