Chris Mena and The Smokes: Finding Home in Country Music

After thirty years in Edmonton’s music scene, Christian Mena is doing something he’s never done before—singing country music.

It’s an unexpected pivot for a musician who’s built his career fronting Latin funk band Maracujah, rocking stages with The Devotees, Tri-City Rat Pack and The Payback, and even as Roger in the second US national touring company of Broadway’s RENT.  His resume reads like a tour through every genre except the one that shaped his earliest musical memories.

Mena grew up on Freddy Fender, Ray Charles’ country recordings, and Johnny Cash. Those records left an impression that outlasted everything that came after, quietly influencing his approach to storytelling and melody even when he was performing entirely different styles.

Now, with The Smokes, he’s finally circling back. The band is built from longtime friends and seasoned Edmonton players, musicians who understand each other’s instincts before the first note lands. That familiarity creates a loose, lived-in sound—the kind you can’t manufacture with rehearsals alone.

What they’re crafting is country music informed by diverse musical backgrounds: honest storytelling with a performer’s sense of drama, traditional structures delivered with the confidence of veterans trying something new. There’s no posturing about authenticity or heritage. This is simply a group of experienced musicians exploring territory that feels, somehow, both foreign and familiar.

For Mena, starting a country band in his fifth decade as a performer isn’t a reinvention. It’s more like finally unpacking boxes from a move made years ago—discovering what was there all along.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​