Glenn has been a force to be reckoned with since he was a teenager. Influenced by the Gaelic sounds of the "Mabou Coal Mines" fiddle style that is found in the Celtic Cradle of North America, Glenn’s roots go deep in the traditional music of Cape Breton. He comes from an amazing musical family lineage. On his mother’s side, Glenn is a member of the renowned Beaton family of Mabou. Many generations of this family have produced more than fifty musicians including fiddlers, piano players, Gaelic singers, pipers, poets/songwriters, composers and dancers. These include his mother Mary and grandmother Elizabeth, both accomplished pianists, his uncle Kinnon Beaton, possibly Cape Breton’s most highly regarded dance player, well-known pianist Joey Beaton, and well-established fiddling cousins Andrea Beaton and Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald. Grandfather Donald Angus Beaton was one of the island’s most revered fiddlers while Glenn’s father Danny is an accomplished Gaelic singer. That side of Glenn’s lineage boasts such household names as Buddy MacMaster, Natalie MacMaster, Betty Beaton, Gaelic style fiddler Alex Francis MacKay, and Cape Breton’s most recognized composer Dan R. MacDonald. The list goes on.

Glenn released his first solo album LET ‘ER RIP in 1996. A year later, teamed up with his cousin, Rodney MacDonald, they released TRADITIONALLY ROCKIN' which was a double nominee for Instrumental and Roots Traditional Artist of the year at the 1998 East Coast Music Awards. The band "Rodney and Glenn" quickly became in high demand at special events, festivals and dances.

In 1999, Glenn began actively pursuing a solo career when Rodney moved on to a career in politics. Glenn took advantage of the change by beginning work on his next solo album. STEP OUTSIDE, (released in July 2000) was aptly named in that it brought many sides of Glenn’s talents to the public eye for the first time. Teamed up with his sister Amy, Glenn’s songwriting and singing played a major role in the recording. The songs appealed to a broader audience—young and old, traditional and mainstream. A strong mix of gutsy Celtic instrumentals, Amy’s powerful vocals, and Glenn’s stirring songwriting were heard on that album which garnered him ECMA nominations in 2002 for Male Artist and Roots Traditional Artist.

In 2004, Glenn recorded with the Beaton Family for the prestigious Smithsonian Folkways label. He followed this in 2005 with DRIVE: A Traditional Cape Breton Fiddle Recording. Nominated for Roots Traditional Solo recording at the 2006 ECMAs, this project reveals the musicality in Glenn’s compositions and highly ornamented, driving traditional style. It features two of Cape Breton’s best accompanists in Joel Chiasson (piano) and Beolach’s Patrick Gillis (guitar), with special guest appearances by Mary Graham and aunt Betty Beaton.

Glenn's 2007 release DECADE: A COMPILATION is an 18 track retrospective of his recordings to date and includes "Silent Heroes", a previously unreleased vocal number penned by Glenn that includes Amy on lead vocal. His latest creative work is THE GLENN GRAHAM COLLECTION OF CAPE BRETON VIOLIN MUSIC, a book containing over 200 original compositions and a few joint/solo tunes writen with/by family members

Glenn Graham, along with his sister Amy and a band including some of Cape Breton’s most innovative musicians, has appeared at California’s Villa Montalvo, the Celtic Colours International Festival, Stan Rogers Folk Festival, Lunenburg Folk Festival, Saint John Festival By the Sea, Granville Green Concert Series, College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor Maine, the Wayne Gretzky Invitational, and numerous other venues. He performed in the first ever Cape Breton Live on Tour production, which toured Quebec and Ontario in November of 2006, with some of Cape Breton’s most recognized musicians.

Glenn continues to perform and teach fiddle throughout the Maritimes, Canada, the North-Eastern US and the United Kingdom. A Saint Francis Xavier University graduate - B.A. with Honours in Political Science- Glenn went on to complete a thesis on the evolution of Cape Breton fiddling for his Masters in Atlantic Canada Studies at Saint Mary’s University. His book entitled The Cape Breton Fiddle: Making and Maintaining Tradition, was published by CBU Press and released in October of 2006.

Glenn is presently pursuing a PhD in Political Science at Dalhousie University where he has been awarded one of the prestigious Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarships worth $35,000 per annum for 3 years from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
 

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