Douglas McLean Comenzó a tocar música a la edad de 11 años como baterista. Escribió su primera canción a los 15 años y comenzó a grabar cuando tenía 20 años. Ha grabado 5 álbumes y escrito unas 60 o más canciones incluyendo varios videos.
Douglas tiene un profundo amor por la poesía, particularmente por las obras de Leonard Cohen, TS Eliot y Rumi. Sus canciones reflejan esas profundas influencias y, como letrista, opta por buscar el lenguaje como un profundo estímulo para la comprensión; y el arte practicado de lo que Van Morrison llama “el discurso inarticulado del corazón”.
Varias de sus canciones grabadas se han posicionado en el Top 20 de la radio local Muskoka. Toca en espectáculos y conciertos locales, por lo general se le une su esposa, la violinista Arlene McLean.
McLean también trabaja con otros artistas como productor ejecutivo; videografía; presentador de radio y escribiendo para periódicos locales.
Douglas ha hablado con muchos artistas sobre su proceso de composición, puedes escuchar estas entrevistas, con música de sus álbumes, intercaladas a lo largo.
Escuche más entrevistas de nuestras bóvedasAQUÍ
MÚSICA Y CHAT
Chuck Jackson of The Legendary Downchild Blues Band
I had the opportunity to chat briefly with Chuck Jackson May 09th, 2023 about this summer’s tour and a special show at Massey Hall May 13, 2023.
Downchild is of course the inspiration for Hollywood stars Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi’s hit film The Blues Brothers. In fact, two Downchild songs “I Got Everything I Need (Almost)” and “Shotgun Blues” are found on The Blues Brothers smash album Briefcase Full of Blues.
The inaugural Erin McCallum Blues Legend & Legacy Distinction Award was presented to Chuck Jackson, just recently, Chuck is a musician, also the founder and Artistic Director of the Tim Horton's Southside Shuffle in Port Credit, Ontario. (Look out for more updates on this amazing initiative here and also on the dedicated website page at Blues and Roots Radio (our sister platform), who are also based in Port Credit, Ontario.)
It was just announced that, leader and co-founder, Donnie Walsh, often called the 'Father of Canadian Blues', will be inducted into the Kitchener Blues Festival Hall of Fame on August 11, 2023 and receive the Mel Brown Award to join past recipients, Buddy Guy, Holger Petersen and David Wilcox. Donnie is a member of the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, alongside some of the greatest songwriters of our time, like Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
The Legendary Downchild Blues Band is a Canadian blues institution with an international reputation. They have shared the stage with American blues icons B.B. King (at Massey Hall), Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker to name a few and have performed around the world, leaving fans thoroughly entertained wherever the go.
It’s tempting and not altogether far-fetched to apply an engine metaphor to the mighty Downchild, one of the planet’s foremost, most fêted, longest-running blues outfits with quite possibly the best back story ever told.
Roaring through bracing, high-octane performances since 1969, the band founded and continuously steered by harmonica and guitar ace Donnie “Mr. Downchild” Walsh is as vibrant today as when Dan Aykroyd and the late John Belushi went sniffing around for inspiration for their brilliant Blues Brothers venture back in the 1970s. The pair elevated Downchild’s “Shotgun Blues” and Walsh’s “(I Got Everything I Need) Almost” to smash status on their 1978 Briefcase Full of Blues record.
Actually, the 2017 iteration of Downchild — with each member boasting a minimum of 20 years of service — might be the most electrifying yet. For proof, simply check out the sextet’s towering, lid-lifting, juke-joint–jumping 18th studio album, Something I’ve Done, a bona fide group effort and a sonic highlight in a 50-year career spilling over with them.
Internal combustion certainly describes scorchers like the swaggering, harp-goosed “Mississippi Woman, Mississauga Man,” the thundering piano-pummelled title track, and opener “Albany, Albany” which contrasts a singalong chorus with sharp melody forwarded by Pat Carey’s marvellously skronking sax.
Indeed, if Downchild didn’t exist, the blues world would have to invent them. Who else could so clearly serve as contemporary torchbearers for riveting original music firmly rooted in tradition while acting as a thriving spiritual link to past greats like Sonny Boy Williamson II, James Cotton, and B.B. King?
But don’t take our word for it. Downchild’s epic reputation has been reaffirmed time and again.
Witness their 2014 Blues Album of the Year Juno Award for their last studio effort, Can You Hear The Music — their second Juno win overall. Their boatload of Maple Blues Awards. Their marquee billing on the globe’s most prestigious stages. And, of course, their inimitable 1973 reading of Big Joe Turner’s classic “Flip, Flop and Fly” which placed Walsh and band co-founder, late brother Richard “Hock” Walsh on the charts and in the souls of music fans worldwide.
“I was pretty lucky to get a hit record just a few years after starting the band,” Walsh confirms. “After that, the rest is geography. You just get in the van and go, and that’s what we did. For the longest time, we played 250 to 300 dates a year.”
Musical careers don’t rev higher than that. But how does Downchild keep the creative process fresh, preventing itself from becoming an oldies machine? Band-wide songwriting input, that’s how.
“The fact that a bunch of guys in the band have been writing songs means this album has a different flavour to it,” says Walsh, previously the principal songwriter on Downchild records. “We are really looking forward to playing these songs live.”
“It’s a challenge to go into the studio and come up with new tunes but it’s a fun challenge,” Downchild singer Chuck Jackson adds. “And it’s really fun for us to play new songs when we go on tour. We will always play the staples but doing the new tunes keeps us fresh. We’re not a jukebox.”
Something I’ve Done is a truly collaborative effort, with Walsh writing the brisk instrumental “Evelyn,” Jackson penning “Albany, Albany” and the cheeky “Mississippi Woman, Mississauga Man,” bassist Gary Kendall chipping in “Mailbox Money” and “Take A Piece of My Heart,” keyboardist Michael Fonfara bringing “Something I’ve Done” and “Can’t Get Mad at You,” and drummer Mike Fitzpatrick offering “Into the Fire.”
Rounding out the album’s stellar 10-track roster is “Worried About The World” by noted B.C.-based bluesman David Vest and “She Thinks I Do” by onetime Downchild member, late singer John Witmer, a song that had essentially been mothballed until now.
“Quite a story with that song,” Walsh allows of Witmer’s rollicking but wryly mournful tune. “It’s never been part of our live set, we never recorded it and John passed away a long time ago (in 2004). I don’t think we played it even when John was alive. But it’s kind of a tribute to him.”
While the writing behind Something I’ve Done marks a new way of working for Downchild, the album’s recording found the band sticking with the tried and true. The six assembled at Toronto’s Loud Mouse studio with award-winning engineer L. Stu Young who also assisted on Downchild’s Can You Hear The Music and who has a history with the band dating back to the mid-1990s. (Other Young credits include Prince, Triumph, Alan Doyle, David Wilcox, Great Big Sea, The Guess Who, and Prairie Oyster).
“Since we made the last record, they have acquired a baby grand piano, so this time we were able to do the whole record there,” bassist Kendall says of Loud Mouse. “The studio has three different rooms separated by the control room, so we could all have visual contact. It helps if you can look at someone while you’re playing, as well as hearing them. And L. Stu Young has great ears.”
Says Jackson, “On the new album, you will see various songwriting credits but it is very much a collaboration with everybody adding their two cents.”
“I think we are keeping a tradition alive, whereas a lot of newer bands are leaning more to blues-rock,” Kendall notes. “This is not blues rock. It’s jump blues. We are trying to move the form forward, writing songs that relate to today, but we have a line we don’t cross.”
“And we all know each other so well that things tend to come easy,” Walsh offers, namechecking Kendall’s “Mailbox Money” as an example of a song that hit the sweet spot in the studio. “Over the years, there have been many different players in Downchild, but now we’ve stuck with the same guys as everyone gets along personally as well as musically. That comes off in the live performances, too.”
Now that the new album is done, Downchild is ready to do what it does best: perform, taking blues on the road to fans old and new from Nanaimo, B.C. to Norway and back again. “We really hope people get a chance to hear this record,” Jackson says. “It would be great to win another Juno but it’s not really about awards. We are all still very hungry to make this music, no doubt about it. We love what we do.
“These days with Downchild, we have people coming to see us who have been following us for 40 years and they bring out their children who now bring out their children,” Jackson howls. “We hope this music can generate interest in younger people and keep the blues alive.”
FEATURED SONGS:
Can You Hear the Music (Live)
Mississippi Woman, Mississauga Man (Live) [feat. Erja Lyytinen]
Hog Wild
Bryan Bassett of Foghat
“Slow Ride”, “Fool for the City”, “I Just Want to Make Love to You”, “Third Time Lucky” “Drivin’ Wheel”, “Stone Blue”, “Honey Hush”, “Home in My Hand”, “Road Fever” and “Terraplane Blues”.
