NEWSLETTER - July 24, 2023 |
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There was so much content to share this month that this one almost feels like a Marvel comics special summer double issue. However, the fall release rush will soon be upon us, so please enjoy a few previews now and also get reacquainted with some great records you might have missed over the past couple of months. Above all, stay cool. JS
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ART BERGMANN / "Raw Naked Monday" + "A Hymn For Us"
Member of the Order of Canada, Juno Award winner, two-time Polaris Music Prize long listed artist... Art Bergmann has been honoured by his home country in a multitude of ways. But behind the accolades is still a man coping with the unforgiving realities of life as he enters his seventies.
ShadowWalk -- released Sept. 29 via (weewerk) -- is Bergmann’s ode to Sherri Decembrini, his beloved wife of 30 years who passed away unexpectedly in March 2022. The album’s 12 songs capture the darkness, grief and desolation that comes from such a soul crushing loss, while also offering genuine hope that life will go on.
For Art, music remains the strongest healing force, and he offers a preview of ShadowWalk with two songs, "Raw Naked Monday" and "A Hymn For Us," that clearly demonstrate he hasn't lost any of his ability to match memorable melodies with deeply personal lyrics.
EPK :: LINKTREE
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MATT PAXTON & THE PINTOS / "Brother"
Hamilton, Ontario-based singer/songwriter Matt Paxton has released his new single, "Brother," the latest preview of the upcoming debut EP Tornado (Sept. 15, Down By The Point Records) with his band The Pintos. Produced by Tim Allard of The Redhill Valleys, "Brother" is another shining example of Paxton's poignant storytelling skills, delivered in his aching, Neil Young-esque voice, and featuring the stellar pedal steel playing of Chris Altmann.
Paxton says, “'Brother' is about letting someone you love know that you’re there for them, and always will be. It’s about letting them know you’re always thinking of them and if they ever need you, you’ll be right there."
Over the past several years, Matt Paxton has performed his sizable folk-rock and alt-country repertoire across Canada, in the process gaining a reputation as one of the country's most promising up-and-coming singer-songwriters. Paxton's body of work now includes five albums, a handful of singles and EPs, and notable live appearances with the likes of Daniel Lanois, Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, Astrid Young, Evan Dando, and many more.
EPK :: LINKTREE
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DENNIS ELLSWORTH / "Pressure"
As anticipation builds toward the Sept. 29 release of his new album Modern Hope, Dennis Ellsworth is offering another preview with single "Pressure." Blending a soulful, slide guitar-driven groove with Ellsworth's hushed vocals, "Pressure" is an irresistable example of the Charlottetown, PEI-based artist's high level of songcraft. "Pressure" is one of the 10 mini-masterpieces that comprise Modern Hope, on which Ellsworth addresses the challenges we've faced as a society in recent years, while also reflecting his own changes that have come from welcoming a new baby into his family in 2022.
In order to properly handle such personal material, he turned to an old friend on the other side of the country, Leeroy Stagger, to serve as producer. Together with a standout cast of musicians, including multi-instrumentalist Scott Smith, drummer Geoff Hicks and bassist Jeremy Holmes, they set up at Vancouver’s Afterlife Studios (formerly the legendary Mushroom Studios) in April 2022 where they recorded the entire album live off the floor in only four days.
Surprisingly, given Modern Hope’s airy sound, Dennis describes its overall creation as an intense, heavy effort. “I had been listening to a lot of Bert Jansch, John Martyn and Nick Drake, and I wanted to write melancholy acoustic based songs in open tunings. So Leeroy and I gave ourselves some parameters, booked the studio for a week, and I started writing.”
EPK :: LINKTREE
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THE WEBER BROTHERS / In The Tangled Web
As the second installment of The Water Street Trilogy, In The Tangled Web reveals more of The Weber Brothers’ smorgasbord of pure, raw rock and roll delicacies captured live-off-the-floor during one long, blistering day during the summer of 2021.
Following the first installment, Wild As The Wild Dogs (released Nov. 2022), In The Tangled Web finds Ryan and Sam Weber, along with drummer Marcus Bowne, guitarist Emily Burgess and multi-instrumentalist Ryan "Rico" Browne, leaning more heavily on their blues influences, as evidenced by the raging Muddy Waters-inflected opening track “Top Of My List.” The scene then shifts from Mississippi to Memphis on the sultry grooving “Shake It Up,” with a side trip to Tom Waits Land on “Mostly Stable.”
However, as always the Webers demonstrate they can’t be pigeonholed with the gloriously garage-y “Turn On Love” and “Love Yourself,” while closing the album with the hard-edged gospel of “Ante Up.” Known throughout Canada by their monicker “the baddest band in the land,” The Weber Brothers are definitely at their baddest on In The Tangled Web, displaying a chemistry that only comes from over two decades of constant touring, writing and recording.
