Alexis Chartrand and Colin Savoie-Levac – Le Tranino
Two of the finest young players in Québec’s traditional music scene got together in a studio one weekend last September and jammed, improvising arrangements while their friend recorded them. The result is a simply superb collection of tunes from the ...
Nathan Smith – Let It Rest, Let It Rise
Lovely and listenable. That’s my first reaction to this fantastic new CD from Toronto fiddler Nathan Smith. It’s a first studio album from Nathan, who grew up in northern Ontario, in North Bay, where he had French Canadian, classical, bluegrass, ...
Braden Gates – Kitchen Days
Preamble The dignity of labour has been a theme central to the folk music tradition forever, but it became politicized over class lines in former times, by songs and artists that polarized worker versus administration conflicts. I can’t recall many ...
Gordon Belsher (Jar O’ Comfort, Richard Wood) – Aging Gratefully
In 1968, Gordon Belsher’s band, the Heat, supported the Who at the Edmonton Gardens. With too many guitar players in the band, and having purchased a “Beatles” Hofner bass two years earlier, Gordon was glad to take up the duties ...
The North Sound – As the Stars Explode
As the Stars Explode, the second full-length album from The North Sound, brings 11 new songs (plus spoken word intro and outro) from Saskatchewan-based singer-songwriter Forrest Eaglespeaker. Currently comprising Forrest and vocalist/partner Nevada Freistadt, The North Sound is an idea ...
Paul Reddick and the Gamblers – Alive in Italia
In 2001 on his award-winning album Rattlebag, Toronto bluesman Paul Reddick sang, “…there’s no good place to have the blues,” and now almost 20 years later, he is testing that theory with his recent Stony Plain release Alive in Italia. ...
Rube and Rake are ‘unchained and more open’ on sophomore ...
With the release of their new album Leaving With Nothing, Newfoundland duo Rube and Rake—comprising Josh Sandu and Andrew Laite—have made a significant step forward with their sound. Their debut album Back And Forth, released in 2017, featured their harmony ...
Lynn Miles – We’ll Look For Stars
The atelier of Ottawa passionista Lynn Miles has just unveiled her new ready-to-hear line for 2020. Lifting off from the runway on July 3, We’ll Look For Stars is her 15th release and is already peaking at number one on ...
Emilyn Stam and John David Williams – Honeywood
Of course, you’d like a trip to Europe, but there’s a pandemic on, tethering our wanderlust to places here at home. But we can conjure our wanderings in other ways, listening to this lovely music being one. This beautiful album, ...
Country singer-songwriter Greg Rider has a sweet new single called ...
Canadian country-pop artist Greg Rider wonders if love is just “One Town Away” in his new single. “This song was actually written in two days,” Greg said, looking back at a songwriting session with collaborator Rich Cloke. “I didn’t plan ...