It’s been over 50 years since anyone had to ask: What’s a Foghat? The reason no one asks anymore is obvious. Foghat is a band. In 2023, Foghat turned 52 years old. In November of this year, they will release a new album entitled 'Sonic Mojo'. They are still out on the road, traveling across the land and bringing their infectious boogie to packed houses full of adoring fans nearly every night. A Foghat concert is every bit as much fun and intense in 2023 as it was in 1977 when their classic multi-platinum album, 'Foghat Live' broke them around the world. Looking back, it’s only fitting that it was a live album that made Foghat a household name. The band wouldn’t have it any other way.
Foghat continues to appeal to fans of all ages because their music is timeless. They play with an energy that perpetuates youthful exuberance, no matter how old they may be. This band loves to play music. This band lives to play music. Those in the audience, whether they discovered Foghat in the video game Guitar Hero III, from the movie Dazed & Confused, or they discovered them when they purchased their 1972 debut album, knows they are the real deal. That’s why a Foghat audience is so diverse, yet unified. Baby Boomers, Gen X’ers and Millennials and on down all come together with a single purpose when the band comes to town. They wanna boogie…and boogie they do!
For Foghat fans, the announcement that a new album titled Sonic Mojo will be released November 10 is no surprise. They’ve learned to expect new releases from this band. Sonic Mojo will be met with the same enthusiasm and excitement as their other recent releases which include 2010’s Last Train Home, 2016’s Under the Influence, 2017’s Live at the Belly Up and 2021’s 8 Days on the Road, which was recorded live at Daryl’s House Club in Pawling, NY. These releases join a long history of great music put out by the band.
Foghat began back in 1971 when Lonesome Dave Peverett and Roger Earl decided to leave Savoy Brown and start a band of their own. History has proven that this was a great decision. Over the years, Foghat has earned eight Gold Records, one Platinum Record and one Double-Platinum record. As with any band that survives for over five decades, there have been ups and downs, and tragedies and triumphs. Through it all, they moved ahead in one form or another for only one reason, The Music. For Foghat, it’s all about the music, always has been and always will be.
Sadly, the band has lost three beloved members over the years. Founding member, songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist Lonesome Dave passed away in 2000. In 2005, slide guitarist extraordinaire Rod Price left us and then, in 2018, the band lost long time bassist Craig MacGregor. Through all the losses, founding member and drummer, Roger Earl, kept the music, and the band, moving forward.
Now, in 2023, Foghat consists of Roger Earl pounding the skins, long time member Bryan Bassett (Molly Hatchet, Wild Cherry) on lead/slide guitar, bassist Rodney O’Quinn (Pat Travers Band) on bass. The newest member of Foghat who has played with Foghat side project Earl & The Agitators for 8 years, is vocalist and guitarist Scott Holt (Buddy Guy).
These four members remain true to the original spirit of Foghat. They play in reverence to those that have gone on. They understand that Foghat exists solely to share the music they create with anyone who wants to hear it. They deliver each and every night, with giant smiles on their faces, for they are doing the same thing that every one of their fans is doing: Enjoying another Foghat Show.
If Foghat had been a one hit wonder and only had success with the song “Slow Ride” they’d still have a well-deserved place in rock ‘n’ roll history. Thankfully, however, Foghat has been so much more than that. Rest assured, this band will truly roll ‘til they're old and rock ‘til they drop. Roger Earl has been at this for 52 years and has no plan of stopping now.
FEATURED SONGS
Slow Ride (Single Version)
Drivin' Wheel (Live)
www.youtube.com/@FOGHATOfficial
Séan McCann
2023 marks the XXX anniversary of one of Canada’s favourite bands and Séan will be celebrating the legend with fans across the country. Armed only with his voice, bodhrán (Celtic hand drum), and guitar, the Shantyman will lead us all in a Great Big Singalong as we sail back in time to the brighter bays of his native Newfoundland. Filled with foot stomping favourites and hilarious stories of life on the road, this is the only “tribute” show you need to see this decade and a nostalgic tip of the hat to the legacy of a truly iconic Canadian band.
“I never left the band but I had to get off the road because I was an addict. It’s taken a long time to be comfortable walking through those wild years again without getting triggered, but, I’ve been completely sober for 11 years now and my recovery has made me much stronger. I’m always careful, but I’m not fearful anymore.”
Sean says of the show, “30 years and a dozen albums equal a lot of songs to choose from. Whittling the set list down to just 20 songs was proving to be a challenge so I tasked my teenage sons with listening to some classic Great Big Sea over the holidays. I was very encouraged to learn that a lot of the old favourites were still “bangers”! The kids are alright…
Music is strong medicine and a song is never more powerful than when it is sung together with friends. I felt the end of our pandemic induced social isolation would have been met with a global celebration of peace and love but people are more bitterly divided now than ever. I sincerely believe singing together can help mend this wounded world.”
Séan McCann (the Shantyman) is a founder of the iconic Canadian folk rock band, Great Big Sea, and an Order of Canada recipient for his recovery advocacy. A survivor of sexual abuse and subsequent addiction, Séan has spent the last ten years touring North America as a solo concert performer and musical keynote speaker, singing and sharing his story with theatre audiences, front line workers, teachers, students, patients, inmates, veterans, and anyone who struggles with their mental health.
Séan believes that music is strong medicine and a song is never more powerful than when it is sung with a friend. 2023 marks the XXX anniversary of one of Canada’s favourite bands and Séan will be celebrating the legend with fans across the country.
FEATURED SONGS:
Run Runaway
Go To Sea No More
Help Your Self
Mari-Mac
The Shantyman continues the Great Big Singalong as he tours throughout late summer and the fall.
www.youtube.com/@SeanMcCannSings
Christina Hutt
Christina Hutt’s new EP, ‘Beyond the Knowing”, released May of 2023, continues the allure of her initial Ep ‘Mirror Mirror’ and reacquaints audience’s with this powerful singer songwriter, as she maps a course toward her rightful musical destination.
Christina can fill a room with her rich, resonant, out-of-this era voice and move
you with her honest, charismatic delivery. Once described as a full-bodied glass of red
wine, her sound is reminiscent of the soul-stirring vocals you would have heard flowing from
a transistor radio in the late 50’s. You will understand why Hutt has been dubbed “the
voice” in her home region of Muskoka, Ontario. She welcomes you into the secrets of her
heart with fierce passion and endearing spirit. Christina’s ease in a diversity of genres
brings a captivating quality to her performances. The lyrics in her song “Cracks & Crevices”
take you deep into the chilling darkness of emotional anguish while her tune “Fifteen
Shades” makes you feel like you just might be at a Patsy Cline Tribute Show.
Hutt’s original song “I Should Have Changed” was just placed in the top 10 female songs of 2022 in the Blues & Roots Radio International Song Contest. This small town country girl is currently writing and recording new music with Canadian Music Hall Of Fame inductee, multi-instrumentalist, producer, Jeff Bird of the legendary Cowboy Junkies as well as singer/songwriter producer, Sue Smith.
Christina resides in Kearney, Ontario not far from her hometown, Sprucedale. She was drawn to music at the age of five when her parents bought her a wireless microphone and a Tina Turner album. She continues to be influenced by many artists, recognizing the soul in Etta James, Patsy Cline’s art of delivering a song, the poetry of Leonard Cohen, the warmth of Mary Chapin Carpenter, and the camaraderie of The Cowboy Junkies, to mention a few.
Six years ago, Christina began pursuing her dream to sing and perform music full time. Wholly determined, she launched herself out of her comfort zone on a mission to improve her chops and gain experience. Christina is now well known throughout Central Ontario for her passionate singing and her unique and resonant voice.
In the past several years Christina has performed on the VIA RAIL coast to coast train across Canada; released an EP; recorded backup vocals for Kerrville Folk Award winner Jon Brooks; and performed with Juno Award winner Blues artist Paul Reddick. Hutt has also worked with and been mentored by Juno award winner Blues singer, Rita Chiarelli, and one of Canada’s finest folk artists, Katherine Wheatley. Christina has opened for Canadian Country singers, Tim Hicks and Tyler Joe Miller as well as Juno Award winner Blues artist Paul James and Canadian Folk Singer Craig Cardiff.
FEATURED SONGS:
Fifteen Shades
You keep On Coming Back
A Rookie In A Veterans Chair.
Wild Woman
www.youtube.com/@christinahutt29
Big Little Lions
On June 9th, Big Little Lions released their first concept album (and seventh album) AMPM via Fallen Tree Records. The trans-continental folk-pop duo enlightens us from morning to night on the new album. Tackling anxiety and self-hate, the grind of daily life, the perils of parenting, and the value of community and forgiveness. The JUNO-winning collaborators once again charm with their intimate, clever, and relatable lyrics, paired with the melodic lilt of indie rock and pop.
Helen and Paul met at a conference for licensing music for TV and film, one is classically trained, the other self-taught and they create their music together from thousands of miles apart. Heavily influence by the likes of Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Police, Big Little Lions are masters of a catchy melody, great harmonies, and a cool turn of phrase.
