By Stevie Connor. Photo Credit: Anne Connor.
When the pandemic hit in early 2020 no-one knew what lay ahead, especially in the music industry, I had been running a successful international online radio station for almost ten years, and had supported artists around the world in many genres of music on our weekly schedule, but, we were only scratching the surface of music that was being submitted. I had written articles for music magazines in the UK, Australia and the USA, mainly about independent artists based in Canada, where there is such a wealth and depth of talent in all genres. I had one or two articles a month published, again, it seemed that it did not make any dent in the music landing on my desk.
As the months crept on into the Summer from Spring of 2020, I wanted to do more to help artists who had ceased touring, whose revenue streams were drying up and whose future seemed uncertain. I created a website to house my own articles, and spent time in lockdown gathering these all together. I have a very good friend who is an extremely talented singer-songwriter - she is also a savvy businesswoman - I asked her what she would like to see and read about if I created an online magazine, a few days later she came back with some great ideas, a number of which I had also thought about. The resulting website is what you see today. My good friend Kae, has also had much success since then, she has recorded her sophomore album in Austin, Texas, with talented producer Anders Drerup at Same Sky Productions, and it's due to be released very soon.
The Sound Cafe Magazine was launched on June 1st 2020, within a few weeks we were receiving submissions from PR company's, artists, managers and record labels. The team of one grew rapidly into a global network of contributors covering a wide range of topics and genres. Linking up with our radio station, Blues & Roots Radio, we launched listen on demand podcasts, showcasing the station with a selection of shows from around the world, we have since added more as in depth feature shows covering the process of songwriting with artists in Canada, the USA, UK, Ireland and Australia.
I want to acknowledge also the advice given by my friend Richard Flohil, a veteran of the Canadian music industry, he ran a very successful PR firm, and started out his career as a journalist, the many talks we had in the early days of the magazine, helped me create a clear vision and path, and I was honoured he took time to write many amazing articles for us, that meant a lot to me.
On June 1st 2021 we celebrated our one year anniversary, having published over 450 articles, airing 23 weekly podcasts, and have featured 75 in depth interviews with artists as diverse as Richie Blackmore & Candice Knight, Blue Rodeo, Marc Jordan, John McCutcheon, James McMurtry, Grainne Duffy, Hawkesly Workman, Mary Stokes, Shaun Murphy, Lachy Doley, Victor Wainwright, Eric Bogle, Joe Louis Walker, Joe Newberry, Michael Barre (Jethro Tull), Terra Spencer, Kirk Fletcher and many more.
Our readership and subscriptions grow month on month, we are truly grateful for that.
As of June 2023, we have now published close to 3000 articles, have featured interviews of over 250 artists from around the world, with an average monthly readership of over 40K.
We have also expanded the team over the last couple of years. We added exclusive columns and content by investigative journalist Erin McCallum, who is also a touring blues musician, also videographer, journalist and musician Douglas McLean conducts exclusive interviews by way of podcasts and articles, we also have Blues aficionado, retired Associate Dean of Media & Entertainment Studies at Mohawk College, Ken Wallis, who contributes podcasts and written interview articles with leading Blues artists, all three are based in Ontario, Canada. On top of that we have award-winning Australian singer-songwriter Jenny Biddle, who is at the moment based in Scotland, writing exclusive content about her songwriting process and the history of her fabulous album, Hero In Me, celebrating it's ten year anniversary.
It is with gratitude that I write this note to say thank you to the team at The Sound Cafe, to all of our contributors, everyone who submits music to us, our followers on social media platforms and to you the reader for supporting us, by supporting us, you are supporting the artists we write about.
We celebrated our third birthday in June, and have tens of thousands of visitors to our platform every month. As always there are many great articles published daily / weekly / monthly, in a large variety of genres, we are of the opinion that music should not be pigeon holed, we just like writing about great music that I'm sure you will find interesting, and hopefully you'll explore artists you might never have thought to listen to.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge my wife Anne, for her support of The Sound Cafe and Blues & Roots Radio, the old saying takes great relevance for me.... 'Behind every successful man, there stands a great woman'.
Tell a friend, help spread the word that there is always an open door and a welcoming seat in The Sound Cafe. We have some new features coming later this year that I can't wait to share with you. Until then, stay safe, explore, engage and enjoy!
Stevie Connor
Editor - The Sound Cafe
Stevie with his friend Benn at The Sound Cafe. Photo Credit. Anne Connor .
Website: www.thesoundcafe.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/soundcafemagazine
Twitter: twitter.com/BluesRootsRadio
Instagram: www.instagram.com/bluesandrootsradio
Stevie is a verified journalist on the global PR platform, Muck Rack.
Muck Rack's First Featured Journalist of 2023
Stevie Connor is originally from Scotland, for the last 16 years he has been based just outside of Toronto in the GTA.
He is a recorded artist having contributed to more than twenty albums in the past, ranging from rock to folk and Celtic music. He is a top class piper and plays guitar and whistles, his original compositions have been recorded and played by other artists.
He is the founder and editor of The Sound Cafe Magazine and co-founder of Blues and Roots Radio, he has written in the past for Blues and Roots Radio (Canada), Great Dark Wonder (USA), Fatea Magazine (UK) and Music World Media (Australia). Stevie has contributed his many years of experience as a respected juror for the JUNO Awards, The Canadian Folk Music Awards, and the Maple Blues Awards in Canada.