This one’s from a local guitar god who’s breathed life into more than one misbegotten song. Stony Plain Records is proud to announce the release of acclaimed guitarist and performer Kevin Breit's "Stella Bella Strada" his second solo album for the label, out on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and all digital retailers May 31.

Produced, engineered, mixed, and mastered by Kevin himself and out on Canada’s leading folk/roots label, Stony Plain Records, whose founder Holger Petersen sez,"Kevin Breit is one of the most creative and imaginative musician I've ever worked with. What he brings is far beyond incredible guitar playing. He is master arranger, composer and soulful visionary whose tones and phrasing color his music with sophisticated timeless concepts and good humor.To my ears Kevin's music includes blues based slide guitar playing with a heavy dose of Frank Zappa's compositional influence. But Kevin is his own man - there's no one like him!"

The Canadian Association for the Advancement of Music and the Arts (CAAMA) welcomes a full slate of international business opportunities at Canadian Music Week, which runs May 9 to 11, 32019 at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel (123 Queen Street West.)

Canadian Music Week’s International Marketplace (IMP) is hosting back-to-back meeting sessions during this year’s Canadian Music Week.

Pre-arranged meetings curated by the IMP include Meetings with South Africa, in celebration of CMW’s first-ever Spotlight on South Africa.

Activities include a comprehensive panel from the South African music market and sector specialists on Friday, May 10 form 10:35 AM to 11:35 AM (Lower Concourse, Osgoode Ballroom West) followed by a session of business-to-business (B2B) meetings from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at the International Marketplace, Lower Concourse, Hall E). Join us for a taste of South Africa at the Spotlight on South Africa VIP reception at the International Marketplace on Friday from 5:30 to 7:00 PM.

We’re gonna start off with a mega album from an outsize perso. Been nearly five years since the last Flying Lotus album-the Grammy-nominated cadaver tetris of You're Dead! During that time out, the multi-disciplinary Los Angeles artist has remained in constant orbit, collaborating with Kendrick Lamar on the classic To Pimp a Butterfly, directing and writing the Sundance-premiered comic horror hallucination Kuso, and producing much of Thundercat's Drunk. He's also nurtured his Brainfeeder imprint into the most consistently innovative record label of the decade.

Now to Flamagra, a work which sweeps up every quantum advance and creative leap of the last dozen years of Lotus' career and takes them even further; the Warp release encompasses hip-hop, funk, soul, jazz, global dance music, tribal poly-rhythms, IDM, the L.A. Beat scene. But as per usual with FL, it soars above a specific vortex whose coordinates can't be accurately charted. He wouldn’t want it any other way, so I’m gonna call it an afro-futurist astral symphony of deep soul, cosmic dust, and an originality that will make Kayne weep.

We received a message last week from an artist that we have with our distribution. “We are going to release some new songs and we want to clean up a bit on our Spotify list, can you take down some songs down before Wednesday?” (we received this request on Tuesday)

Please note that this is not a professional artist and doesn’t have many streams.

With this behaviour they will never get anywhere, at least I hope they don’t. One of the critics in the early days of digitalization was just that song you might like will disappear from your collection. And by doing this you fulfill that fear. Before this was much more of a problem since you were giving it out in physical form and harder to erase. Today people seem to think that releasing a song is like making a Facebook post.

Another cliché you get from artists all the time is “this is the best song I have ever written”. The new stuff is always the best. If it was up to the artist, they would in many cases just take everything down so you could only listen to their newest creation “that is the best”.

Music is one of the greatest achievements of humanity when it comes to creativity, with it having an impact on emotions and feelings potentially more than anything else around. While we all listen to our favourite tracks as we go about our normal daily routines, music has managed to have a huge influence in all aspects of our lives. Similarly, the gaming industry has become a global phenonema, with most of us having heard about and played games on platforms like Playstation, Nintendo and mobile apps. So, it is probably no surprise that both go hand in hand and having the right music for any game is now a vital factor in its success.

A game without any sort of sound would be deemed as boring and cast aside by most, with some of the most popular and best loved games of all time being supported by brilliant soundtracks and the use of memorable sound effects. However, with each game differing in type and genre, it’s important to select the right music for that one individual game, otherwise it may be hindered as a result.

So CMW and all the pretty people but before we get to that…

Saint Lo Is a Montreal-based folk, indie, pop rock band with roots that stretch across the continent. Their songs are nuanced and layered featuring hypnotic vocals, profound lyrics, and dense harmonies. They sing about complex emotions – vulnerability, isolation, connection, nostalgia and loss – always infused with more than just a hint of hope. Out this spring, their new album ‘We Could Be’ is a thematic tour-de-force. The first video single from the record, titled ‘Wounds’, is a stunning ode to the way that heartbreak does not occur in isolation. The second video single “Blueberry Fields” is a song about nostalgia, memory, and childhood.