They’ve been nominated and won many awards since their inception:
Nominated Canadian Folk Music Awards - Vocal Group of The Year 2020,
Nominated Roots Group of the Year - Break Out West 2018,
Canadian Songwriting Competition Folk Winner 2018,
Nominated for 2 Western Canadian Music Awards 2017,
Canadian Folk Music Awards - nominated Vocal Group and Contemporary Album 2016,
Canadian Folk Music Awards - Ensemble of the Year 2015,
Initial Collaboration under Helen Austin - JUNO Award Winner 2014,
John Lennon Songwriting Competition - Grand Prize, Lennon Award and Song of the Year 2013,
International Songwriting Competition/Unsigned Only - 2013/2014/2017/2018/2020.
The folk-pop duo Big Little Lions are Canadian Helen Austin (Royston, BC) and American Paul Otten (Springboro, Ohio). Their sound fuses the melodic sense of indie rock and pop with the intimate, heartfelt lyrics of acoustic folk and singer-songwriters. They were born out of a collaboration that won them a JUNO Award and a John Lennon songwriting prize in 2014, and have gone on to win a Canadian Folk Music Award, from their six nominations.
Licensed for use in numerous commercials, films, and TV shows, their music is jam-packed with emotion and tight harmonies – the sound of two people working happily side-by-side, for the enjoyment of fans from Brazil to the Philippines.
FEATURED SONGS
Choose Forward
Almost
It’s 5 O’Clock Somewhere
Oh It’s You Again
Nearly Human
Why Won’t My Brain Stop
All Done Up
Zoe Ackah
"This album is about how we view our past," shares Zoe. "I dedicated it to my grandmothers to pay homage to my own Southern roots. Every song has a story to tell - literally. "I Miss You (But My Aim is Getting Better)" started with a collection of horrible jokes my mother found in my grandfather's personal effects after he passed away. "Just a Trickle, Just a Nickel" is a reflection of my own experiences with homelessness and a recent experience with a mentally ill friend who disappeared into the streets. "What’s a Little Fire?" is about me burning down the cabin in the woods I lived in as a child. But just as they did in my grandmothers’ time, I talk about many heavy subjects with the tenderness and lightheartedness still expected of women."
Zoe Ackah is a genre defying and imaginative singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist based in Toronto, Canada.
Known on the Toronto scene as a singing drummer and studio backup vocalist,
Ackah is now forging a solo path with fierce determination and a trunk full of creative
ideas. In late 2020, she released her debut album, The World Inside, and has now
released a second full-length, This Hen, a record steeped in classic country. “I wrote This Hen for my mother and grandmothers, true ladies of the South,” Zoe explains.
This Hen’s first song Gotta Stop Loving You (But I Can’t) is a catchy Country ditty. With its 70s harmonies and weeping guitar, it is as hopeful as it is resigned to love’s futility. “Initially written about one guy, I realized I was actually writing about the same emotionally unavailable guy I keep dating, over and over again.”
The album’s title track This Hen (Is Starting to Hate Men) is sure to draw the ire of the world’s roosters, Sung from the perspective of a chicken, this song is an interrogation of the patriarchy. A banger of a tune, with all the cluckin’ and pluckin’ you’d imagine from a song made inside the barnyard that is a mother’s daily life.
The A-list of Toronto musicians featured on This Hen includes Kevin Breit, Ian de
Souza, Rebecca Hennessy, Davide Di Renzo, and a duet with John Borra. Their presence confirms the peer respect Ackah enjoys.
Zoe’s work resists any attempt at genre pigeonholing. Stylistic eclecticism is rooted
deep in her musical soul and her unique and agile voice has many faces. “I have been in every type of singing situation you can imagine, and that has given me the flexibility to follow my imagination,” she explains.
While studying for a Master’s Degree at York University focusing on choral conducting
and classical composition, Zoe also sang her heart out. “I basically sang in every choir
in the school – chamber choir, concert choir, women’s choir,” she recalls. “Music was
my solace then, in one of the most intense times of my life, as a single mother raising
three kids, two of whom were diagnosed with autism.”
Her family situation precluded recording or performing, and meant that, in her words,
“for 11 years, I could only sing the songs I’d written into the kitchen sink!” This period
reinforced the importance of music in Ackah’s life, however, and helps explain her prolific musical output.
Prior to academic study and maternity, Zoe paid extensive dues on the Toronto scene,
working as a drummer and vocalist in bands ranging from noted all-female reggae
combos Women Ah Run Tings (Zoe was a co-founder) and The Sweet Sensation Band
to African bands. Her first collaborations in recent years was a power duo with reggae great Carl Harvey (Toots and The Maytals). She is a musician with a great breadth of knowledge and abundant musical chops.
Zoe’s focus is already directed to newer songs and recordings. “I have a fire,” she
declares. “My goal is to record 50 songs and put out three or four more records in the
next five or six years. Once I’ve made a record I don’t look back. My real joy in life is
creating songs and making a recording of them, and I now have a massive backlog.”
FEATURED SONGS:
Gotta Stop Loving You (But I Can't)
Just a Trickle, Just a Nickel
What's a Little Fire?
I Wanna Be Your Fool
This Hen (Is Starting to Hate Men)
Sara Shiloh Rae
Creating a truly unique, original sound and a new musical vocabulary is a lofty goal for most bands. With their second album, The Sondheim Project, Sara Shiloh Rae & Bluebird Junction have done just that and more.
This is Stephen Sondheim as he has never been heard before. With five truly original arrangements of classics like “Send in the Clowns” and “Ladies who Lunch” the pandemic-formed band has roared its way into the classical, jazz, americana and world music scene with a sound that is fresh, sophisticated and entirely their own.
The idea of arranging the music of Sondheim for an americana-bluegrass-informed stringband is the brainchild of Ms. Rae and her partner, banjo player Max Hoetzel.
“Our idea was to take the quintessential American quality that is Sondheim — the wit, the neurosis, the warmth, and sophistication — and marry it to the other quintessential American art forms, which are bluegrass and americana.” said Hoetzel, who also produced the album.
A fearless interpreter in the contemporary classical music world, Sara Shiloh Rae (Sara Hershkowitz) has been celebrated for her interpretations of Ligeti, Luigi Nono, and John Cage with orchestras such as the BBC Scottish Symphony, the L.A. Philharmonic, and the Bergen Symphony.
It is a rare feat for a singer hailing from the classical world to have the colour palette, Ms. Rae has at her disposal. In these five Sondheim arrangements, she infuses aching vulnerability into a considerable vocal prowess, tinged with melancholy, joy, and dry wit. There is a beauty and warmth to her voice that is singular.
The arrangements by Myles Sloniker are transparent and sophisticated; the colours of the string band in fascinating juxtaposition to the song’s musical origins on Broadway. The EP features some of the hottest musical stars of the contemporary bluegrass scene: Alex Hargreaves on fiddle (currently on tour with Billy Strings) Mike Robinson on guitar (Sarah Jarosz) Jacob Jolliff on mandolin (Jacob Joli Band), Molly Aronson on cello, Myles Sloniker on bass and Max Hoetzel on banjo.
This five-track EP breathes new life into these beloved classics and gives a whole new perspective on some of Sondheim’s most brilliant songs.
THE SONGS:
“Ladies who Lunch” is Stephen Sondheim’s epic anthem of angry, drunken snark. Sara Shiloh Rae and her outstanding band, the bluegrass-inspired Bluebird Junction, give this Broadway classic a gorgeous banjo-and-fiddle laced treatment that is fresh, surprising and full of wit.
“Send in the Clowns”is Stephen Sondheim’s most well-known song. Sara Shiloh Rae & Bluebird Junction’s interpretation is a heartbreakingly fragile read on the Sondheim classic, weaving threads of chamber music, folk, and bluegrass into a whole tapestry of sound.
With “The Miller’s Son” from Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” Sara Shiloh Rae & Bluebird Junction are pushing far into the bluegrass vernacular with a hoedown fiddle and banjo section that dares push the boundaries. Sara’s powerful vocals touch on a wide palette of colours and give a whole new perspective on this song.
“Sooner or Later” written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1990 film “Dick Tracey’s” character Breathless Mahoney was originally sung by Madonna. With a brilliant, fresh arrangement by Myles Sloniker, Bluebird Junction has taken a musical approach far from the big-band sound of the film, focusing instead on a sultry, intimate and sophisticated sound.
“Broadway Baby” is what happens when Broadway meets country. With a swinging, old-time country feel, Sara Shiloh Rae & Bluebird Junction bring easy charm and sweetness to the Sondheim classic.
Sara ShilohRae: Vocals Max Hoetzel: Banjo
Mike Robinson: Acoustic Guitar, Pedal Steel Guitar Myles Sloniker: Bass
Alex Hargreaves: Fiddle Jacob Jolliff: Mandolin Molly Aronson: Cello
Arrangements by Myles Sloniker Tracking: Mike Robinson Hoetzel
Mixed by Joel Jacks at Joel Jacks Studios in Santa Ynez Produced by Max Hoetzel
FEATURED SONGS:
Ladies Who Lunch
Broadway Baby
Send In the Clowns
Millers Son
www.youtube.com/@sarashilohrae4326
Marc Jordan
A songwriter’s songwriter, Marc Jordan is best known for writing (along with John Capek) “Rhythm of My Heart,” the 1991 smash hit for Rod Stewart. Marc’s songs have been recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker, Diana Ross, Cher, Chicago, Bette Midler, Natalie Cole, Kenny Loggins, Kim Carnes and the Manhattan Transfer, to name a few.
