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.

Billboard-charting world music supergroup Sultans of String are excited about the launch of their feature length film "Sultans of String: The Refuge Project - Visual Album" – their pandemic project that just won at the Cannes World Film Festival, Best Istanbul Film Festival, and selected for the Vancouver Independent, Scarab, and Folk in Film Festivals.

Come join their Cast and Crew party, and celebrate their recent wins with a film screening, as well as another birthday “year around the sun” for bandleader Chris McKhool, all while raising donations for a good cause!

TORONTO: Sunday November 20
Doors at 6 pm, Film at 7 pm sharp.
Tranzac Main Hall, 292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto, ON M5S 2M7
Tix: https://sultansofstringfilm.eventbrite.ca

All admission proceeds of Toronto show after hall rental cost are donated to the UN Refugee Agency for their life-saving programming. Sultans of String have raised more than $10,000 so far!

Following a world premiere at The Toronto International Film Festival in 2022 and in honor of Native American Heritage Month, American Masters – Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On premieres nationwide Tuesday, November 22 at 9 p.m. ET on your local PBS station, pbs.org/americanmasters and on demand after this date on the PBS Video App.

The life, music, and activism of legendary Indigenous singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie are explored in this documentary that is as captivating as its subject, who smashed through barriers to become an inspiration to fans and fellow musicians alike.

This is why your song is not picked! Part 2.

I’m writing the main and most common reasons why we reject artists' songs on the radio station. I will get back to the series about the magazine and the festivals. Now gets to the main reasons we say no to songs for radio. Just to get some inspiration I will go into my mailbox and submit an account to see what is in there right now.

Oh, the first one here is an artist that wrote: Listen at 3:20 in the song there the magic happens.

Before writing a No. 1 Billboard hit (“Black Velvet”), becoming a MuchMusic original veejay, and an author and podcaster, JUNO-winning songwriter Christopher Ward recorded a 1978 solo debut album titled Spark of Desire.

Until now, Spark of Desire has never been available on streaming services. However, on a lucky trip to his well-organized storage space during the pandemic, Ward found the master tapes, and Warner Music Canada was able to bake them back into existence and remaster this delightful debut.

Fans will finally be able to discover (or re-discover) Spark of Desire in its remastered splendor, including the joyful, groovy single “Once In A Longtime,” which, with its bright horns and easy disco roll, evokes the beauty, wonder, and euphoria of discovering new love.