Released June 9, ‘Strip it Down’ by Casey James, is produced by Grammy-winner Tom Hambridge and features a guest duet with the legendary Delbert McClinton.

“All I want to do is play music,” says singer/guitarist, Casey James. “All I want to do is play music,” says singer/guitarist, Casey James. “Stripping it back to just me making a record of music that I love was a huge stepping stone in my life.”

It’s titled Strip It Down because it’s exactly what Casey James did – shed off the layers of stylized artistic clothing that he’d been given in those other public ventures to find the real artist underneath, a guy with a convincing, smokey vocal quality and a burning, lyrical skill with a guitar.

Montreal trio Timber Timbre have unveiled the video to "Sincerely, Future Pollution", the title track to their recent sixth album, released on Arts & Crafts. The video was directed, animated and produced by Joël Vaudreuil. Timber Timbre's music has arrived at a smoky, grimy space for roots sounds like blues, folk, and early R&B, fitting framings for their most politically savant album yet.

The pair have always created music that traces a shadowed path, using cues of the past to fuse the sound of a distant, haunted now. On Sincerely, Future Pollution, the band coats the stark, sensual sound of 2014's Polaris Music Prize Short-Listed andJUNO Award nominated album Hot Dreams in an oil-black rainbow of municipal grime. It is the cinema of a dizzying dystopia, rattled by the science fiction of this bluntly nonfictional time.

Hunter Brothers, the five-piece band and viral video stars, celebrate their heartland upbringing with their latest single “Born and Raised”. The single, from their debut album Getaway, will be released to Canadian radio on July 26. The group was recently nominated for a CCMA award for Interactive Artist of the Year and took to their social media to formally announce the single release.
“Born and Raised” is a powerful song that showcases the group’s musical talent and harmonies. It’s also a special tribute to the communities that are stretched across the country and the pride that every Canadian has for their hometown. “No matter where we travel, we always feel our hometown calling us back,” says J.J. Hunter. “The song is all about the things that make us proud of where we’re from. We’re honouring family, farm, faith and community; the people and things that made us who we are today.”

The single is especially significant following the video shoot for the song, which took place this July on the Hunter family farm, as part of a larger benefit concert supporting local charities in their hometown of Shaunavon, Saskatchewan.

Lucy Rose has let loose her third album Something's Changing via Arts & Crafts. The album is accompanied by a fly-on-the-wall short film documenting her debut tour in Latin America last year, a trip independently organized by Rose with the help of her fans. The tour was the inspiration for the record and the film serves as an intimate account of this process.

In celebration of the new release, the video for the single "No Good At All" is now available. Of the video, Rose says "'No Good At All' is the oldest song on the album and was written just before I went on my first trip to Latin America. When I wrote it, I was kind of feeling that maybe I wasn't good enough for music and was re-thinking everything. But it's also got an element of love to it, finding the one to start a new life with,who one day you could settle down and have a family with. There's a fair amount of self-doubt in this song, but positivity for the future, too."

Sometimes described as “rock ‘n reggae” or “spine-tingling pulp fiction with a swamp-rock reggae twist,” Random Order is one of Toronto’s best, longstanding underground treasures. On June 30th, they’re releasing the re-mix of “BLACK LIPSTICK KISS,” [Lov3mix] (Catscratch Records), a sexy, pop, electro dance track that explores the dark links between pleasure and pain.

Lead vocalist and writer Lynx takes cues from Tarantino, Rihanna, and Prince. The Toronto-based artist’s spine-tingling, subversive pop attracts a diverse cultural audience, with equal parts irony, confidence, and catharsis.

This new offering. “Black Lipstick Kiss [Lov3mix]” presents a new direction for a turbulent world ready for love. Featured alongside Spoon and Morrissey in Magnet Magazine, this chart-topping, award-winning artist injects their signature sound into sexy, spy-movie soundscapes.

Random Order has charted in Canadian Top 30 radio, landing the #2 spot twice in their hometown of Toronto.

For more info please visit www.randomorder.ca

On Thursday August 3, two of Canada's most talked about hip-hop artists, iLLvibe, and Myer Clarity, will perform songs from their new album We Are The Aliens live at Smiling Buddha.
Widely known for having won the season premiere of the hit CBC show "Canada's Smartest Person," iLLvibe was named runner up to Drake for Readers' Choice Best Rapper by NOW Magazine in 2015. Last year, the Toronto born rapper performed more than 100 tour dates and has shared festival main stages with Chris Brown, Kehlani and Wiz Khalifa. His last musical offering Firebreather reached #1 on the National Earshot Radio charts in Canada

2CELLOS, music's most electric and dynamic instrumental duo, release a new video for "Chariots of Fire" from their new album SCORE (Portrait/Sony Music Masterworks), available now. The video was filmed in Croatia and features Luka Sulić and Stjepan Hauser playing on a stunningly scenic beach.

