Internationally acclaimed country-rockers, the Cooper Brothers, are joining the fight against the threat of U.S. tariffs. 

With the possibility of 25% tariffs being levied by new U.S. President Donald Trump on all Canadian goods as early as February 1st, the Cooper Brothers are re-releasing their song "That's What Makes Us Great".

The 51tst State? Take off, eh! The Cooper Brothers are back with a song that’s as Canadian as a double-double, a frozen pond, and a game-winning goal in overtime.

“That’s What Makes Us Great!” is a love letter to the True North, strong and free, celebrating the spirit, resilience, and unshakable pride that defines this country.

Inspired by a chance encounter with young soldiers returning from Afghanistan, Richard Cooper channeled their passion, dedication, and unwavering belief in making a difference into lyrics that remind us of what it means to be Canadian. “We never seem to toot our own horn,” Cooper reflects, “but we have so much to be thankful for.”

COUNTRY MUSIC TAKES OVER MONTREAL: LASSO 2025 LINEUP UNVEILED,
WITH SHERYL CROW, RILEY GREEN, SHABOOZEY AND MORE
JOINING PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED HEADLINERS
BAILEY ZIMMERMAN AND JELLY ROLL!

Saddle up, country music fans! LASSO Montreal, presented by Bell in collaboration with Coors Original is thrilled to announce the lineup for its 2025 edition, taking place on August 15-16 at the picturesque Parc Jean-Drapeau on Montreal's Île Sainte-Hélène (and LASSO in the City on August 14). Building on the excitement of the previously announced headliners Bailey Zimmerman and Jelly Roll, this year’s festival promises a celebration of country music like never before, bringing together chart-toppers, legends, and rising stars. 

The award-winning band Bara Jonson and Free are taking a significant step in their musical journey. With the help of an EU grant from the Belem program, the band is translating their acclaimed album BJF New Era into Swedish under the title BJF Ny Era. The result will be released as a fully Swedish version of the album in the summer of 2025.

“This is going to be amazing!" says Malin Östh, one of the band members. “It feels like a natural next step for us to reach even more people with our songs, now in our own native language.”

Jonas Tancred adds, “With the support from Belem, we have the opportunity to truly explore linguistic nuances and do justice to our lyrics in Swedish. We hope this will create an even stronger connection with our audience, both at home and in other parts of the world.”

The Belem program is part of the EU’s efforts to promote cultural diversity and linguistic translations, and Bara Jonson and Free are among the few Swedish bands to have received this prestigious grant.

February 14–16, 2025

Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto, ON
Friday, February 14: 6:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Saturday, February 15: 12:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Sunday, February 16: 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Earlybird Tickets Now On Sale Until January 31 Here

Winterfolk, Toronto’s beloved annual celebration of folk, blues, and roots music, returns for its 23rd year from February 14–16, 2025, at the iconic Tranzac Club. This year’s festival promises an extraordinary mix of established artists, including Michael Jerome Browne, Dala, Sultans Of String, Donné Roberts, Russell deCarle, Amanda Rheaume, and Tannis Slimmon, alongside emerging talent and community-driven performances, all set to reignite the spirit of live music and inspire audiences of all ages.

Destination Markham proudly announces the return of the wildly popular Markham Jazzlicious WinterFest for its third year. Building on the success of the sold-out 2023 and 2024 editions, this year’s series promises even more memorable evenings celebrating the vibrant culinary and musical culture of the City of Markham. With six events planned from late January to March 2025, Markham Jazzlicious WinterFest continues to grow as a must-attend cultural experience in the Greater Toronto Area.

2025 Event Schedule:

Garth Hudson was always an enigma, a man who let his music do the talking while he stood in the shadows, quietly shaping the sound of The Band and, by extension, the very fabric of Americana. He was the quiet heartbeat behind anthems of dust and dreams, a reluctant hero whose touch on the keys carried the weight of centuries. Whether pushing the boundaries of the Lowrey organ or diving headlong into the rich textures of the piano, Hudson approached each instrument with reverence and curiosity, never content to settle for the obvious. The tracks he left behind are witnesses to his genius—painstakingly mixed, fixed, and prepared with a craftsman’s devotion. Garth Hudson didn’t just play music; he resided in it, breathed life into it, and left a legacy that resonates with every note. God bless this man.

Founder – Birdsong New Music Foundation

“A bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, a bird only sings because it has a song.” – ancient Chinese Proverb (reassigned to Maya Angelou, 2001).

Live Event Photo Credits: Allan Tong

The Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB) celebrates its golden anniversary with January exhibitions opening for Time Isn’t Real and Dry Thunder.

