Mike Aiken has come a long way since recording his first album in a studio on a tugboat fifteen years ago but his motivation has remained the same; making his love of traveling, by land or sea, central to his music. “Wayward Troubadour” his sixth album and best yet, captures the spirit of the open road with a mix of folk, blues, country and Texas swing.

Recorded in Nashville, Wayward Troubadour features an impressive list of backing players who have worked with everybody from Johnny Cash, Marty Stuart and Jerry Reed to The Outlaws and the Flying Burrito Brothers, but it’s his vocal interplay with his wife Amy that makes the album unique.

Mike and Amy live on their sailboat in Willoughby Spit in Hampton Roads when they’re not on the road and one of the hilghlights of the album is a revival of one of his songs that was recorded on that tugboat many years ago that pays tribute to his Virginia roots.   

Similarly, he remembers his fellow sailor, Virginian and songwriter, the late Robbin Thompson with a version of one of Thompson’s best songs.

Aiken’s gift is writing songs about the endless highway and what happens along the way. "Wayward Troubadour" is his most bluesy and rootisiest album yet. The musicianship is given room to breathe in the salt air and feel the wind at it’s back and the songs beckon for you to join them on this road trip of life.   

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