Blueberry Fields is about that feeling of nostalgia – like the exhale of a sigh. The feeling of constantly moving away from the past but keeping it with you as you move forward. It is about people and places loved and lost, while ever cherished. Kinda get the sense this crew is a little young for all this looking back and playing in nostalgia but they’re young enough to get over it.

Many of the older A&Rs (read grumpy old men) are blaming social media for killing the rock star. That social media is taking off the magic away from the artist. At the same time many of the old rock stars were assholes, but in the media they were nice.

I heard so many times that John Lennon was an asshole. Maybe he was, or maybe he wasn’t. I don't know since I never met him and can only tell from the interviews and stories that people in the industry tell me who had met him. The interviews I have seen are, of course, controlled so it can’t give the true picture. It was under control so he was playing the role of the perfect nice guy. Someone that you would have to like.

So, four hunks of burning babe magnets, three voices entwined in celestial harmonies, two savage guitars, pumping bass and one unifying vision on drums and to date, with zero ineffective ballads which even rock.

This is Tribe Royal, musical children of Ottawa with a deep investment in the honeyed sounds of yesteryear’s amber colored folk rock as dished up by the likes of CSNY and The Byrds but not Sonny & Cher. They are all young dudes tho so they don’t get all tribute bandy about their music, just keep kickin’ it 21^st century streetwise while shaping and moulding a specific creative vision.

Which is what?

Before we get into that, the speaking voices of founder/members Chris Kerwin and Terry O'Brien are similar and their speedy, tag team style of answering questions makes it diff to figure out who’s replying. So we’ll hear the quotes as coming from the dual mind of Kerwin O'Brien.

So, the vision thing. Is Tribe Royal looking to build a distinctive sound?

This one will really hurt for some artists. What do we really wish for in an artist as a music company? If we could choose, what would we consider to look like a perfect artist to develop? Yes, this is a wish list not a list set in stone. Good to know is that you never get it all perfect.I spoke to some colleagues around this and it all boiled down to these topics.

At age 20, Wes has amassed as many accolades as artists twice his age, having won numerous international music awards and gaining tens of millions of media impressions across TV, radio, and online.

Catching up with Wes at his home in Toronto, he shows he has what it takes to make it in this business. True values for a young man and has old soul insight into life.

“I grew up on classic rock and and folk/country music. I loved the lyrics of Garth Brooks, lyrics are what gets to me. I also listened guitar songs like ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, Harrison really knew how to make a guitar tell a story. I grew up on The Doors, The Beatles, The Who so I was surrounded by classic rock, hip hop and R&B. I think it has influenced my sound but I took it and made it my own.”

This week, we kick it off with a comeback story of sorts. Ottawa and Leamington-based Singer/Songwriter Francine Honey has been nominated for her single “Stay” in both the Americana and Sing Your Heart Out/Love Songs Categories in the 2019 International Songwriting Competition Awards with the same song. This is a shade unusual, having the same song nominated in two diff categories but the lady is loving it.

Although the bilingual Canadian roots/Americana artist has made music since childhood, she never dreamed of making it a career. Instead, she studied math and computers, got married, had kids and worked as a project manager. Her life seemed perfect. Then a near-simultaneous breakup and job loss forced her to relocate, find a new career and raise a family alone. Music went on the back burner; she never stopped writing, but songs went unfinished — until her kids fixed that.

I run one of the biggest showcase festivals in Scandinavia. Showcasing has become much bigger in the last fifteen years. Still, I feel that many artists don’t really understand what a showcase does and how to get something out of it. Too many times I hear both the artists and professionals mutter that they waste their time and got nothing out of going to a certain festival and that it costs money.

Most of the time these people don’t understand it. A showcase festival is an arena to move your career forward. You are here to showcase not play a festival gig. A festival gig you are booked because you draw an audience for the organizer. Here you get an opportunity to show off what you have to offer and find people to build your team.

Since his debut release of Crazy Life, in 1973, Gino Vannelli has remained one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music.

But Vannelli’s evolving music has kept his fan base growing for over 40 years. From rock, to jazz, to soul, even classical, this singer/songwriter/producer has left no musical stone unturned.

Andrew Bird
Photo Credit Amanda Demme

Humble internationally acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Andrew Bird’s new album is called My Finest Work Yet. It’s just out and it may just live up to its title.

Along with the new album, Bird is premiering an animated video by Andrea Nakhla for “Manifest”.