Waiting for the Sun to Rise sees Jordan turning his gaze outward, writing from a place of weathered wisdom. “Rio Grande,” is the album’s centerpiece, and is a hymn to what’s left of the world, squandered potential and abiding hope live side by side, and a soaring solo by Grammy-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker tops off producer Lou Pomanti’s arrangement.
The stunning “Coltrane Plays the Blues” continues Jordan’s penchant for mid-century jazz references. Like his thematic cousin Paul Buchanan of the Blue Nile (whose “The Downtown Lights” is covered here), Jordan sets his stories in an after-hours netherworld populated by lonely lovers and disappointed dreamers.
Jordan is a Juno Award and Genie Award winner, and in 2019 was Juno-nominated for his last album Both Sides. He is married to singer-songwriter Amy Sky, and in 2022, the duo recorded an album of duets entitled He Sang She Sang.
FEATURED SONGS
Rio Grande Intro / Frontier
Rio Grande
Bad Time to Say Goodbye
Cradle to the Grave
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
www.youtube.com/@marcjordanmusic
Michael Jerome Browne
Three-time Canadian Folk Music Award winner (Traditional Singer, 2015; Solo Artist, 2012 & 2008), Recipient of the Blues With A Feeling Award at the 2020 Maple Blues Awards (with 35 nominations since 1999), five-time Juno Award Nominee in both the Roots/Traditional and Blues categories, Kerrville (Texas) New Folk Finalist -- Michael Jerome Browne is a multi-instrumentalist, a songwriter, and a living encyclopedia of American Roots music.
After three years of sporadic performing, Michael is hitting the road again and has released his new album “Gettin’ Together” in May of 2023. He traveled to different places to record with old and new friends: Harrison Kennedy, Mary Flower, Eric Bibb, John Sebastian, Colin Linden, J.J. Milteau, and many others. Getting together with these great musicians in the studio was highly therapeutic.
Whether he's gliding a slide across his resonator guitar, creating an intense mood with his tremolo 12-string guitar, or “hammering the claw” on his gourd banjo, Michael's passion and virtuosity always shine through. In the true tradition of folk music, his performances inspire us to see the interconnections between the many cultures and influences that gave birth to American Roots Music. Gospel, Blues, Old-Time, Country, Soul and Cajun, expect to hear all of this and more from a performer who's been called a street-smart archivist and an absolute treasure.
Born in South Bend, Indiana, Michael is the son of English professors whose love of music and poetry inspired them to take their nine year old son to the great jazz, blues and folk clubs in their adopted home of Montreal. By the age of fourteen, MJB was already a regular on the vibrant folk and coffee house scene adding banjo, fiddle, and mandolin to his masterful command of all variety of guitars and harmonica.
A musician's musician, when he isn't performing his own material he is in demand backing up and recording with other artists, most notably Eric Bibb, whose 2017 Grammy nominated CD “Migration Blues” he co-produced, played and sang on.
FEATURED SONGS:
Please Help
Fixin' To Die Blues
Diamond Joe
Living With The Blues
Friendly Rich
Friendly Rich, Canada’s legendary songsmith of dark and deranged folk songs, has just released his highly anticipated new LP Man Out of Time (March 31st on We Are Busy Bodies).
Man Out of Time is a riveting soundscape and explosive investigation of uneasy themes and sonic presentation not heard readily in the mainstream, but worthy of every minute spent in listening closely to it.
Friendly Rich describes his latest studio recording as a “dark reflection of the pandemic”. But there’s more going on here - a punk sensibility with a folky delivery creates a unique sound that is as dark and hopeless as the pandemic that inspired it. Reflecting on his inspiration for the new album Friendly Rich had to say “I hope you enjoy this release; this work means a lot to me, I honour the great Quebecois songwriter Felix Leclerc, and I go to even darker places as a songwriter. I wanted to honour Felix Leclerc's music, and was able to dive into it with Mike T Kerr and Drew Jurecka to help.”
What came out is a dark and unique interpretation that sets the tone for this record. With 4 Leclerc songs embedded throughout the recording, Man Out of Time shows the many sides of Friendly Rich as a composer and performer.
Man Out of Time features a rolling cast of Canadian musicians and guest performances by Brian Poole (Renaldo & The Loaf), Kevin Breit (Nora Jones, Hugh Laurie), Christine Duncan (Tanya Tagaq), Michael Ward-Bergeman (Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble) and many more unique musicians. The full-length recording features unique interpretations of legendary Quebecois songwriter Felix Leclerc among Friendly Rich's honed brand of deranged folk songs. The music can be described as high-energy, rhythmic and atmospheric, ranging from sullen stripped-down ballads to frenetic folky foot-stompers. Friendly Rich’s music is theatrical and melodic and brings to mind early Bowie with hints of operatic rock in the vein of T-Rex and Roky Erickson. Friendly Rich recalls “I really enjoyed making this record, flexing a new collaborative muscle in the process, sharing files internationally and pulling it all together. The last recording, I released before the pandemic was "We Are All Terrorists" a recording that featured over 75 guest musicians, recorded in several studios in Quebec and Ontario. From there, I was wanting to get more insular in my approach anyhow, I was deeming a return to the days when I'd record naked in my parents' basement. Then the pandemic happened and voila, I present you...Man Out of Time.”
Hailing from Oakville, Ontario, Friendly Rich has composed background music for three seasons of MTV’s The Tom Green Show as well as a myriad of tunes as The Lollipop People released on his own eclectic record label, The Pumpkin Pie Corporation. More recently his work has been released in Europe by Hazelwood Records, which has led to playing in the massive summer festival circuit including the Fusion Fest in Germany, and the Balkan Fever Festival and Danube Festival in Vienna. On top of his musical career, Friendly Rich also just completed his PhD in Music Education from the University of Toronto under the supervision of Dr. Lee Bartel. His doctoral research was on musical playgrounds as a vehicle for community development. Man Out of Time is released by We Are Busy Bodies and will be followed by tours in Canada and the US. Things are busy with Friendly Rich and The Pumpkin Pie Corporation, but as Friendly says, “One can either produce, or become produce.”
FEATURED SONGS:
Alone On The Bus
Man Out Of Time
Killdozer
Petit Bonheur
Salvation Mountain
Justin Rutledge
Acclaimed songwriter Justin Rutledge released his tenth album entitled ‘Something Easy’, May 19th,2023, via Outside Music.
“Something Easy” is an album and set of songs of rare beauty, each song is a world unto itself and yet draws you into a compelling narrative of discovery and understanding.
The new album was no small feat for Rutledge. He decided to write, record and produce the whole album, with one, then later two, bouncing baby boys at his feet.
Indeed, it was the arrival of Rutledge’s first son that convinced him he should level up on this record. As any new parent knows, free time is at a premium when there’s an infant in the house, and the Toronto-born-and-bred singer/songwriter didn’t want to waste any of that time. He took guitar lessons for the first time in his life, even though he’s been making a living as a professional musician for 20 years now. He went back to school and got a degree in Arts Administration, taking an internship behind the scenes at iconic Canadian concert venue Massey Hall. And, of course, he learned how to make a record by himself while simultaneously learning how to be a parent.
“It started after Jack, our first born, came along,” says Rutledge. “I had no time to go into the studio, so I started learning how to engineer and record myself. I ended up producing the whole album at home, working for 45 minutes to an hour each night for 2 years and calling friends for advice about the recording process. It was probably the slowest album I’ve ever made, but at the same time, I was teaching myself the basics of engineering.” He continues, "All of these songs are about youth, and I hadn’t realized that. And it’s interesting because I feel that, as a new dad, there’s this transition that’s happening where suddenly I’m realizing I’m in my 40s. And what’s happening is that our wild-and-free years are suddenly over there, and our ‘middle-aged’ years are now right here. I feel like I’m at this apex where I’m thinking a lot about my youth, But I’m not lamenting anything. I’m not old, I’m just shocked at how suddenly this new phase of life has begun.”
He'll celebrate the album release with a string of Ontario dates.
Thursday, June 22, 2023 - Toronto, ON - TD Music Hall
Friday, June 23, 2023 - Ottawa, ON - Red Bird Live
Saturday, June 24, 2023 - Ottawa, ON - Red Bird Live
Sunday, June 25, 2023 - Picton, Prince Edward County - Acoustic Grill
Accolades have piled up at Rutledge's feet since he released his first album, No Never Alone, via Six Shooter Records in Canada and Slowdive/Mojave 3, main man Neil Halstead’s Shady Lane Records overseas back in 2004, to rave reviews in such international publications as Uncut and NME. He won a Juno Award for Roots Album of the Year in 2014 for the album Valleyheart – which also landed him a Canadian Folk Music Award – and has since been nominated for three more Junos. He’s been long listed twice for the critic-voted Polaris Music Prize and has penned songs with Booker Prize-winning author of ‘The English Patient,’ Michael Ondaatje. Rutledge has also had songs included in film and television, including the Zac Efron film The Lucky One or TV shows The Blacklist, Vampire Diaries, and Teen Wolf. The music gets around.