2025 marks 50 years of the Art Gallery of Burlington (AGB), giving us a unique chance to examine the past, look towards the future and find our place in the present. Exhibitions feature Canadian artists and curators, circulating stories of place and our relationship to time.

The AGB is kicking off this golden anniversary with a winter exhibition opening reception on January 16, 2025 for Time Isn’t Real and Dry Thunder. Members, media, and VIP are invited for a special preview from 5:30–6:30pm, followed by the public opening from 6:30–8:00 pm. Artist remarks and tours will take place at the gallery over the course of the night.

The AGB is thrilled to launch Time Isn’t Real. This landmark exhibition celebrates 50 years of artistic production, cultural festivities, and storytelling through the lens of contemporary Canadian ceramics. It invites viewers to consider how the lessons of the past and the potential of the future shape the artistic moment we live in today.

June 13-14 2025 will mark the 5^th Anniversary of Lilla By Festivalen and the plans are starting to shape up with announcements coming soon.

Lilla By Festivalen is an amazing music festival held in Rinkaby, Sweden. It's a celebration of music, family, and community, set amidst the beautiful Swedish countryside. The festival has been running for several years and has become a beloved event in the region. In 2025, Lilla By Festivalen will celebrate its 5-year anniversary with a brand-new festival experience, featuring a lineup of exciting artists and activities for all ages.

Founders and Producers of Lilla By Festivalen Malin Osth and Jonas Tancred, shared their thoughts, "We are incredibly proud of the musical cultural bridges that Lilla By Festivalen has built between Sweden and Canada. It is an honour to promote the exchange of music, culture, and friendship between our countries, and we look forward to continuing to develop this unique partnership in 2025 to continue to grow and strengthen the bonds between Canada and Sweden with further development of your home away from home, the Kanada Barn.”

Destination Markham proudly announces the return of the wildly popular Markham Jazzlicious WinterFest for its third year. Building on the success of the sold-out 2023 and 2024 editions, this year’s series promises even more memorable evenings celebrating the vibrant culinary and musical culture of the City of Markham. With six events planned from late January to March 2025, Markham Jazzlicious WinterFest continues to grow as a must-attend cultural experience in the Greater Toronto Area.

2025 Event Schedule:

February 14–16, 2025
Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto, ON
Friday, February 14: 7:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Saturday, February 15: 12:00 PM – 11:00 PM
Sunday, February 16: 12:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Winterfolk, Toronto’s beloved annual celebration of folk, blues, and roots music, returns for its 23rd year from February 14–16, 2025, at the iconic Tranzac Club. This year’s festival promises an extraordinary mix of established artists, including Michael Jerome Browne, Dala, Donné Roberts, Russell deCarle, Amanda Rheaume, and Tannis Slimmon, alongside emerging talent and community-driven performances, all set to reignite the spirit of live music and inspire audiences of all ages.

David Farrell was a pal, a confidante, and a consummate craftsman of words. He was a visionary editor whose passion for music and storytelling transformed Canadian journalism. Much like the finest musicians he celebrated, David possessed an innate rhythm and flow in his writing, weaving narratives that struck at the heart of our shared cultural experience.

I often nudged him to write more. "Do that book," I’d say. The skill, clarity, and tone in his columns were something to marvel at. Recently, he asked me to locate as much of his work as possible. A good amount was available on FYI Music News, but it was the earlier work he was most concerned with. I understand why. There’s gold in those memories—the kind that sparkles brightest when unearthed. Sadly, time was never an ally in organizing those treasures into a book or hunting down the rest.

 Curbside Concerts, a Canadian-based business who've grown successfully in its first four years of operations, are proud to announce Tracy Posadowski and Tom Yeates have joined their team as managing directors of sales and marketing. The company looks to both experienced and highly successful entrepreneurs to deepen Canadian expansion, enter the American marketplace, and explore new and innovative business verticals to bring music to.

"We started, scaled and sold our own Fintech business in 2021 after successfully entering the market in over 15 countries," Posadowksi says. "Since then, we work exclusively with startups and scaling companies to set their go-to-market strategy and help them execute against their business goals. We are delighted to be part of the Curbside team."

Immerse yourself in the magic of The Huron Carole, a musical journey curated on the ancestral lands of the Mi’kmaq people. Following its premiere on APTN, APTN Lumi and Eastlink in 2023, these same broadcasters, along with CTV2, proudly present encore presentations beginning December 20, 2024. This iconic variety concert, recorded at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax, promises unique interpretations of seasonal classics from country to operatic, to innovative blends of traditional with contemporary.

