Steve Haley is a story-songwriter currently living and working within the incredible collective of musicians and artists in Sackville, NB and whose Newfoundland roots are ever present in his lyrics and musical stylings. Every Steve Haley album is a document of creative community collaboration and a celebration of musical spirit. Steve also performs with Blue Horse, a harmony-centric folk group, and hosts a weekly radio show with his children.
Having always been a songwriter who writes through characters and fictional narratives, Steve Haley has never felt entirely comfortable sharing songs about his personal life. These songs have been written, just never recorded, nor shared. And Steve has been haunted by these stories. They are reflections on mortality, anxiety, religion, and the mundanity of domestic living. Within are dream mistresses, infatuations, and psychedelic adventures. Familiar places abound, like a driftwood-covered beach or a drive down your street that might lead you to the subconscious stomping ground of your grandmother's home. This record is Steve letting it spill and letting you in. He's giving you the secret knock.
Secret Knock is set to be released in October of 2025
"Haley contemplates life through short existential vignettes... A time, a place, a situation, a memory, a dream. The songs work both as far-fetched fantasies and as reflections of life in a small town." - Grid City Magazine
"In between weird and wonderful lyrics, it leans towards a variety of tonal inclinations. It has the oddity charm of Blind Melon or Built to Spill. The supreme maritime slackerdom of Sloan and weight of Wintersleep. But the best part is how Haley falls into a Neil Young lamenting croon over some of the album’s best moments." - The Overcast
"Part musical ode to the confabulations of apocalyptic fantasy, to the portent of dreams and to wild imagination, it reads like a bittersweet map of friendship, loss and the end of the world... Heat Vision is not just a humbly and subtly crafted folk album; it is also a transforming and hallucinatory vision." - The East
"Themes of women, love, heartbreak, hard winter, ocean, and dreams are prevalent. Featured instruments include; guitar, banjo, fiddle, accordion, mandolin, piano, accompanied by gospel like harmonies. Banded Stilts are continuing the modern traditions of folk/rock complimenting the music of Neil Young, The Band, CSN, and Fleet Foxes." - Fred's Records
"Haley employs ... an introspective edge, Neil Young straightforwardness (and harp) and woodsy imagery that indicates time spent with Bon Iver and Great Lake Swimmers albums." - NOW Toronto
"A wonderful blend of folk, country and pop, with some excellent lyrics, and songs that immediately make themselves a part of your world." - Michael Doherty's Musiclog
CONTACT: stevehaley24@gmail.com