FEATURED SONGS:
Angry Young Man
Seventeen
Lioness
Head for the Hills
www.youtube.com/@justinrutledgemusic
Ronnie Douglas
“Music is Medicine”, the new solo album from Ronnie Douglas, was put together during the pandemic since he wasn’t able to perform with his working band, The Ronnie Douglas Blues Band. The album is touching not only for its songwriting and stellar guitar playing but also for its tender appeal to the soul and the true healing powers found in music, no matter the genre.
I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of the album that came out March 2023. It is quite a gem and our conversation, delayed in part by some technical issues, focuses on Ronnie’s understanding that Music is Medicine for the spirit, body, soul and mind.
Ronnie Douglas and his band will perform live June 11, at the Etwell Concert series, in Huntsville; 2012 Etwell Road, Huntsville, ON. https://www.etwellconcertseries.ca/
“Ronnie Douglas grew up in the First Nations village of Rama, geographically close to but culturally far removed from Toronto. He recalls a strong sense of both home and community, in particular, the influence of his 'big brother' Larry, a respected musician in his own right who introduced the younger sibling to a wide variety of musical stylings" - John Taylor, mnblues.com
Previous Maple Blues Award Nominees as Best New Blues Artist and 2-time Canadian Aboriginal Music Award recipient in Best Blues Category, The Ronnie Douglas Band has performed at various jazz and blues venues and festivals. Notable performances include Mariposa Folk Festival, The Southside Shuffle, Wasaga Beach Blues Festival, and their music has been featured on APTN’s Rez Bluez television.
FEATURED SONGS:
Waasnoodenwe
Helping Hand (feat. Leanne Douglas)
Blues You Can Use
Right Between The Eyes
Facebook: www.facebook.com/profile
Maggie Fraser
Maggie Fraser sat down with Douglas in conversation about her riveting new album, "The Way That I Wish It Was”.
Maggie is a songwriter’s songwriter. Her songs are compelling, mysterious vignettes that completely capture the imagination and travel into unexpected and surprising terrain. Maggie Fraser is a Canadian singer/songwriter living in Toronto, Ontario.
Identifying primarily as a songwriter in the Folk/Americana genre, her songs have been recorded and performed by other artists, most notably Ontario singer and multi-instrumentalist, Colleen Hodgson, in her 2008 release Songs of Maggie.
Over the last few years, Maggie has stepped up to the mic and begun performing solo around the Toronto area. "The Way that I Wish it Was" is her first release as both singer and songwriter.
"The Way That I Wish It Was”, with songs distinguished by a unique lyrical quality, seems to know how to find its way into that dark, secret place inside and keep us company there."
FEATURED SONGS:
Wild Black Dogs
Your Ghost
After The Loving
Song For Susan
Website: maggiefrasermusic.com/home
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel
James Banning
James Banning is the lead vocalist and songwriter for the Quebec based band, Stunned. I met with James for a lively conversation in late January 2023. I am thrilled to share their exciting sound on Backstage.
Stunned is a 4-piece pop/rock band with some progressive elements. Stunned have recorded two albums thus far, Only Human and Alien Satellite. Both are fast paced, musically inventive and filled with thoughtful, timely lyrics, which reflect James’ political and philosophical outlook on the era we live in and his hopes for a better future.
The indie band moved to Ottawa this year, in hopes of finding a broader fan base, while establishing their brand of rock in the thriving club scene. Stunned is an undiscovered Canadian gem. The band is preparing to release their third album in 2023.
FEATURED SONGS:
Invisible
Tinfoil Hat Man
Only Human
Live this life
YouTube: www.youtube.com/@jamesbanning
Alex Southey
“Common Fantasies” was released December 16th, 2022. This explorative, intriguing and progressive album came to my attention somewhat serendipitously over the holiday season. I was immediately taken by the songs and a new artist that I was not, to date, aware of. Alex and I spoke January 17, 2023 and I am very pleased to introduce his music on Backstage on the Sound Café.
Southey's immersive indie rock lives at the intersection of shoegaze and folk. By fusing these disparate genres together with cerebral, emotionally insightful songwriting he is one of the most interesting, endearing voices in this generation of Canadian musicians.
Southey began as a solo acoustic artist in 2019. With each subsequent release (2019's winter folk Christmastown LP, the 2020 bells-and-whistles follow-up You're Not Just A Body to Me LP, the 2021 simultaneously weighty and spry ... And the Country Stirred, and finally its 2022 idiosyncratic, glitchy little brother My Nights On the Island EP) Southey has developed an increasingly passionate fanbase, along with positive recognition from Domionated, Exclaim!, The Manitoban, CBC Radio, CHCH Morning Show, and more.
In late 2021, Southey developed a backing band consisting of Christina Dare on bass and backing vocals, Gab Lavoie on synth and piano, and Craig McCann on drums and percussion, which took his performances from intimate displays of songwriting craft all the way to an emotive full-band in-your-face experience you'll have playing in your head long after it's finished.
FEATURED SONGS:
The Gods are Fighting
Soften
Common Fantasies
You Want It Brighter
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AlexSoutheyMusic
lynn harrison
Lynn Harrison se une a Douglas en una conversación sobre su nuevo álbum,Tesoroe interpreta tres canciones acústicamente durante su charla, dejando que la magia de estas canciones hable por sí misma.
“Un artista talentoso conocido por canciones reflexivas y sinceras de belleza, poder y perspicacia poco comunes; La cantautora de Toronto Lynn Harrison es una presencia inspiradora en los escenarios canadienses. Su nuevo séptimo álbum en solitario Treasure (producido por Douglas September) presenta a los músicos David Woodhead, Bob Cohen y Ambrose Pottie.
Harrison celebrará el lanzamiento del álbum en concierto y en línea como un evento de transmisión en vivo el sábado 25 de febrero en Eastminster Church, 310 Danforth Avenue, Toronto. Las puertas se abrirán a las 6:30 pm con música a partir de las 7:30 pm. Los boletos y Livestream Link cuestan $20 en Eventbrite o en la puerta.
Lynn Harrison es una narradora concisa, una compositora prolífica y una experta en convertir frases memorables. Como ministra unitaria universalista (UU) ordenada que actualmente sirve en la Primera Congregación Unitaria de Toronto, está claro que en todos los caminos de su trabajo, Harrison presenta un mensaje inspirador de amor, esperanza y justicia.
Tesoroes un álbum sobre mantenerse cuerdo en un mundo loco; de afrontar el cambio con amor y optimismo; un ciclo de oración de 12 canciones que es a la vez personal y universal, de un compositor de canciones, cuyo hábil lirismo, sensibilidad melódica y voz cautivadora son insuperables. Harrison revela las cosas que atesora y, al hacerlo, proporciona un mapa para nosotros. Escuchar Treasure es como tener una experiencia espiritual sin tener que ir a ninguna iglesia.
EnTesoro, Lynn Harrison ha documentado los numerosos tesoros pequeños pero significativos de su vida y ha reflexionado sobre los que están disponibles para todos nosotros. Qué apropiado es que estas canciones en sí mismas también sean tesoros. Solo tienes que escuchar para encontrarlos”.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Lynn toca tres selecciones de Treasure:
"Hablemos entre nosotros como árboles" es una meditación reflexiva y conmovedora sobre la comunicación a nivel del alma, con otras personas y con la tierra. La letra de esta canción inspiró la portada y el diseño del álbum.
Con el sonido hipnótico y filtrado de la guitarra rítmica punteada por Harrison, "Puntuation" compara ingeniosamente los períodos, los signos de interrogación y las oraciones continuas de un autor con los de nuestras vidas. Es una oración musical íntima y reflexiva para los puntos de inflexión de todo tipo.
"Good Songs" es una pieza solista acústica de corazón tierno que presenta la voz íntima y la guitarra brillante de Harrison, afirmando el valor de las canciones para inspirar amor y sanar al mundo. Es una compositora magistral que celebra el poder de la profesión que eligió.
Ayúdame a hacer lo siguiente correcto
Cada Día Precioso
Hablemos entre nosotros como árboles
Puntuación
Buenas canciones
Sitio web: www.lynoleum.es
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lynn.harrison
kate semana
En su cuarto álbum, Better Days Ahead, la cantautora residente en Quebec Kate Weekes explora "el espacio liminal creado por los confinamientos y los planes cancelados". inspirado en los viajes, Better Days Ahead requería una forma de escribir completamente nueva, utilizando señales internas para mapear un momento en el tiempo. Al componer principalmente en las colinas de Gatineau en Quebec, Weekes descubrió que "el bosque boreal y el escudo canadiense eran lugares hermosos para pasar un período desafiante". De hecho, las canciones salvajemente eclécticas reunidas en Better Days Ahead, que Weekes describe de diversas formas como "baladas de asesinato y suicidio con influencia de los Apalaches, folk-pop antémico, valses instrumentales caprichosos" y "vaquero malhumorado que monta a caballo se encuentra con el rock británico": anuncian una artista ferozmente desvinculada de las convenciones musicales pero capaz de articular con precisión su visión.
