It’s our fourth anniversary!
Roots Music Canada celebrated its fourth anniversary on April 3 – the fourth anniversary of its rebirth that is – the same weekend as the Canadian Folk Music Awards and the Grammys.
Not wanting to shoehorn another celebration into a busy weekend, I decided to hold off for a week before posting this item – and then, when Pastelle LeBlanc if Vishtèn passed away, I held off for another weekend because last weekend wasn’t a very celebratory one.
But this, the Easter long weekend, when some of us are already being merry with family, provides an excellent opportunity to raise a glass to the four years that have passed and look ahead to the future as well.
Did you know?
- We have published 1562 stories since we returned on April 3, 2018.
- 428,968 different people have visited our site.
- Our top five articles of the last four years are:
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- A brief history of why artists are no longer making a living making music
- Tom Jackson has released a devastating new song about children lost at residential schools
- Spotify pays artists shit, so how come they’re still using it?
- John Mellencamp just launched a massive Canadian tour; Mersereau reviews
- Seven Canadian roots songs about the Canadian war experience
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When I reestablished Roots Music Canada four years ago, I had no idea what to expect. I imagined publishing three or four stories a week. That seemed like a plenty big commitment for a website operating on a shoestring. But we had so many writers writing amazing stuff that I immediately started publishing six items a week – except on weeks when there were stat holidays – and we’ve kept it up this whole time thanks to an astonishing array of writers like Jan Vanderhorst, Paul Corby and Elizabeth Szekeres.
Of course, we’ve all been through a lot in the past couple of years, what with COVID-19, the Russian attack on Ukraine, the discovery of children’s remains at former residential school sites, the truck convoy and the incredible division in communities and even families over vaccine mandates.
I hope that, as we start to reunite in person again as live music returns, we will begin to heal some of the rifts that exist between us and get back to supporting one another and supporting all the amazing artists whose careers were decimated by the pandemic. I hope I get to connect with as many of you as possible this summer too.
I’m excited to bring back our tradition of sending writers to dozens of festivals across Canada to send in reviews, and I’m excited to actually be participating in that process again this year too.
Until then happy anniversary!
