Folks, today is a very special day for us here at Roots Music Canada:  it’s the first anniversary of our relaunch.

The truth is, it’s hard to believe it’s only been a year because this site is so much a part of my life again that I can barely remember not working here – and I can barely remember those bad old days only a year ago, when I was trying and failing to find coverage of Canadian roots music online.

I feel like I’ve spent this year catching up on “the scene,” learning about great new albums I might not have known about if I wasn’t connected to someone’s Facebook feed, and reading some beautiful reflections from artists about life on the road, the craft of songwriting, the changing nature of the music businesses, and the tough choices and new opportunities that come with it.

• Roots Music Canada: the origin story

We hear from a lot of artists and fans saying they’re really glad to have us back, and I can’t tell you how honoured we are to be here to serve them.

It’s been a lot of work to rebuild this wonderful little community web site that Andy Frank and David Newland started back in 2009, and there’s lots of work still to do, but we’re pretty proud of this little online village of ours, and we’re truly humbled by your support.

Thank you to each and every one of you from the bottom of the moose’s heart.

In honour of our anniversary, here are 10 fun facts about Roots Music Canada.

1. More than 130,000 different people have visited us in the past year.
2. We’ve received more than 415,000 page views during that same time period.
3. Our most-read post this year was Ian Tamblyn’s viral sensation just last month titled “A brief history of why artists are no longer making a living making music.” It’s been viewed more than 100,000 times.
4. We’ve posted 374 articles in the past year – 375 including this one.
5. That includes exclusive premieres for 39 new songs, videos and albums
6. During our first week back online, we raved about a then-unknown Jeremy Dutcher, whose album was released the same week we relaunched. Now look at him!
7. Andy Frank and David Newland originally launched Roots Music Canada on Nov. 17, 2009, Gordon Lightfoot’s birthday.
8. I (the moose) am named after Gordon Lightfoot – and Gord Downie, and Gordie Howe, and all the other great Canadian Gords.
9. Fifty different people have written for us this year.
10. We’ve launched a reader survey so we can learn more about you and try to give you more of what you want. Please click here to fill it in. It will only take a few minutes.

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