Todos los álbumes son una especie de diarios de viaje, inmersiones profundas en mundos extraños (a veces familiares) realizados con poco más que una guitarra, un cuaderno y un deseo insaciable de explorar. Pocos viajes artísticos han sido tan expansivos como el que montó Kate Weekes mientras montaba 'Taken by Surprise', grabado en 2019 con James Stephens en Chelsea, QC. Este deslumbrante tercer álbum en solitario traza un período tumultuoso en la vida de Weekes; su primer álbum para narrar sin miedo no solo el paisaje físico que la rodea, sino también el emocional que hay dentro.
Ahora con sede en Wakefield, Quebec, después de pasar casi una década inmerso en la vibrante escena musical del Yukón, Weekes se basó en una asombrosa variedad de experiencias que incluyen trineos de perros de alquiler en Noruega, giras por China con una banda de swing, paseos en canoa desde Whitehorse a Dawson City. y, en particular, varias relaciones personales intensas para escribir estas canciones a su vez lúgubres y alegres.
Esa historia de fondo única explica por qué una descripción de un solo género simplemente no puede capturar el alcance musical del álbum. Es más como: folk/pop ecléctico, lírico, propulsado por la voz con sutiles fundamentos de jazz impulsados por todo, desde el órgano hasta el fliscorno y la trompeta. De hecho, se podría decir que 'Taken by Surprise' es el álbum de recortes sónico definitivo de una vida audaz vivida al máximo.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
barcos que se hunden
flotando boca abajo
Botellas vacías
amigo poeta
tiempo por la luna
sitio webe: kateweekes.com/home
Facebook:www.facebook.com/kateweekesmusic
Las Bodegas de Sal
Con su nuevo álbum, "Inside These Walls", los Salt Cellars han dado un gran paso adelante en su camino para establecerse como un gran acto imprescindible. Esta conversación tuvo lugar en abril de 2022, antes del lanzamiento del álbum en agosto. Durante mucho tiempo he esperado publicar esta charla con estos talentosos músicos en Backstage. Tómate un tiempo para conocer a esta increíble banda.
Las Bodegas de Sal provienen del lado sur del Parque Algonquin. Actualmente son una banda de 5 miembros compuesta por Virginia DeCarle (voz principal y armonías), Rob Bersan (voz principal y armonías, guitarras), Ron Kapitain (armónica, acordeón, teclados, armonio), Richard Joudrey (bajo), Anne Wilde (Armonías).
Virginia deCarle y Rob Bersan son la fundación de cantautores y en 2016 formaron el dúo 'The Salt Cellars'. Los dos también han tocado música juntos en años anteriores con otros músicos. Partiendo de su amor por la música americana, folk, blues, jazz, reggae, rock y casi cualquier otra música que les gustara los oídos, han escrito una mezcla ecléctica de canciones a lo largo de los años. Después de muchos años de escribir individualmente, compartieron sus letras y música. También escriben en colaboración y han tocado en muchos lugares en diferentes partes de Ontario (Rob en Suecia también), obteniendo excelentes comentarios de las audiencias que asistieron a sus espectáculos. A la gente le encantaban las armonías ajustadas y la maestría musical.
En 2017, Ron Kapitain, consumado armónico, acordeón y teclista del área de Maynooth, se unió al dúo. A fines de 2017, el trío conoció al productor de Anax Junius Music Studio y ganador de JUNO, Richard Joudrey (Blue Peter/Rational Youth). Impresionado por su originalidad, estaba emocionado de comenzar la producción de su primer CD titulado 'Truth'.
La banda se convirtió en un sexteto, incluyendo a Rick Joudrey en el bajo, Anne Wilde en los coros y Brendon Burgess en la percusión y la batería. La banda Salt Cellars tocó en espectáculos desde Essonville hasta Killaloe, Haliburton, Bancroft, Maynooth y Peterborough, ON, con excelentes críticas. Durante la pandemia de COVID, Virginia y Rob continuaron tocando en vivo como Salt Cellars Duo.
The Salt Cellars lanzaron su segundo CD titulado “Crooked Tree”, en septiembre de 2019, y su tercer álbum en la primavera de 2022.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Marcadores de lápidas
Dentro de estas paredes
Despertar
Planeo
Amor salvaje
Mi juego
Sitio web: thesaltcellarsband.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/thesaltcellarsmusic
El despertar de Maggie
El grupo de raíces contemporáneas Maggie's Wake es una banda de raíces canadienses que combina la instrumentación celta tradicional con un enfoque contemporáneo. Nacido de las cenizas de Rant Maggie Rant, Maggie's Wake es una emocionante colaboración entre la cofundadora de Rant Maggie Rant, Lindsay Schindler (violín, voz) y Tara Dunphy (silbato de hojalata, flauta, violín, voz), cantante principal y compositora del aclamado country. atuendo, Los Rizdales.
A ellos se une una poderosa banda de los mejores músicos de Ontario, incluidos Stephan Szczesniak en la percusión, Andrew Kosty en el bajo, Kenneth Palmer en la guitarra y Dean Harrison en el piano y el acordeón.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Bridget O'Brien
Agitado y Revuelto
Se acerca la navidad (para ti)
Sitio web:maggieswake.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/maggieswake
Afloramiento
Basset son los compositores acústicos Sam Clark y Yasmine Shelton, pero eso apenas se acerca a describir la belleza etérea y las impresionantes armonías de su nuevo álbum 'In The Clay'. Afortunadamente, Douglas McLean pudo hablarles brevemente sobre el álbum y su fenomenal composición de canciones, y la creación de este conjunto de canciones reflexivas y lujosamente hipnóticas.
Basset, el dúo de folk de Toronto, está lleno de un corazón atemporal. Los compositores acústicos Sam Clark y Yasmine Shelton lo llevarán por las calles de la ciudad en las horas previas a que el mundo despierte, o a una casa de acero corrugado al norte de la línea de árboles.
Basset trae un profundo amor por el mundo natural a su álbum debut magníficamente meditativo y seguro, In The Clay, lanzado el 30 de septiembre de 2022. Producido por Joshua Van Tassel (Sarah Slean, David Myles), las diez canciones de 'In The Clay explora varios temas de la vida en cambio, los viajes de Shelton y Clark por el norte de Ontario, las praderas canadienses y estadounidenses, sus vidas en Toronto y los muchos personajes que se han cruzado en sus caminos.
Con comparaciones con The Milk Carton Kids, Hozier y Bon Iver, su inventiva brilla en el violín y las armonías intrincadas, con las voces de Shelton y Clark envolviéndose como llamas gemelas en un cálido fuego.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
en la arcilla
cambio de hora
Hola amor
a mis pies
barcos en el mar
Sitio web:bassettheband.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/basset.theband
justin saladino
Douglas McLean tuvo el gran privilegio de tener una larga conversación con Justin Saladino sobre el lanzamiento de su último álbum, “Honest Lies”, un emocionante conjunto de canciones y un paso progresivo para el artista estadounidense/blues. Líricamente aventureros y emocionantes musicalmente, Justin Saladino Band (JSB) crea material oportuno y directo sobre los tiempos en que vivimos y el impacto que tiene en todos nosotros.
Justin agració nuestra conversación con un poco de discusión y demostración de guitarra, de la cual soy un gran admirador. Ha estado tocando desde los 13 años y sigue aprendiendo más sobre el oficio y su amor por la guitarra brilla en cada canción.
Justin Saladino, nacido en Montreal, lidera un grupo impulsado por la guitarra con una paleta de sonidos que incluye colores de rock, blues, americana, funk y jam, uniendo géneros e influencias para crear el sonido de raíces contemporáneas por el que son venerados. Lo que es seguro es que todo lo que haga JSB incluirá una potente interpretación de la guitarra, voces sensuales y composiciones que combinan géneros que son únicamente la firma del líder de la banda. Firmemente respaldado por la fundación de Denis Paquin y Gabriel Forget, el explosivo núcleo del trío ha llevado sus aclamados álbumes No Worries, A Fool's Heart, JSB Live y Honest Lies a los escenarios del este de Canadá y más allá.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Hundirse o nadar
Aviva las llamas
mentiras honestas
A medias
Dejarte ir
Sitio web:www.justinsaladinoband.com
Facebook:www.facebook.com/JustinSaladinoBand
citar el cuervo
Mi introducción a Quote the Raven provino de Terra Spencer, quien mencionó haberlos conocido en un festival en la Columbia Británica en la primavera de 2022.
