Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage is the thirteenth studio album from Canadian singer-songwriter Leeroy Stagger, released May 29, 2026 via Cordova Bay Records — his first with the label — and co-produced with Nova Scotia's Joel Plaskett at New Scotland Yard studio in Dartmouth. The album was tracked to a vintage Tascam 8-track quarter-inch tape machine, lending it a warm, lived-in analog character far removed from polished modern production. It marks a significant stylistic departure for Stagger, who is best known for electric guitar-driven rock and roots-pop, toward something much more steeped in Celtic folk, Americana, fiddle, banjo, and mandolin. The album's genesis traces to a long weekend in Glasgow in 2018, when Plaskett introduced Stagger to Alastair McIntosh's book Soil and Soul — about rural Scottish communities resisting corporate power — and a subsequent night in Bangor, Northern Ireland, where stumbling upon a spontaneous pub session of communal singing left a lasting impression. Stagger's family background in Celtic heritage gives the record a personal dimension beyond musical influence.

Across the album, Stagger explores themes of identity, ancestry, community, and creative purpose, describing Pilgrimage as a way of "healing through music" while tracing a thread back to where he comes from. Alongside Plaskett — who contributes drums, mandolin, acoustic and electric guitars, and vocals — the ensemble includes fiddler Daniel Lapp, pedal steel player Tyler Lieb, and banjo player Ryland Moranz, giving the record a full and richly textured band sound. Standout singles include "Fiddler's Daughter," "Swimming Back To You," "Lost In The Flood," and "Highlands Leaving," the latter featuring Plaskett on a second verse and acclaimed fiddler Kendel Carson. As Americana UK noted, the album retains the vigour, grit, and strong melodic instinct of Stagger's previous work while introducing a communal, tradition-honouring spirit — a desire, as he put it, to "honour the beautiful traditions our communities once held so tightly."