Jenn Grant heads back to Warehouse in St. Catharines, her first show for Buffalo-area fans since 2023

The Nova Scotia songwriter brings the year of Queen of the Strait, her album about her mother and the crossings of her childhood, to a 200-capacity room across the river on Feb. 25.

The last time Jenn Grant played for this side of the Niagara, it was Oct. 25, 2023, in the same small room she's coming back to. Since then she has made the most personal record of her career, and the one that will shape the next set she plays here.

Jenn Grant plays Warehouse in St. Catharines on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2027, at 8 p.m. Tickets are 24.99 CAD through Tixr, and the show was announced Oct. 13. Warehouse holds about 200, so this is a night to buy for early rather than plan around later. For Buffalo fans it means a trip over the border; bring the passport and remember the price is in Canadian dollars.

What has changed since 2023 is mostly one album. Queen of the Strait, released this March, goes back to Grant's childhood on Prince Edward Island and the trips across the Northumberland Strait she took during her parents' separation. She has described it as an homage to her mother, who turned heartbreak into adventure, as CTV Atlantic reported. The lead single, "Jim Cuddy Dress," is a tribute to her late mother.

It is also a record made close to home. Grant cut it live in four days at her home studio in Lake Echo, Nova Scotia, co-producing with Daniel Ledwell and Joshua Van Tassel, according to Amplify Music. The 11 tracks include "Crazy," "Seaglass," "Daddy and His Shotgun" and the title song. Reviews have called it her most personal album yet; NextMag admired it while arguing the father-focused song leaves things feeling a little unresolved, which is the kind of argument a record this open tends to start.

An homage to her mother, who turned heartbreak into adventure.

Grant took the album into theatres this year with a staged version, Queen of the Strait: Cradled by the Waves, that folds film, dance and theatre into the songs. The National Arts Centre in Ottawa hosted it as a one-time performance on April 16. The Warehouse announcement doesn't say whether any of that production makes the trip to a 200-cap club, so go in expecting a songwriter and her band in a room where you can see everyone's face.

That is the appeal of seeing her at Warehouse in the first place. Grant's songs are built around the voice and the small details of a story, and they land differently when the back wall is close. For a record about ferries, family and the people who carried her through a hard stretch, a room like this is about as close to a kitchen party as a club show gets. Vinyl, CD and digital editions of the album are on her Bandcamp if you want to learn the words before February. More on her at jenngrant.com.

It's been a little over three years. The record she's carrying now is about going home, and a short drive over the river to hear it seems like the right way to do the same.

Sources: Jenn Grant pays homage to her late mother on Queen of the Strait — CTV Atlantic (guelph.ctvnews.ca); Amplify Music — Jenn Grant (amplifymusicmag.com); Jenn Grant movingly pays tribute to motherhood — NextMag (nextmag.ca); Jenn Grant Shares New Single “Crazy”, Forthcoming Album Out March 6 — Music Life Magazine (musiclifemagazine.net); Queen of the Strait — Bandcamp (jenngrant.bandcamp.com); Queen of the Strait vinyl — Bandcamp merch (jenngrant.bandcamp.com); Jenn Grant — National Arts Centre (nac-cna.ca); Jenn Grant – Queen of the Strait: Cradled by the Waves — NVRC (nvrc.ca); Jenn Grant — About (jenngrant.com); Jenn Grant at Warehouse — Tixr (tixr.com)