Founder Tom Jackson, C.C., LL.D., takes the stage with an extraordinary 6 piece-band, featuring guest performances from Measha Brueggergosman-Lee, Shannon Gaye, Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, Beverley Mahood, Loreena McKennitt, Andrea Menard, and PIQSIQ. Sing along with this exuberant audience vocally led by the Halifax Camerata Singers.

Full list of artists here: huroncarole.ca/artists/

CTV/CW Network stars from Sullivan’s Crossing – Morgan Kohan, Chad Michael Murray and Scott Patterson – bring greetings and direct viewers on how to donate to the Canadian Red Cross.

Plates & Playlists: Turning Food, Music, and Connection Into Real Support for Mental Health

This season, The Awesome Music Project is rallying communities across the country to transform good food, great music, and meaningful moments into vital support for mental health programs.

The attic of 20th-century pop music is packed to the rafters with exotic ephemera—a one-hit wonder that launched a nationwide dance craze here, a chart-topping classic from an otherwise forgotten movie there. Digging deep into the minutiae of those halcyon days is the fun of Moments in Time 2.0, a collection of anecdotes and factoids that’s more engrossing than a thousand long-distance dedications.

Just like its subject matter, the book was built with instant gratification in mind. Music historian Tom Locke has parceled out nuggets of pop trivia from the 60s, 70s and 80s, in bite-size morsels that you can sample a few at a time or all at once. Think of it like a great oldies channel but in print, with a playlist that covers one of the richest eras in our pop-cultural past—beginning at a point when Elvis’ stint in the army had ceded the charts to a cadre of squeaky-clean crooners, and running all the way up to the revolution that was the New Wave, in which a catchy synthesizer riff and a handclap machine were all it took to get a nation up and dancing.

Eric Andersen has been one of the voices of the people since the great folk boom of the 1960s and he shows no signs of slowing down. His latest offering is a unique collection of songs, narratives and insights into the man behind the legend.

“Eric Andersen In (Spoken) Pieces” is an hour and forty-five minutes of pure Eric Andersen, some songs, some spoken word and all a window into a legendary artist and pop culture icon. My first reaction was it would be a must have for all Eric Andersen devotees to complete their collection of Andersen works. Speaking to Eric he had a different take on that thought.

“I would expand on that angle. It’s for people who live for ideas, narratives and words who are not necessarily completists”. So, in other words if you’re a fan of the man’s work you will be pleased to hear it and if not yet a fan but enjoy a little deeper thinking you will become a fan.

The following is a summary of the project and a description of the genesis of the tracks in Eric Andersen’s own words.

On paper, there are few team-ups less obvious than the pairing of new wave legends Martha and the Muffins with kitsch-funk revivalist John Orpheus. But they’ve hit pay dirt together before, and now they’re about to do it again. On “Buttermilk,” their second joint single in as many years, the unlikely coconspirators throw down a groove that just won’t quit—and prove the success of their ongoing part-time partnership is no fluke.

For much of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Caribbean, Jamaican and reggae music scene in Toronto was almost unrivaled in North America in terms of quality and performers. Jay Douglas, lead singer of The Cougars and one of the biggest and brightest talents of that time, is the subject of a fantastic new TVO Original documentary entitled Play It Loud! -- How Toronto Got Soul. The documentary, directed by Graeme Mathieson, produced by Andrew Munger (Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band), and Executive Produced by Clement Virgo (Brother, The Wire) will have its official premiere on December 4 and December 7 at the Hot Doc Cinema, 506 Bloor St W, Toronto. Tickets are now available to the public here.

The Wednesday, December 4 screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Graeme Mathieson, musician Jay Douglas and producer Andrew Munger. The Saturday, December 7 screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Graeme Mathieson. Both sessions will be moderated by Heather Haynes, Hot Docs' Director of Programming.

Legendary Blues Night at Grossman’s Tavern Featuring The Happy Pals, Frankie Foo, Danny Marks, The Hogtown Allstars, and Special Guest Donnie Walsh of Downchild, with MC Dan McKinnon

Grossman’s Tavern, the heart of Toronto’s blues scene, is thrilled to announce a powerhouse lineup for a special night of live blues on November 26, 2024 at 7:00pm at 377 Spadina Ave, Toronto. This memorable event will feature performances by some of Toronto’s finest blues acts, including The Happy Pals, Frankie Foo, Danny Marks, The Hogtown Allstars, and special guest Donnie Walsh of Downchild. Renowned Toronto musician Dan McKinnon will serve as the night’s MC, guiding audiences through an evening of soulful, electrifying performances.

This event is part of Grossman’s Tavern’s long-standing commitment to fostering the Toronto music scene. Known for its vibrant history and dedication to local talent, Grossman’s is also the home of the Amy Louie Grossman’s Music Scholarship (ALGMS), which supports Toronto-based musicians in their career development.