His forthcoming My Finest Work Yet Tour will find him on an expansive run of North American dates. Bird will be joined by a variety of guests including Yola, Meshell Ndegeocello, Hiss Golden Messenger, Chicano Batman, MadisonCunningham, Tift Merritt, and a co-headline date in Boston with Calexico and Iron & Wine.

This industry is 100% or nothing.

Is it possible to have a Skype with you on Saturday?

“The whole band can be on than on other days we work.”

“I can't meet that time because I pick up my kids from school.”

“We can't play there I have a family vacation to attend.”

I have seen so many variations on these sentences as different excuses to not make gigs or having a problem to just set up a meeting. All these excuses tell me is that your career is just not your major focus, something else is occupying your life.

He’s never been one to chill too far back and once the call was made to revive Headstones, guiding light Hugh Dillon has been busy getting it done. Following on the heels of their successful album Little Army, Headstones have once again been busy recording new music in Kingston, with plans to release a new record later this year. In advance, the band has released their version of the Gordon Lightfoot classic "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Always a song on their radar, circumstances finally clicked into place to give them the right opportunity to share their take with the fans.

This impactful interpretation of the iconic track chronicling the sinking of the bulk carrier SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on November 10, 1975 was a #1 hit for Lightfoot and remains one of his best-loved songs. While showing respect for the past, Headstones have put their unique spin on the song to introduce it to a whole new rock audience. The video was shot on location in Kingston, Ontario.

Sir Ringo Starr announced tour plans for 2019 with his All Starr Band, featuring Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Gregg Rolie, Warren Ham, Gregg Bissonette and the return of All Starr alum Hamish Stuart.

The first leg begins in March with one US show at Harrah’s Resort Southern California on March 21^st before the band head to Japan,starting in Fukuoka on March 27^th and ending April 11^th in Osaka (full dates listed below). August 2019 marks the 30^th Anniversary of Ringo and His All Starr Band and they will hit the road for a celebratory tour which will kick off at Harrahs in Windsor on August 1^st and then head to Ravinia near Chicago, Illinois to play two shows with the Beach Boys August 3^rd and 4^th and two shows at Nashville’s historic Ryman in Tennessee on August 7^th and 8^th. The tour will conclude September 1^stat the Greek Theater in Los Angeles, California, nearly 30 years to the day when the inaugural All Starrs completed their first tour on September 3, 1989. (A full itinerary will be announced soon).

Submitted by Peter Åstedt

All this started with yet another one of the artists I manage who complained how hard it is to get fans.Or rather get them to stay and follow them.

My answer was that I could start a blog and be the old grumpy man I am and still get readers and If I can get readers you can get fans. The thing is it would be easier if you are an attractive artist with good songs to get an audience. I’m exactly the opposite, grumpy old guy from the music industry, nagging about things in the music industry.

So, the bet was on. And I started my blog. First thing, where was my audience? I guess my biggest mistake was that I thought I wrote for artists. There are so many blogs online about how the artist struggles. How they don’t understand why people don’t discover them, or why they don’t get this or don’t get that. I thought I could break into that market mainly just pointing out the angle that the industry has. All these questions would find an answer in my blog!

Was I wrong! I didn’t get it in the beginning. I was marketing the blog against the artist community all the time and hoped that people would go in and read it. All I got was silence. I saw that artists would read it but they didn’t comment or come back. I was puzzled. These are the answers on the questions the other was telling in the other blogs or posts I saw online?

Submitted by Don Graham

It’s that time of year again when The Country Music Association announces its inductees into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The class of 2019 includes, Brooks and Dunn, Ray Stevens and Jerry Bradley all outstanding contributors to the country music industry. The inductees are from three categories, the modern era, the veteran era and the songwriter/musician/non-performer categories.

Last November, some of Joni Mitchell’s musical friends and 3,000 fans gathered to celebrate and the special night was recorded by Verve/Decca Records. Her friends and fans gathered to pay tribute to the legendary singer, performing a special concert on Mitchell’s birthday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in downtown Los Angeles. The star-studded line-up included James Taylor, Norah Jones, Chaka Khan and Rufus Wainwright and a host others.

The release of The Music Center Presents Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration was 8 March 2019 and also featured performances by Brandi Carlile, Glen Hansard, Emmylou Harris, Diana Krall, Kris Kristofferson, Los Lobos with La Marisoul, Cesar Castro &Xochi Flores, Graham Nash, Seal and more.

Each performer brought their own interpretation to Mitchell’s iconic catalogue. Brandi Carlile teamed up with Kris Kristofferson for a duet version of ‘A Case of You’, while Diana Krall covered the jazz-leaning ‘Amelia’. Mitchell’s hits were also represented, with Seal taking on ‘Both Sides Now’, and Rufus Wainwright doing a beautiful rendition of ‘Blue’.