Chapter one: the cold-open formula
The show's signature (see our TV-music features) is the cold open: a wordless, slow-mo scene — often shot in a single roving take — set to a song chosen with Tarantino-level specificity. The choices run the full Canadian gamut: the country's indie deep cuts (the Arts & Crafts/Mint-era catalog gets a workout — see our label features), classic rock staples, hip-hop and punk curveballs, and the occasional folk-traditional left turn — the perfect sonic map of the show's world (a rural Ontario town where the playlist runs from barn-dance country to trailer-park punk). The choreography is timed to the tracks (the slow-mo struts hit the beat drops with TikTok-ready precision), and the effect is the show's thesis in miniature: small-town life, rendered mythic — and the mythmaking is musical.
Chapter two: the Canadiana pipeline
The soundtrack's deeper function is promotional — the show has become a genuine discovery engine for Canadian music (see our sync features): bands report spikes when their track scores a cold open, and the show's music supervision (the same ear that built Schitt's Creek's? — no: keep it clean: the show's music team) has made it a point of pride to surface Canadian artists — the indie, punk, and country rosters of the national scene (see our features) rotating through the cue sheet like a curated playlist. In an era when Canadian content quotas are debated (see our CanCon features), Letterkenny simply does the thing: a Canadian show, scoring itself almost entirely from the Canadian catalog, and making it feel effortless. The Americans import it. The music stays ours.
Chapter three: the spinoff extension
The franchise's expansion (the Shoresy spinoff — keep it light: the spinoff continuation) has carried the musical identity forward — the hockey-world shows treat music as ritual (dressing-room tracks, warmup cues, the cold-open formula refined), and the original songs written for the franchise (the joke-songs and anthems) keep proving the team's musical comedy chops. The result: a comedy empire whose audience buys the soundtrack albums? — keep it light: whose audience tracks the cues, follows the bands, and treats the music as part of the show's language — which it is. Letterkenny made Canadiana cool to an international audience, one slow-mo strut at a time.
Why it matters
It matters because Letterkenny solved the modern TV-music problem (how to score a show distinctively when every dollar is contested) by treating the cue sheet as curation — Canadian music, chosen with love and timed with precision, functioning as character, setting, and thesis simultaneously. It's the most fun this website's subject has ever been on television. Pitter-patter.
Frequently asked questions
Who picks the music on Letterkenny?
The show’s music team curates the cues — with the cold opens timed to the tracks and a strong emphasis on Canadian artists.
What kind of music is on Letterkenny?
The full Canadiana gamut — indie deep cuts, hip-hop, punk, country, and classic rock — functioning as the show’s signature sound.
Did Letterkenny help Canadian artists?
Yes — bands report discovery spikes from cold-open placements; the show is a genuine pipeline for the national catalog (see our sync-licensing feature).