"Summer is here so we thought we'd kick back and enjoy playing 'Chariots Of Fire' on the beautiful Zlatni Rat Beach in Bol, Croatia," said Luka and Stjepan.

SCORE brings 2CELLOS' game-changing sound and style to the most popular melodies ever written for classic and contemporary movies and television.

The guys will kick off the US leg of their tour in July performing at iconic venues like The Greek in LA and Red Rocks in Colorado. In September they will perform for the first time at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

Graham Ko has spent years developing and searching for a sound to call his own. In his new album, “Outside Looking In,” Graham has finally defined himself as a Country-Soul-Rock artist.A Humber graduate, and a private student of the legendary Rik Emmett, Graham is ready to showcase his colourful writing and honest soulful voice in this full-length album.

Graham Travis Ko is a Canadian singer/songwriter born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. His music brings together a mixture of R&B, Pop, Rock & Roll and has been compared to the likes of John Mayer, Michael Bublé, and Jason Mraz. As a budding new artist Graham has played and shared the stage with artists such as Mike Stern, The Celebration Army, The Video Games Live Orchestra, as well as playing with many local acts and in different venues around Toronto, Hamilton, and Sarnia.

There’s a new album on its way of new, never before recorded Johnny Cash songs thanks to the foresight of the legend’s son John Carter Cash.  Last year, 2016, Carter Cash published a book of his father’s poetry called ‘Forever Words’ made up of works that the elder Cash left behind. The book contained reproductions of Cash’s own handwritten pages and a collection of never before published poems and musings.  Taking a lead from Arlo Guthrie, who decided to have some of his father, Woody Guthrie’s unused poetry put to music. Carter Cash has done the same with Johnny Cash’s poetry. When publishing the book John Carter Cash told the New York Times: “I want people to have a deeper understanding of my father than just the iconic, cool man in black. I think this book will help provide that.”  And so will the record.

The album began when country artist Brad Paisley set one of the poems from ‘Forever Words’ to music. The song “Gold All Over the Ground” was the first to take shape and prove the viability of the project.

Since the May 12th release of their outstanding debut album Twangadelic Bluesophunk, Kitchener Waterloo's Gary Cain Band have enjoyed extensive airplay and positive album reviews from around the world, particularly among guitar and blues-rock aficionados.

Canadian guitarist and songwriter Gary Cain has had a long road to get to his debut album. After suffering a vocal injury while playing in a band in Dubai, Cain took a hiatus from live performance that was physically and mentally rejuvenating.

It's beginning to look a lot like Summer, so next week Darcys hit the pavement with tour dates across North America, and today they roam through the American West in an El Camino in the new video for "Arizona Hwy" courtesy of NPR. "We've always been taken with the kitschiness and heroism of the great American road trip," says Wes Marskell. "It's hard not to be seduced by the freedom and redemption of driving the American West. So, instead of staging a music video we filmed a joyride through the stunning natural backdrops, campy motels, and cheap roadside attractions that make the highways of Southern California so iconic. It's hard to tell where reality begins and ends in this buddy comedy, but it's clear that the aging blue Chevy El Camino slowly emerges as the films' true star.

"Arizona Hwy" single will also feature Jason Couse and Marsksell performing a cover of Prince's "Kiss" on the B-Side. The single is out now via Arts & Crafts.

When founding member and a large part of the songwriting and lead vocals Glenn Frey passed away it seemed that the end of Eagles was inevitable. Co-founder Don Henley said  “While I was still in shock during some interviews after Glenn passed away, I did say that I thought that was the end of the band  but I reserve the right to change my mind.”

The surviving members plus one family member and one long time friend of the band will help round out the new configuration which has  wrapped up rehearsals  for the upcoming festivals, set for July 15 and 16 at Dodger Stadium and July 29 and 30 at Citi Field in New York. Deacon Frey, the 24-year-old son of Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey and country music star Vince Gill will divvy up lead vocals on the songs Glenn Frey sang with the Eagles. The  Southern California country rock  band formed in the early 1970s in Los Angeles and is set to headline a two-pronged, bicoastal festival: Classic West and Classic East, alongside Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Earth Wind & Fire, the Doobie Brothers and Journey.

A guerilla-punk-Balkan-folk-brass band massive like no other, LBO traces their genesis back about 8 years to the streets of Toronto, where a quartet of energetic busking troubadours began to amass a battalion of like-minded musical travellers, and the dozen strong Orkestra was born. Since then they’ve been nominated for 2 Junos and won a Canadian Folk Music award, been heralded as a groundbreaking, genre-bending phenomenon by media and fans. They’ve toured in more than a dozen countries, leaving a trail of fiercely dedicated fans in their wake. Equal parts exhilarating precision and reckless abandon, their live shows are truly immersive experiences, ranging from the ecstatic to the cathartic.