EPK :: BANDCAMP
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JOHNNY EATON / here's the thing
When you’re an artist that hasn’t released new music in 18 years, it stands to reason you’re going to have a lot to say when the right moment comes around again. For Ottawa-based singer/songwriter Johnny Eaton, that moment is now. Eaton’s new album, here’s the thing, offers 12 songs that display his full musical range, from traditional country to plaintive, confessional folk, as well as a couple of side trips into neo-Soul. With a voice as weathered as your favourite pair of boots, Eaton has grown into a wizened elder, his tales of life in different parts of Canada reminding us that there was once a time when all a young person needed to start a new life was a guitar and a Greyhound ticket.
Eaton began working on here’s the thing in 2016, crafting the songs around some of his past exploits while simultaneously taking stock of his current place in the world. The album was recorded with producer Gareth Auden-Hole at his La La Studio in Gatineau, Quebec, with a host of contributors—18 to be precise, an eerie coincidence with the gap in Eaton’s output. Among them were guitar maestros Noah Zacharin and Jimmy Bowskill, along with other notable names from the Ottawa roots music scene.
Eaton’s creative urge never waned during his time away. Actually, he says that having a relatively stable life now has made him a better songwriter. Indeed, songs on here’s the thing such as “Nova Scotia’s Shores,” “Lost In Manitoba” and the epic, 10-minute “Resolution” are steeped in detail, drawn from memory, and delivered with an unapologetic nod to Canada’s great troubadours.
EPK :: BANDCAMP
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JEREMIE & THE DELICIOUS HOUNDS / "Reminisce"
Put simply, Jérémie & The Delicious Hounds are part of the new generation carrying the torch for classic Soul Music. But their kind of Soul has a distinctive Canadian twist. Hailing from St. Boniface, the old French quarter of Winnipeg, they have cemented their identity as bilingual artists with their first full-length LP Cruel, a 9-song collection of fun-loving songs about amour and heartbreak delivered in both English and French.
However, the language of funk is universal, something the band’s lead singer and guitarist Jérémie Brémault has been demonstrating since his emergence on the Winnipeg music scene in 2013. After winning a local talent competition by relying solely on his natural singing talent, Jérémie started his own eight-piece band, each member hand-picked, and they’ve been tearing up dance floors all across Canada ever since.
EPK :: LINKTREE
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NORTHUMBERLAND / "One Foot In The Sand"
Northumberland is a band of musical veterans drawn together to create something new out of their shared love of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Steve Earle, Drive-By Truckers, Lucero, and others who have shaped the sound of no-frills, blue collar American rock.
But if the band’s name doesn’t provide an immediate clue, the four members of Northumberland hail from the wilds of Nova Scotia on Canada’s east coast, where life can be just as hard as anywhere in the American Midwest. Such stories have always inspired Northumberland’s singer/guitarist Corey Matheson, and on their self-titled debut album he treats us to 10 tales of hard-bitten characters struggling to stay one step ahead of past decisions that will forever haunt them.
EPK :: BANDCAMP
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I'm so excited to see Kyle McKearney's latest, A Traveler's Lament, earn a nomination in the Alternative Country Album of the Year category at this year's Canadian Country Music Association Awards. He and collaborator Russell Broom also earned a Producer(s) of the Year nomination. The hardware will be handed out on Sept. 16 at FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton!
LINKTREE
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Nominations for the 2023 Western Canadian Music Awards have also been announced!
Ryan "Skinny" Dyck earned a Songwriter of the Year nod for "TV Blue" from his EP Palace Waiting.
Jeremie & The Delicious Hounds were recognized twice for R&B Artist of the Year, and Francophone Artist of the Year.
Andrina Turenne also earned a nom for Francophone Artist of the Year.
And the great duo PIQSIQ is among the nominees for Indigenous Artist of the Year.
The Western Canadian Music Awards will be handed out as part of Breakout West, taking place in Kelowna BC, Oct. 11-15
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Wonderful to see Edmonton's Ben Sures take part in the American Folklife Center's showcase this year's Folk Alliance conference in Kansas City. Ben perfomed his version of Woody Guthrie's "So Long, It's Been Good To Know You." You can now watch the video HERE!
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A couple of cool podcast episodes to check out:
Chris Picco spoke with Paul Romanuk for his Canadian Podcast Award-winning The Walrus Was Paul, taking a deep dive into Chris's favourite Beatles album, Beatles For Sale. Listen HERE!
By Divine Right's Jose Contreras joined old friend Dave Ullrich (The Inbreds) for his podcast Salad Days, where they shared touring stories and explored Jose's earliest recordings. Listen HERE!
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As always, I'll end on a personal note. It's been great to flex my music critic muscles again, thanks to Roots Music Canada. I've started doing a weekly column called Jason's Jukebox, where I highlight some artists I think deserve to be heard, along with reviewing some of the current major Americana releases.
I was really excited to see one of Charley Crockett's first-ever Canadian shows in Toronto, and you can read my review HERE!
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Member of the Americana Music Association |
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