Roots Music Canada is the brainchild of writer, host and performer David Newland. It all started a few years ago when he learned that a wonderful domain name, rootsmusic.ca, had become available. So naturally, he went about the task of putting something on the web to suit the domain name.

David enlisted the help of technical genius Trevor Mills, blogger extraordinaire Candace Shaw, site designer (and creator of Gordy The Moose) Janine Stoll and video producer/writer Andy Frank to launch the site on November 17, 2009. Shortly thereafter, David oversaw the building of the Woodshed.

Since that time, with David as editor-in-chief, Roots Music Canada has published hundreds of stories written by dozens of volunteer writers, has created and hosted numerous performance videos, and has streamed several live events, including the last three annual Canadian Folk Music Awards ceremonies.

Today, David Newland is announcing that he is embarking on a new adventure, and handing Gordy’s antlers exclusively over to Andy Frank.

David is the new Creative Director for Adventure Canada, a travel company committed to Canadian culture and the natural world. He will be helping with their editorial and creative content, including social media, community building, coffee table book, DVDs and events.

David will also be bringing his performing and hosting skills to bear (hopefully not literally) aboard Adventure Canada trips to the Arctic and elsewhere. He is hoping these visits to the Far North will deepen his approach to songwriting and writing, as they have done for Ian Tamblyn, an artist for whom David has a great deal of admiration.

You’ll still see and hear David regularly, performing and hosting on the Canadian folk and roots scene, and writing for various publications including Macleans.ca. He’s also working on a book.

Roots Music Canada, meanwhile, will continue to operate much as it has in the past, but with an increased emphasis on supporting and hosting radio shows created by Andy Frank, Bill Garrett and other folk/roots music programmers.

Good luck David!

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