Westway LAB, Portugal’s first showcase festival and professional music conference, will take place for the sixth consecutive year from 10th to 13th of April in Guimarães, Portugal. Founded in 2014 with a clear mission: to operate a cultural, social and economic transformation through music, crossing borders enabling the construction of sustainable internationalization of artists and professionals from Portugal. During the 4 day event, Guimarães becomes a music city, combining in an innovative way the realization of an event based with three dimensions: Process (artist residencies), Thought (PRO Conferences) and Product (showcases and headline concerts).

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?

How does an act from Sweden take a chance and go to a Live at Heart Festival on a Peninsula named Burin in Canada’s Newfoundland, write a song and end up on the Swedish Independent Music Chart 10 weeks in a row in a # 1 position, thanks to the fans (who are now friends) that they met there?

This is what Bara Jonson and Free did. “We rented a car, drove through torrential rain, landed in the middle of nowhere at the Marystown Hotel and suddenly you feel like you came ‘home’? There is no explaining it, but that is what happened to us.”

So they went back to Sweden and immediately wrote “Hello Newfoundland” and their newly found friends embraced it.

The release of the video included all of the amazing people who forged the road to these lifetime memories and also featured Tale The Rapper.

Watch ‘Hello Newfoundland’ here: https://youtu.be/Lg1FiA8jCZM

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’.

Barry Stagg was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada where he lived for the first 29 years of his life. Although he resides in the US, he still spends summer months in Nova Scotia and maintains a Canadian address and passport.

He has written and recorded songs for Gamma Records, United Artists, London Records, RCA, and Cashbox Records. Barry is well known for his world hit song "To Love Means To Be Free,” released on his Green and Stagg album in 1969, which earned him the Canadian Business Music Industry’s writing award.

I caught up with Barry at his home and he still has all the enthusiasm of a young artist starting out.

“I just got back off the road doing a US promotional tour for both radio and television for ‘One Heart At a Time”. I was humbled by the reception and accolades we got every stop we made. I feel blessed that after all these years I still get to do what I love most. Write my songs and perform for people. There is nothing better than seeing the reaction to your material.”

Stagg has quite a legendary career behind his name:

Submitted by Sandy Graham

The Academy of Country Music® announced today the first group of performers for the 54th ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS™. Brothers Osborne, Kane Brown, Miranda Lambert, Little Big Town, Reba McEntire, Maren Morris, Thomas Rhett, Chris Stapleton and George Strait will take the stage for can’t-miss live performances at Country Music’s Party of the Year®. The awards telecast, hosted by Reba McEntire, will air LIVE from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday, April 7, 2019, at 8:00 PM ET / delayed PT on the CBS Television Network.

As previously announced, ACM Dick Clark Artist of the Decade Award winner Jason Aldean will perform on the telecast. Additional acts and presenters will be announced in the coming weeks.

BTW is given over to saluting the musicians who have so graciously and generously donated their time and energies on my behalf by performing at Lenny, We Got Your Back! This benefit concert for yours truly takes place at the Horseshoe Tavern, Mar.28 with an 8PM showtime. My heartfelt thanks to everyone, and there have been many of you, who have had a hand in making this happen. I am humbled and grateful. Gonna be a hot show, tell your friends.

Jaymz Bee is an artist, musician, philanthropist and broadcaster who has produced countless events, over a dozen albums and been a member of several bands including The Tiki Collective, Tuk, The Royal Jelly Orchestra, Bonzai Suzuki and Look People. He's hosted and/or produced charity events for JAZZ.FM91 (over 16 years), Unison Benevolent Fund, Covenant House and the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation (amongst others).

Very representative of how New Brunswick-based roots rock outfit led by Lisa and John McLaggan, Tomato Tomato do their thing is Canary In A Coal Mine. The new album by Tomato Tomato, is now on all digital platforms, and through their website tomatotomato.ca. The latest collection marks a significant creative step forward, having been recorded at Nashville studio The Bomb Shelter (Alabama Shakes, Margo Price) with producers Jon Estes and Andrija Tokic, along with some of Music City’s finest musicians.

Few recording artists are as creative and prolific as Bruce Cockburn. Since his self-titled debut in 1970, the Canadian singer-songwriter has issued a steady stream of acclaimed albums every couple of years. But that output suddenly ran dry in 2011 following the release of Small Source of Comfort. There were good reasons for the drought. For one thing, Cockburn became a father again with the birth of his daughter Iona. Then there was the publication of his 2014 memoir Rumours of Glory.

“I didn’t write any songs until after the book was published because all my creative energy had gone into three years of writing it,” Cockburn explains, from his home in San Francisco. “There was simply nothing left to write songs with. As soon as the book was put to bed, I started asking myself whether I was ever going to be a songwriter again.”

