Blackjack Billy, good-time group, known for getting the party started, has a brand new single titled “How to Get the Girl” featuring Canadian country act, Madeline Merlo. The single, set for release to Country radio May 3 and available everywhere May 5, was written by Noll Billings, Jeff Coplan and Tim Hicks. It showcases the powerful vocals of both Blackjack Billy lead vocalist Noll Billings and Merlo, while playfully breaking down the right way to ‘read the signs’ and win over a girl in up-tempo, high-energy, Blackjack Billy style.

Born as a result of discussing failed attempts at winning the admiration of women as Billings, Hicks and Coplan were songwriting in Nashville, Coplan notes, “it became clear that some crazy things had been done and said to try to get girls. Tim said that maybe there’s actually some good advice from all our failures, and that’s how ‘How to Get the Girl’ was born. We thought it would be great to get the female perspective on it so we immediately thought of Madeline. We are all fans of her and not just for her killer voice. She’s a sweetheart and tons of fun,” said Jeff Coplan.

Listening to a Matt Andersen CD is an exciting audio experience, seeing Matt Andersen with a full band is awesome, but seeing Matt Andersen solo takes it to a whole other level. 

The man and his guitar is something I wasn’t really prepared for. Andersen was over the top on all levels, his hold on the audience, his powerful and controlled vocals with acres of dynamics and guitar mastery that made his acoustic guitar sound like an entire band.

Submitted by Lenny Stoute

"Please don't be smoking anything in the entrance. Please move away from the entrance." The security was addressing a large fogbank of high-grade resin hanging over the sidewalk directly in front of the venue as fans of the Aussie septet got their weed on. The vibe out front was all love and brotherly hugs as the fans of the neopsychedelic outfit adhere strongly to the hippie ethic and inside, it was thus also with the addition of genre touches like wizard hats and an excellent Lizard Gizzard mask.

There are some musicians who seem to achieve the near impossible by imprinting themselves in a memory with a flash of sheer individuality, a signature sound or something similar that makes them instantly recognisable. We can think of Dylan, The Beatles, The Stones – all musicians that have captured that remarkable essence over the years. I’m not trying to say that New York-born bluesman Eric Bibb is the new Lennon, McCartney or Dylan but he does have that extraordinary quality of a voice and musical style that renders him immediately recognisable, a rare familiarity bound up in his very being.

By my reckoning this is about his third release in the past twelve months, following hot on the heels of The Happiest Man In The World and Lead Belly’s Gold. Migration Blues takes as its theme the seldom more relevant subject of often necessary movement of the underprivileged and disadvantaged and the struggle for survival in a harsh world. Bibb has the evident ability to write songs with depth and meaning that also retain memorable melodic hooks and soulful purpose.

An early passion for jazz and blues developed upon first hearing the raw and emotive melancholy of Billie Holiday. This inspiration laid the foundation for growth as a vocalist and as an artist. Linda’s musical journey was further influenced by jazz and blues vocalists like Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Mildred Bailey, Helen Humes, Valaida Snow and Lil Armstrong.

Linda’s eclectic repertoire includes rare and sometimes risque vintage songs of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, classic jazz and swing standards, cocktail lounge and torch ballads, to boogie woogie & roots blues.

Most recently, Linda has been found thrilling audiences at venues such as 70Down in Yorkville, Relish Bar & Grill, SpiritHouse/Foundry GastroPub, RasaBar, 120 Diner, Salutè Piano Bar, Gate 403, White Elephant Restaurant & Bar and Rasputin Vodka Lounge, and as well as various other venues and private functions.

Linda Carone’s debut recording, “Black Moonlight” is a must for any vintage blues/jazz lover and a worthy purchase for anyone’s music library.

On February 24th, 2017, Ian Janes released his latest solo album, Yes Man, to critical praise and acclaim from some of Canada’s most prestigious press.

