Artist of the Month: Makenna Givens

Her one-line Facebook bio is: “Creator of country music for the chronically sincere.” She writes, records, produces, and engineers her own recordings, manages her career, designs her live production and books her own gigs – all without a label, management, or support team. That’s a lot of energy coming from Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, and it might help relieve some of Ontario’s power grid. That’s also a stellar definition of “Independent”.

Makinna’s name first started buzzing around CMAOntario circles when, in March of 2026, a jury of 11 industry experts picked her as one of the 6 finalists in the Igniter Songwriter Camp, a CMAOntario / Songwriters Association of Canada joint initiative. She competed against 43 other entrants, including several far more recognizable names.

The attention doesn’t stop there. She’s earned support from SiriusXM Top of the Country, CBC Radio, and Apple Music editorial playlists, and has been featured by CTV News. Makinna has opened major festival main stages alongside Russell Dickerson, Kip Moore, Kameron Marlowe, Josh Ross, Owen Riegling, and Sass Jordan, was a Top 4 finalist in the Country Rising Competition and a Lucknow Music in the Fields Emerging Artist. With an impressive schedule from acoustic gigs at wineries to a full band show at this year’s Crooks Rapids Country Fest, she’s putting the “Biz” in “Busy”.

Makinna has a predisposition for taking on some gritty lyric topics with grace. In this writer’s opinion, “If We Meet Again” and “Cheap Cigarettes” should have attracted more ears when they first dropped… but released music is forever and you can still check them out. The video for “Pretty” dropped in the last week of August, and that deserves carving some time out of your day as well.

It’s obvious that Makinna Givens is not real big on standing still, so you’re gonna have to stomp on that gas pedal to keep up with her. Here’s where you can start:

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By Matt Ersnaught