Zoe Ackah Pays Homage to Her Southern Roots On Sophomore Album: This Hen

Singer-Songwriter Zoe Ackah (pronounced Zow-ee Ah-kah) releases her sophomore album This Hen, and announces her Toronto album release show on May 31st at The Cameron House with special guests Katey Morley and Steve York. This Hen is a collection of 8 original songs - steeped in classic country - written and produced by Zoe, including the brand-new single "This Hen (Is Starting To Hate Men)". "Not all men, not individual men, just men as a collective body,” Zoe explains. Sure to draw the ire of 50% of the world’s roosters, this song is an interrogation of the patriarchy, sung from the perspective of a chicken from the familiarity of her coop. A banger of a tune, with all the cluckin’ and pluckin’ you’d imagine from a song made inside the barnyard that is a mother’s daily life.

The album also features the catchy lead single "Gotta Stop Loving You (But I Can't)" - a song that tells a very familiar tale of self-inflicted heartbreak, "I Miss You (But My Aim is Getting Better)" - a quirky old-fashioned ballad inspired by corny punchlines from Zoe’s Grandfather’s personal writings, discovered after his death, and "Just A Trickle, Just A Nickel" - a Country tune with a Reggae twist that considers the lives of homeless women. The album includes a duet with John Borra called "Let Somebody Love You". Read the track by track here.

The album features an A-list of Toronto musicians including Kevin Breit, Ian de Souza, Rebecca Hennessy, and Davide Di Renzo.

Zoe’s work resists any attempt at genre pigeonholing. Stylistic eclecticism is rooted deep in her musical soul and her unique and agile voice has many faces. “I have been in every type of singing situation you can imagine, and that has given me the flexibility to follow my imagination,” she explains.

The new music has garnered buzz from Americana UK, Canadian Beats, CBC Radio One "Fresh Air", CFMU's "Freewheelin' Folk", Corby's Orbit, COVE FM's "When We Wake", Exclaim, FYI Music News, Just Us Folk, Out of the Woods Radio, Slow City, Tinnitist, UMFM and more.

Zoe Ackah is a genre-defying and imaginative singer/songwriter, producer, and multi- instrumentalist based in Toronto, Canada. In late 2020, she released her debut album, The World Inside, and on May 12th, 2023 released her second full-length, This Hen.

While studying for a Master’s Degree at York University focusing on choral conducting and classical composition, Zoe also sang her heart out. “I basically sang in every choir in the school – chamber choir, concert choir, women’s choir,” she recalls. “Music was my solace then, in one of the most intense times of my life, as a single mother raising three kids, two of whom were diagnosed with autism.”

Her family situation precluded recording or performing, and meant that, in her words, “for 11 years, I could only sing the songs I’d written into the kitchen sink!” This period reinforced the importance of music in Ackah’s life, however, and helps explain her prolific musical output.

Prior to academic study and maternity, Zoe paid extensive dues on the Toronto scene, working as a drummer and vocalist in bands ranging from noted all-female reggae combos Women Ah Run Tings (Zoe was a co-founder) and The Sweet Sensation Band to African bands. Her first collaboration in recent years was a power duo with reggae great Carl Harvey (Toots and The Maytals). She is a musician with a great breadth of knowledge and abundant musical chops.

Zoe’s focus is already directed to newer songs and recordings. “I have a fire,” she declares. “My goal is to record 50 songs and put out three or four more records in the next five or six years. Once I’ve made a record I don’t look back. My real joy in life is creating songs and making a recording of them, and I now have a massive backlog.