“Los tres veces ganadores del premio Music Newfoundland & Labrador (incluido el Grupo del año 2019 y 2021) se han embarcado en cinco increíbles giras por el este de Canadá, trazaron un recorrido de Home Routes por el oeste de Canadá, abrieron para las Barenaked Ladies y actuaron en Fiesta Americana en Nashville”
Jordan Coaker y Kirsten Rodden-Clarke de Quote the Raven se unieron a mí en una conversación encantadora sobre su álbum de 2021, "Can't Hold the Light".
Un viaje improvisado a Nashville en 2019 puso las ruedas en movimiento para el segundo disco del dúo Americana Folk, Quote the Raven. Los sonidos que llenaron las vías respiratorias de Nashville revitalizaron la inspiración del dúo de Newfoundland y encontraron un nuevo hogar en el género estadounidense. Su disco Can't Hold the Light es un resumen de los viajes que la pareja ha experimentado en los últimos tres años.
La colaboración siempre ha estado al frente de todo lo que ha hecho Quote the Raven. Similar a su primer disco Golden Hour, Can't Hold the Light presenta una lista A de colaboradores canadienses que incluyen a Chris Kirby, Charlie A'Court, Blake Reid, Andrew Waite, Jessica Pearson, Andrew Sneddon, Nick Earle y muchos más. .
En los últimos tres años, Quote the Raven alcanzó más de 1 000 000 de reproducciones, se agregó a listas de reproducción oficiales seleccionadas en Spotify y Apple Music, y obtuvo exhibiciones y nominaciones a premios en los East Coast Music Awards. Se han presentado en muchos festivales en todo Canadá, han realizado giras por los Centros de Arte y Cultura de Terranova, se han presentado regularmente en el canal Stingray's Folk Roots, se ubicaron en el top 100 de Canadian Country con los primeros 3 sencillos de Can't Hold the Light y recibieron múltiples ubicaciones de sincronización, incluido el drama de CityTV "The Wedding Planners".
Los tres veces ganadores del premio Music Newfoundland & Labrador (incluido el Grupo del año 2019 y 2021) se han embarcado en cinco increíbles giras por el este de Canadá, trazaron un recorrido de Home Routes por el oeste de Canadá, abrieron para Barenaked Ladies y actuaron en AmericanaFest en Nashville.
Quote the Raven combina armonías vocales suaves con una estética, a veces, inquietante que hechiza y seduce al oyente. Obtienen influencia de gente como Joy Williams (Civil Wars), Brandi Carlile y The Milk Carton Kids. La pareja entretiene al público con su dinámica ingeniosa y extravagante que vislumbra la vida cotidiana de los músicos de gira.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
No puedo sostener la luz
Montañas Nubladas
Esperanza
Durante la noche
Hora dorada
Sitio web: http://www.quotetheravenofficial.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/QuoteTheRavenDuo
matthew peluquero
Lanzado el 22 de julio de 2022, "No Singing or Dancing", sigue al exitoso álbum de Barber de 2018 'Phase of the Moon'. A lo largo del EP de seis canciones, Matthew Barber demuestra una vez más por qué es un compositor muy querido y venerado en el panteón de los artistas canadienses.
Matthew Barber es un cantautor con sede en Toronto que ha estado ejerciendo su oficio durante dos décadas, lanzando diez discos y realizando giras por cuatro continentes en el camino. Su trabajo ha obtenido un par de nominaciones a Juno, un puñado de nominaciones a premios de música folclórica canadiense e incluso un par de premios de teatro inglés de Montreal por sus contribuciones musicales en el mundo de las artes dramáticas.
Más cómodo colgando una guitarra acústica y canturreando para una audiencia atenta, se sabe que Barber se conecta y suda en el estruendo de un club de rock de vez en cuando. Al igual que sus héroes Neil Young y Bob Dylan, se alimenta del contraste de la interpretación solista íntima y la energía de la banda eléctrica, y este equilibrio se ha reflejado en su cuerpo de trabajo. Desde sus primeros días en Paper Bag Records y Warner Music Canada y continuando a lo largo de su larga relación con Outside Music, el álbum de Barber, Ghost Notes, ha cosechado millones de transmisiones, fue nominado para un premio Juno, con casi todas las pistas del disco con licencia para películas y música. Anuncios de televisión, incluidos Noche de hockey en Canadá, Heartland, Gabriel's Inferno y más.
A medida que las millas de la carretera se han acumulado, los espectáculos en vivo de Barber se han alejado de lo estridente y más hacia el lado suave de las cosas. En 2016, Matthew colaboró con su talentosa hermana Jill Barber y el resultado fue The Family Album y una extensa gira con tres generaciones a lo largo del viaje. Muchas giras memorables ocurrieron antes y después, incluida una gira por 20 ciudades de China, un par de incursiones en Europa, varios viajes a Down Under e incontables millas en la carretera transcanadiense.
En 2020, Barber estuvo ocho shows en una gira estadounidense con entradas agotadas apoyando a su amigo Noah Reid cuando todo se cerró y el mundo cambió para siempre. Estar confinado en su hogar lo llevó a enfocarse más en su amor por estar en el estudio y actuó como productor en un puñado de discos para otras personas, incluido el dúo emergente Clever Hopes, el cantautor Ian Lake y el mencionado Reid con quien tiene Ahora hizo tres álbumes. 2022 verá a Barber lanzar nueva música propia por primera vez desde Phase Of The Moon de 2018 y está muy entusiasmado con eso.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Sin cantar ni bailar
Viral
¿Alguien realmente lo sabe?
Cada vez que lloras
Cántame para dormir
Sitio web: https://www.matthewbarber.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matt.barber.102
Juan Pipo
Para su quinto lanzamiento de larga duración, Hermosa Star - Family Album, El cantautor con sede en Vancouver John Pippus está siguiendo un nuevo camino, alejándose de su reputación de blues innovador y adentrándose en el ritmo de sus influencias folk y de raíces. Su esposa, la música de formación clásica Pam Searle, canta en estrecha armonía en cada pista, sus décadas de cantar juntos son evidentes en lo bien que se mezclan sus voces.
Son Jacob Pippus, un baterista muy solicitado en la escena de Vancouver, was se alistó, junto con su ex compañera de banda, Peg Wilson, en el bajo y coros. Juntos grabaron 10 canciones folk-roots originales así como el tradicional 'Will The Circle Be Unbroken' para cerrar el álbum.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Dos lados de cada mentira
Algunos días
visto un fantasma
El diablo está en camino
aplastar el miedo
solo un baile
Vigilancia mundial completa (para Ucrania)
Sitio web: www.johnpippus.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/JohnPippusMusic
Campamento de la banda: johnpippus.bandcamp.com
jim maccarty
Como baterista y uno de los miembros fundadores originales de los legendarios Yardbirds, Jim McCarty ha hecho una vida en la música que abarca varias bandas exitosas, numerosas grabaciones, una carrera en solitario de compositor profundamente conmovedor. como autor tiene dos libros y se une a Douglas McLean para discutir su último, 'She Walks In Beauty' así como su larga aventura musical.
Los Yardbirds son famosos no solo por una serie de éxitos inolvidables durante los años sesenta, sino también por presentar al mundo a tres de los guitarristas solistas más notables del rock; Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page y Eric Clapton.
Lo que hace que la historia de Jim McCarty sea tan sorprendente es su búsqueda continua de lo que él llama el "panorama general", así como su prodigioso trabajo como baterista, compositor, líder de banda y autor, a lo largo de los últimos sesenta años.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Arriba, Abajo, De lado, Abajo
Muchas preguntas
Deja de vivir la vida en el pasado
mujeres perdidas
Isla
Encantado
Sitio web/Social:
https://www.facebook.com/jim.mccarty.9
Dr. Dunn
MD Dunn ha actuado durante tres décadas y ha lanzado nueve álbumes desde 1993. Su último álbum, The River Lately, se lanzó en 2018, y su tercer libro de poemas, Even the Weapons (BuschekBooks), se publicó en 2014. Se ha tocado la música de Mark. en CBC, NPR y muchas estaciones universitarias y comunitarias. Con mayor frecuencia actúa como solista, pero ha trabajado con varias bandas (The Innocent Weapon Ensemble, New Toque, Clay Rooster, Uncle OSAP & the Collection Agency, y muchas más).
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Consuelo
Belleza
Los milagros suceden (y con frecuencia pasan desapercibidos) incluso en un día como este
te agradezco dios
La cobardía de los reyes
Agua fantasma
Necesitamos a todos
Sitio web: http://www.mddunn.com/
Bandcamp: https://mddunn.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mdaviddunn
joe nolan
Joe Nolan es un preciado compositor canadiense con un nuevo álbum, "Scrapper", que emerge del confinamiento por la pandemia. Grabado en el famoso estudio Riverdale Recorders de Scott Franchuk en Edmonton, AB., las once canciones en “Scrapper” son otra demostración de los prodigiosos poderes creativos de Nolan.
