There’s a certain irony to the chorus of Alicia Toner’s new single, the haunting “Time Travel”: “Only one thing left for you to do / travel back in time and tell the truth.” The lyric is directed toward an ex that the Charlottetown singer-songwriter is struggling to forgive. But there’s another truth lurking beneath.

Check it out on Spotify here:
open.spotify.com/track/30kR96XzlqxDlZm3oynqxT?si=10b5ed49b66a4a2e&nd=1

The song was released on her 2021 album Joan, which garnered seven Music PEI nominations, and took home the prize for Solo Recording of the Year, and two ECMA nominations, including the Rising Star award. But only now is the acclaimed actor and musician telling the truth about what the album is really about. It’s an uncomfortable truth, a painful personal story that Toner is ready to tell only now.

It’s kind of bizarre how artists now actually pinpoint what section in the song I should listen. It’s actually very common. So just for example, today I got a song from a new artist with the elevator pitch “Hi there, thank you for taking the time to listen! I suggest you listen after 2.min as the song picks up stronger and more passionately.”

Then I wondered why didn’t you write the song with the same passion for the whole song? Sure, a song can have a best part, I know, but still, you don’t do just create part of a painting perfectly and then ask the audience to just look at that part right?

The sad part here is that the artist is probably doing the right thing. The whole society is hunting for fast kicks, and it goes faster and faster. TikTok has done so we now need something to happen in the picture in the very first second. Suddenly a long movie is three minutes long. Since the 80’s we have jumped from ninety minutes down to three minutes. Instant gratification is the highest priority, and I should get it in the first few seconds.

Support the future of music this holiday season! Own Holiday Tracks from Jessica Moskaluke, Myles Goodwyn, Chris Hadfield, Olivia Penalva, And More

Lemmon Entertainment is releasing the Lemmon Holiday Mixtape – available now – featuring a wide variety of Canadian artists spreading Holiday cheer for an excellent cause. 100 percent of the mixtape’s proceeds will go to the MusiCounts Band Aid program.

Available from Dec. 9 through Dec. 30, the mixtape features Jessica Moskaluke, Bif Naked, Josh Bogert, Olivia Penalva, Andrew Allen, Maggie Szabo, Jim Bryson, Pavlo, Zach Oliver, Ellen Doty, Chris Hadfield, Cassie Dasilva, The O’Pears, Helix, Chris McKhool (Sultans of String), Myles Goodwyn (April Wine) and more. The compilation will be available for purchase on S!NG (LINK) for $9.99 CDN.

Disclaimer and Full disclosure: I’m the husband of Beverly Kreller, who happens to be Julian Taylor’s Canadian publicist, via her company SPEAK Music. I would be as impressed as I am with the album no matter who the publicist was. In a decade, I’ve never even suggested writing about any of her clients, including Taylor. This is a rare exception. The album is that great.

With Beyond the Reservoir, Julian Taylor’s songwriting has taken a quantum leap forward.

Sometimes we can feel the inspiration of an artist through their music. Singer-songwriter Heather Hill takes listeners on a journey through her inspirations of the naturally beautiful Blue Mountains in her latest single “I Rise.” Check it out on YouTube here:

 Hill’s new single is a stirring piano melody mixed with her soaring vocals. It is an example of her inspiration of the Georgian Bay coming to life to spread love and peace in the world. 

For anyone familiar with the gothic inspiration of rural Ontario, “I Rise” contributes some of the most haunting representation of the beauty that can be seen throughout much of the province. Hill’s piano, mixed with acoustic guitar, adds depth to the lyrics that explore a humanity that is keenly observant, compassionate, and rooted in nature.

Stony Plain Records announces a March 24, 2023, release date for Ridin’, the new album from two-time Grammy nominee and Blues/Roots music legend Eric Bibb. The label released the album’s first single, “Family,” on December 8. Eric Bibb has already scheduled lengthy tours of Europe and Australia in the first quarter of 2023 to support the new album’s release.

The follow-up to his multiple award-winning, critically-acclaimed 2021 album, Dear America, Ridin’ is a continuation of the vision that informs Bibb’s artistry as a modern-day Blues troubadour. Grounded in the folk and blues tradition with contemporary sensibilities, Bibb’s music continues to reflect his thoughts on current world events and his own lived experiences, whilst remaining entertaining, uplifting, inspirational and relevant.

Acclaimed Canadian songstress Tonia Cianciulli is going where few artists dare to go, speaking to the impossible agony of losing a child on her heartfelt new single "Churchyard Roses." Check it out on YouTube here:

"Churchyard Roses" is inspired by Tonia's own personal family tragedy-- In 1935, her grandparents Chesley and Elsie Dyke lost their four-year-old son Edward when he drowned in their Newfoundland ocean backyard. Tonia collaborated with poet Vaughn Harbin on the lyrics for the piece, attempting to express together what could have possibly been in the hearts and minds of Ches and Elsie upon the loss of their precious son. The results are all at once haunting and humble, fresh and folkloric, and make an admirable contribution to Newfoundland's legendary musical canon.