Suzi Kory has waited patiently for her time to come to live out her dream of performing under the bright lights and showing her talent to the world. And now the time has come. Born in Beirut Lebanon where the idea of being a performer was not looked upon in the brightest light she and her family relocated to Canada and she discovered the music Guns n Roses and was fascinated by frontman Axl Rose.

“Watching his raw and no inhibitions style and his charisma stirred something in me and it still does” Suzi decided to park her dream and raise a family and having now done that has reignited the spark. “ A few years ago I made the trip to Malibu and looked up where Axl Rose lived. I drove up there and there he was walking down the road in his sweats. I approached and he was amazing. We talked for a while, took a photo and we went our separate ways. But a part of me was so determined to pursue my dream after that encounter’” Her music doesn’t sound like Axl Rose but his determination and showmanship is evident when you see a Suzi Kory show

For the first time ever, the essential studio recordings of Britain’s legendary Zombies and 2019 Inductees into the Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame are assembled in one place on vinyl via Varese Sarabande, Feb 22nd, 2019. This is a 5 Box Vinyl Set which includes two original US albums: She’s Not There/Tell Her No and Odessey & Oracle; Two important compilations: R.I.P which was compiled by CBS Records and intended to be a follow -up to Odessey and Oracle, but then cancelled and never pieced together until now, with only a few tracks appearing on various collections and some originally released as singles, and I Love You, which was only released in the UK and Japan. Also included, a bespoke collection of rare singles and UK-only album tracks: Oddities & Extras. This LP includes new notes from the historical producer/engineer Andrew Sandoval known for multi-artist presentations such as the British Invasion Tour. There are new photos for the album cover and slipcover. This is the most comprehensive vinyl collection of The Zombies’ work ever constructed.

62 Tracks of Pure Psychedelic Jazz-tinged Pop and hours of fascination for the determined diehard fans.

With all the grey clouds and freezing rain, thought we’d start with music bright, warm and of curious intent. Victoria pop experimentalist Lief Hall (a former member of MYTHS/The Mutators) is large in Japan, with a nice fan base and two record labels, Moorworks and Fennelly, which are joint-releasing her entrancing new album Roses For Ruins in Japan. The album, released in North America in April 2018, will be available on CD in Japan on March 6, 2019.

Just out is 'Glass & Obsidian', the second music video from Roses for Ruins. With its minimalist beats, distant reverberating squeals and low hushed vocal choruses, the song uses imagery of the earth's elements colliding and transforming to explore forms of renewal and radical change. Earth, metal, crystal and air emerge throughout this video as themes which bring to life the song’s lyrics through sparse, surreal and fantasy-like environments. Dramatic lighting shimmers reflect and flares accentuate the hypnotic and dream-like quality of the music while dancers explore the sound through austere and sensual movement.

Looking at Michelle Wright it’s hard to believe she is entering her fourth decade in the music business. She looks as good as ever and sounds as good if not better than when was riding the charts as one of country music’s leading ladies of song.

And Michelle is just getting started on a new phase in her career.

We caught with the Canadian treasure at her home in Nashville as she gears up for this next adventure. “On March 14, we will be launching the first performance of An Evening With Michelle Wright, the most intimate show of my recording and touring career. Every night, I get to take folks on a musical journey that will span the years with some of the hits, some songs that influenced my style and new songs from my recent studio sessions with producer Bob Funk. I’ll be able to be up close and comfortable with my audience and folks will also hear stories behind the music as it happened. I’ve always wanted to do that. And I have different configurations for shows, as a single, duo or full band.”The shows are being booked in Canada by Julien Paquin and the team at Paquin Artists Agency with the first show at the Casino Regina in Regina, SK.

Many of you know Lenny. The man about town who supports indie artists and live music everywhere. He is also the Editor here at Cashbox Canada and has stuck it out through good times and bad, making us one of the most popular online music magazines on a national and global level.

His credits and history in the music industry is lengthy: entertainment columnist for The Toronto Star (Canada’s largest newspaper) editor of Music Express (Canada’s national music magazine) as well as stints at The Globe and Mail, Eye, Metro, US industry mag Pollstar, and then of course Cashbox Canada and recently Editor for the American Record World Magazine.

Years ago a chance encounter with an extended dog leash, an inattentive dog owner and Lenny running at full speed created the initial injury. It has now, years later, manifested itself into a now critical situation that is threatening Lenny’s well being and lifestyle.

Which leads us to today. Lenny has now become a research subject, trying to determine why he is in pain 24/7, and many MRIs, scans, wands, prods and pushes and practically being put on the proverbial rack, there is still nothing definitive.