Joe Nolan habló con Douglas McLean en junio de 2021 sobre el lanzamiento del álbum que se lanzó en octubre de 2021.
Joe Nolan, quien ha sido anunciado por medios como Globe & Mail y No Depression como un niño prodigio estadounidense, es una estrella canadiense en ascenso a tener en cuenta en 2021. Nolan ha sido un compositor básico en la industria de la música durante más de una década haciendo sus dos primeros álbumes en Nashville con el productor de peso pesado Colin Linden. También grabó un EP con Hawksley Workman y John Gullmarstam en Suecia. Ahora continúa construyendo sobre el año masivo que se produjo a raíz de su álbum Cry Baby lanzado de forma independiente en 2018 y su lanzamiento de 2020 Drifters.
Para marzo de 2020, Joe Nolan era un serio contendiente musical. Acababa de regresar a su ciudad natal de Edmonton, Canadá, después de tocar una serie de espectáculos en Europa, la culminación de más de 170 fechas en vivo ese año anterior, en parte gracias a firmar con el agente Mongrel Music Agency (Chuck Prophet, Lake Street Bucear). Había firmado contratos discográficos con Rootsy Records en Suecia (John Prine, Patti Griffin, Anderson East) y Fallen Tree Records en Canadá. Ganó trofeos, incluido el premio Cobalt por su composición en The Maple Blues Awards 2018/2020, así como una nominación en los Breakout West Awards 2020.
Ahora era su momento.
Luego vino el COVID-19.
Lo derribó.
Pero, él no fue noqueado.
En cambio, experimentó una oleada de energía artística. El cantante, compositor y multiinstrumentista tomó los aprendizajes de los reveses anteriores y los canalizó en canción, tras canción, tras canción.
Esas canciones se fusionaron para convertirse en su último álbum de peso pesado, Scrapper.
“Quería hacer algo un poco más atrevido esta vez”, dice Joe Nolan. "Algo con algo de carne en el hueso, algo un poco más contundente y arenoso, pero también quería combinar esa energía con suavidad y sensibilidad".
El resultado son once canciones, algunas terminadas horas antes de la sesión de grabación de última hora que pudo reservar en el famoso estudio Riverdale Recorders de Scott Franchuk en Edmonton, AB.
La música honesta, íntima y original que produce Joe Nolan puede ser difícil de definir. Está influenciado por el folk y el blues, en comparación con Leif Vollebekk y Chuck Prophet, John Prine y Jeff Tweedy, Buddy Miller y Guy Clark. Sin embargo, con su tierno enfoque e instrumentación, prefiere decir simplemente música de raíces, “porque de ahí surge todo lo que hago”.
Las canciones abarcan temas de la soledad en el camino, las luchas por no tener un hogar arraigado y los malentendidos que dividen a amigos y amantes. Es una mirada fuera del ring de un músico de gira, con una tristeza escondida debajo de la belleza melódica, revelándose a medida que se desarrolla el álbum. Tal vez sea el espíritu que proviene de la supervivencia, la perseverancia y la determinación fortificada de volver a salir.
“Es casi como si no tuviera otra opción”, acepta Nolan. “Creo que nunca me detendré ni me retiraré. Esta es mi vida, es difícil de explicar, pero es algo que tengo que hacer”.
Al volver a sus raíces, Nolan emprendió un viaje personal a través de su propia historia familiar. Salieron historias del pasado, acompañadas de fotos familiares, algunas de las cuales han llegado a las portadas de álbumes y sencillos. Presentan a su abuelo, un mentor resistente, de manera prominente. Y así, Nolan se dio cuenta del valor de esas conexiones físicas con la familia. Los vínculos que se forman al actuar en un escenario. Y disfrutó de la alegría de poner un disco en el reproductor y leer las notas y la letra.
En cuanto a dónde llevará Scrapper a Nolan, ya está reservando espectáculos regionales al aire libre a medida que se levantan las restricciones, y espera volver al ring en vivo, recorriendo canciones no solo de Scrapper, sino también de su álbum Drifters, lanzado en los primeros días de los confinamientos de 2020. ¡Fue nominado para un Canadian Folk Music Award 2021 y elogiado por la revista musical Exclaim! por “Su mezcla de raíces y folk [que] es refrescantemente libre de hastío y con mucho cuerpo” en su reseña del 9/10, y otras publicaciones, incluidas Folk Radio UK y Americana Highways.
Nolan continúa demostrando en esta próxima oferta que realmente es un artista innegable, un intérprete dinámico y un talento virtuoso que no se puede ignorar.
A medida que se cierra el álbum Scrapper, la canción final se desvanece y escucharás la débil voz de una mujer susurrando: "Te extraño, ¿cuándo vuelves a casa?"
Para Joe Nolan, cuya casa está en un escenario actuando para ti, la respuesta está en el nombre de la canción. Se llama “Nos vemos pronto.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Aquí está la esperanza
Montaña
Enciende el auto
Levántate por tu amor
Dulces pequeños azules
A donde voy desde aqui
Sitio web: www.joenolanmusic.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/joe.nolan.5
veranos de brezo
Taken By Storm Records se complace en anunciar el próximo lanzamiento del álbum debut de Briar Summers, From The Ashes.
Su álbum debut, From The Ashes, ya está disponible. Producida y mezclada por el productor tres veces ganador del premio Grammy David Bottrill (Tool, Rush, Peter Gabriel), Briar se une a un elenco de magnífico talento canadiense que incluye a Ben Riley (batería), Chris Stringer (guitarras), Drew Jurecka ( violín), Daniel Dennis (violonchelo), Jamie Bestwick (bajo), Logan Coey (batería), Jason Logue (trompeta), Dylan Teakle (ritmos).
Briar y su productor se unieron a nosotros para hablar sobre el álbum en mayo de 2021 antes de su lanzamiento.
From The Ashes fue lanzado en disco compacto y todas las plataformas digitales el 8 de octubre. (Estará disponible en vinilo a principios de 2022).
Su primer sencillo, "Stronger", lanzado a principios de este año, ha tenido una gran difusión en la radio local y del campus, además de una o dos vueltas en CBC.
El hecho de que solo tenga 17 años no le ha impedido encabezar festivales locales como Muskoka Pride y Muskoka Vegfest, o compartir escenario con artistas de renombre como Jim Cuddy, Julian Taylor, Miranda Mulholland, Kandle Osborne, Sarah Slean y Hawksley Workman, o de recibir honores tales como el Premio Bill Waterhouse del Pueblo de Huntsville y la Medalla Académica del Gobernador General de su escuela secundaria.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
De las cenizas
no lo haré
Más fuerte
Ángel sin alas
Como volar
Sitio web: https://www.briarsummers.com/
Poetas del condado de Durham
Una de las bandas edificantes más contagiosas y sorprendentes de la escena del blues canadiense, Durham County Poets se une a Douglas McLean para hablar sobre su próxima gira y su nominación a JUNO como Álbum de blues del año, por su álbum 'Hand Me Down Blues'.
Los poetas del condado de Durham surgieron de la animada escena musical de Ormstown, QC, una vez llamada Durham. Los cinco músicos experimentados, todos ellos también compositores, trabajan juntos individualmente y en colaboración para componer su música. Profundizando en una variedad de estilos y géneros, sus influencias musicales incluyen una amplia gama, entrelazadas para crear su propio estilo auténtico.
Han lanzado 4 álbumes independientes en 10 años y su último esfuerzo, casi totalmente de blues, recibió una nominación a JUNO, seguido de 2 nominaciones a Maple Blues y una nominación a los Canadian Folk Music Awards para Kevin. De hecho, la banda estaba lista para viajar a Saskatoon en marzo de 2020 para participar en la semana del Festival JUNO (y respaldar a Dawn Tyler Watson), cuando se cancelaron los premios y se inició una nueva realidad: ser virtual. Esto fue lo que la banda abrazó, su primer 'concierto en línea' visto por miles, cortesía del Centro Nacional de las Artes de Ottawa.
La evidente alegría de vivir que expresan en la actuación se refleja en la sensación de diversión que crea la banda, cautivando al público constantemente con sus ritmos ajustados y actuaciones aparentemente sin esfuerzo, entrelazadas con las divertidas observaciones de la vida de Kevin. Como dijo Nate Dow del Fallout Shelter en Massachusetts: “El cantante principal Kevin Harvey y su banda son cambiaformas sónicos de primer orden. Ya sea blues, folk, soul, country, gospel o swing de Nueva Orleans, lo transmiten con habilidad, aplomo y pura honestidad”.
Las giras hasta la fecha los han llevado a Ottawa Blues, Rochester Jazz, Montreal Folk, Deep Roots Nova Scotia Festivals y Wintergrass Seattle, Port-Credit's Southside Shuffle y Pop-up 'Superfolk' en Morin Heights QC.
CANCIONES DESTACADAS:
Pasarme el blues
lunes por la mañana
La gran división
He estado viviendo con el blues
Maldad en el Corazón.
Con una pequeña ayuda de mis amigos
Sitio web: https://durhamcountypoets.com
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