The wonderous Susan Aglukark once again arrives with an ear-popping delight in the form of her latest single ‘Tikitaummata.' Check it out on YouTube here:

Released November 23rd, 2022, the Inuk singer songwriter is one of Canada's most extraordinary artists today, effortlessly blending Inuktitut, Indigenous, and English languages in her lyrics and phrasing, Susan offers something special with the arrival of her latest single, delivering a masterpiece of blended sounds.

Listen on Spotify here: open.spotify.com/track/5hC9xtY1UpGcHU8ME4evcI

The inaugural LASSO Montréal festival, presented by Bell in collaboration with Coors Original was such a massive success last summer for fans and artists alike, that there was no question we’d be doing it again! The LASSO experience was pure country gold - a chance to celebrate the power of live music surrounded by friends, family, and fellow fans at Parc Jean-Drapeau, one of the most picturesque festival sites in North America.

MONTREY’ALL TO GO OFF WITH HEADLINERS
KANE BROWN and CHRIS STAPLETON
AUGUST 18 & 19, 2023 | PARC JEAN-DRAPEAU
2-day tickets on sale on December 12 at 10am
At lassomontreal.com

Last year’s LASSO brought out over 35,000 music fans, some of whom experienced a summer music festival for the first time, and it was a revelation for many, with reverence for live music at the very heart of it!

Photographer/Videographer: Nik Varlamov

The 2022 Canada’s Walk of Fame inductee ceremony was held at Toronto’s Beanfield Centre on Saturday December 3, 2022, welcoming over 700 guests. The show celebrated Canada’s newest inductees to the Walk of Fame, including Tatiana Maslany, Deborah Cox, and The Tragically Hip to name a few. The show will air on December 17, 2022 on CTV.

In the 1990s Chris Birkett was working around the clock as the UK’s go-to-producer/engineer working on legendary projects, such as Sinead O’Connor’s album I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got, that featured the massive hit single, Nothing Compares 2 U. With artists and labels taking most of his time Birkett had little to spare for his two young children.

Feeling he was missing key moments in their life, the Toronto-based renaissance artist reflects on the importance of work-life balance with his heartwarming new single “Hear The Angels Sing.” Birkett wrote the opening lyrics late one night as his career was taking shape.

Why does it take all of my time,
To go out there and be someone?
There’s nothing left at the end of the line
Nothing left for the ones that you love.

“It’s a question and sentiment people are feeling today” says Birkett. “The music and lyrics of Hear the Angels Sing are an example of angelic gifts, especially during the holiday season.”

Every ten years some bigger things seem to rock the music industry. Around 1990 it was the passing of vinyl and cassettes to CDs. CDs then became a household item and yes the record labels just competed to make reissues of the old vinyl catalogues.

2000 came with the MP3 becoming a household thing. Napster was the new thing to spread music and the gateway into the digital world. The money that the record labels earned on the reissue catalogues were lost and it put the record labels in crisis.

2010 was around the launch of Spotify and everything that we now have with ] our music online. Here come the playlists and new consumer behavior to listen to just the tracks they like and change songs much faster.

“I've Seen The Sun,” "I'll Go Where You Lead," and "Little Warbler" added to CBC Radio this week!

From the heady feeling of being the only one awake at night, to the brooding at the end of a relationship, to the coziness of a rainy day, to the slithering sexiness of a night out on the town, Songwriter is a jazz album of deliciously dark tones and stormy sonic landscapes. It’s the third album on which vocalist Alex Bird and pianist Ewen Farncombe combine their singular talents, and it reflects deeply on the full spectrum of human mood and the act of songwriting itself.

Check out Alex Bird and The Jazz Mavericks "The Sweetest Moments" on YouTube here:

Okay, I have been writing about why certain songs are not picked for Cashbox Radio 9and beyond). What is kind of annoying is when you get a song and can’t play it, yes it happens, more often than you realize.

I was just doing my featured radio show “Yesterday and Tomorrow” for our weekly Sunday feature where we play the new singles alongside the hits. We have pre-approved five songs and told these artists that we will play the song in our Sunday show and they will be added to the database so their fans can also go to our request line on Request a Song on Cashbox Radio! – Cashbox Radio for additional airplay for the track. This was done late last week or early this week. So now on Saturday, I’m there to create and record the show and see if they had sent the song.

The Andy Kim Christmas returns to Toronto’s Massey Hall Wednesday, December 7 with a collection of iconic performers celebrating this year’s holiday season. The 18th iteration of the renowned concert series sees Andy Kim bring Canada’s most decorated musical talent together for an evening of cheer with all proceeds donated to CAMH Gifts of Light.

Tickets to The Andy Kim Christmas will be available for purchase Friday, October 28 at 10 am at MasseyHall.com and TicketMaster.ca. Tickets start at $35.50- $85.50 plus fees. The full line up of special guests will be announced in the coming weeks.