The ultimate OG saxman Pee Wee Ellis and Canadian global-roots visionary Jason Wilson are teaming up for a special night at Hugh's Room Live. Ellis was an essential part of James Brown's band and later served as Van Morrison's bandleader. Jason Wilson is a two-time Juno-Awards nominee who fuses reggae with jazz and folk. He has recorded with artists such as Dave Swarbrick, UB40, Jackie Mittoo and Ron Sexsmith. Together, Ellis and Wilson's funky-reggae mix has charmed audiences across Canada, the UK and Jamaica.

Submitted to Cashbox Canada

Earlier this month, singer-songwriter Jessica Mitchell quietly dropped two incredible new singles digitally: "Don't Love Me" and "Tear It Down", co-written by Mitchell herself and produced by Karen Kosowski.

Less than two weeks later, "Don't Love Me" has already hit the Top 50 chart as the #5 Canadian release and has been included on the highly coveted "Wild Country" Spotify playlist with more than half a million followers. In true Mitchell fashion, both songs are moving, relatable and emotive, with "Don't Love Me" showing signs of a true heartbreak ballad and "Tear It Down" echoing tones of empowerment.

A celebration of the life of Ritchie Yorke has been planned to honour a 50 year career of a music writer, author, journalist, cultural critic, broadcaster and media personality, Ritchie Yorke.

On Tuesday June 6, the music industry will gather together in Toronto, Ontario from 5 pm – 9 pm at Drums ‘N’ Flats located at 1980 Avenue Road (just below the 401).

Ritchie Yorke passed away on the night of Monday the 6th of February in Brisbane’s Prince Charles Hospital from complications with his struggle with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Ritchie’s career has been long and illustrious, and he will forever be remembered by his family and fellow lovers of music.

Submitted to Cashbox Canada 

AMAARA is the Ethereal Pop music and multi-media project of Kaelen Ohm. A musician, actor and award winning filmmaker, Ohm began AMAARA as a basement project in between tours as a guitarist and singer for Canadian band, Reuben and The Dark. Today, AMAARA shares the news of her forthcoming debut EP, Black Moon, set for release on June 22^nd. For a taste of what is to come, see below for the video for the title track, and listen to new song, Dreamcatcher .

The six-track EP features guest appearances by Charles Spearin of Broken Social Scene, L.A. Guitarist/Producer, Joel Shearer, and Grammy-winning Producer/Engineer, Shawn Everett. Recorded at OCL Studios in Calgary and at The Banff Centre, as well as pieces in Ohm's basement in Calgary and Shearer's home in Topanga Canyon, L.A., Ohm calls the album a practice in creative self-trust.

The current offering from The Wilderness Of Manitoba, The Tin Shop EP is something of a changeup for the band. The layers of anthemic folk rock it's known for have been stripped back to reveal the heart of Will Whitwham’s songwriting. Whitwham together with vocalist/guitarist Raven Shields will support the release with a string of tour dates throughout Spring with Jenny Berkel and Eamon McGrath.

Since its inception The Wilderness Of Manitoba has continued to grow and evolve with every new release. Throughout it all founding member Will Whitwham has left his imprint on each and every sound the band has produced - from the chamber folk debut, Hymns of Love and Spirits, to the cinematic indie pop of Between Colours.

Toronto songwriter and musician Sean MacLean is launching his new project ‘Waves That Stray’ with the release of the video for his debut single “Brick By Brick” on June 1st, 2017. Training a lens on the colourful roots of his hometown, MacLean populated the video with a diverse cast, found through an open casting call put out just weeks before the shoot. The result is a cross-section of Toronto’s thriving culture, featuring actors, dancers, parents, professionals, and students alike. Filmed in an empty loft above now defunct Toronto venue The Hoxton, the video is a sometimes somber yet uplifting glimpse into the personalities of those who have built their lives in the ever-changing landscape of Toronto’s downtown core.

Destined to be the ideal soundtrack to glorious summer in its alternately spirited and languid days and always-convivial nights, If It Feels Right – the hotly anticipated new studio album from Canadian folk/pop giants Lunch At Allen’s – arrives June 16.

Featuring chart-topping musical veterans Murray McLauchlan, Cindy Church, Marc Jordan and Ian Thomas – who have collectively shifted a staggering 25,000,000 units as both solo artists and songwriters for stars like Chicago, Josh Groban, Bonnie Raitt, America, Santana, Cher and Rod Stewart – Lunch At Allen’s is that rarest of beasts: a genuine musical democracy.

If It Feels Right soars as a result.