A confident and soulful record, Yes Man creatively mixes Ian’s deepest influences and experiences. It is a combination of singularly written songs, as well as collaborations with other great writers from across North America. The album includes co-writes with Andy Stochansky (Goo Goo Dolls, Ani DiFranco, Shannon Noll), Jamie Hartman (Joss Stone, James Bay, Christina Aguilera) Lee Ann and Daryl Burgess (Irma Thomas, Colin James, Patty Loveless) and iconic Canadian songwriter, Joel Plaskett.

Earlier in February the first single from the album, “Broken Record”, was released and has been receiving regular play from CBC, Clic Franco, Sirius XM, and Stingray radio, and has kept Ian busy with interviews and in-studio performances.

Check out the lyric video for “Broken Record” here: http://bit.ly/2luXYbj

Orit Shimoni, the artist formerly known as Little Birdie, has a brand new album and it’s a dandy. The ten song set, ‘Soft Like Snow’, shows a whole other side to Orit than previous works. She has been dubbed “one of the nation’s most alluring vocalists,” by The Calgary Herald and “one of the most lyrically impactful vocalists” by Beatroute Magazine, and “a songwriters songwriter” by Cashbox Magazine Canada.

Orit (pronounced Oreet) became a full bore “hit the road “ touring musician after releasing two, highly acclaimed albums in Montreal.  She relocated to Berlin, Germany,   to write and record her third album. From that point on she has officially been living out of a suitcase. This is what makes her the songwriter she is. Songwriters often go on “songwriting trips” just to soak up a different climate, different customs and people. For Orit that is her life, always moving, always learning and experiencing by osmosis, life at its best and worst. She gets to write her songs on the road and perform them for a variety of crowds.

Yet again, Lucinda pulls out all the stops with another double album full to overflowing with her quirky, sly take on life, love, death and virtually everything in between.  Each of her previous two albums seem to have been sideshoots leading up to this offering where she again writes with extraordinary power and vision, depth and assurance, each of the 14 tracks seamlessly earning its place in the evocative and emotional mix.

A dozen tracks of complete hokum, as it clearly says on the album cover, from one of the USA's finest hoaxers and hoary frontmen. This guy is not just a comic with a challenging sense of humor, he's also one helluva singer/songwriter with an at times decidedly jaundiced eye on the skewed social and political world of modern America. I have to declare an interest from the very off with this offering: I absolutely love it. It makes me laugh out loud and the sheer inescapable mastery of the full-tilt, Stax-like horny (pun intended, as Barnes would expect) musical backing makes for totally irresistible stuff.

'Meet Me In The Bottom' is the first release for some years from New Jersey acoustic picker Fotusky. With echoes of his first album, 'Teasin' The Frets', Fotusky positively rips along here with simply stunning guitar mastery and an eclectic mix of material opening with Bo Carter's 'Who's Been Here', moving through Jelly Roll's classic 'Windin' Boy Blues', some Robert Johnson, Leroy Carr, Willie McTell, Gary Davis, among others, and the album title track from Bumble Bee Slim. Fotusky also includes a handful of self-written originals to good effect.

This is without doubt a top-dollar album, bursting at the 13-track seams with superb old-style acoustic ragtime-blues fretwork on both six and twelve-string guitars, and fine vocal accompaniment. Make no mistake, this guy is one Helluva guitar picker and this is an album that works really well in every way and at every level.

Praised for her “sensitive and passionate artistic interpretation”, Christine Vanderkooy performs extensively as a solo pianist and collaborative artist. She has completed the Young Artist tour as winner of the Ontario Registered Music Teacher’s Association Competition, a recital tour of Canada in 2007 as a SSHRC grant recipient, and a solo recital tour of Europe in 2008, also as a SSHRC grant recipient, performing in Ireland, England, and Spain. Christine has performed at the Eckhardt-Grammaté National Piano Competition, the Gaudeamus International Competition in the Netherlands, and was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in the Dietrich Fischer Dieskau Workshop (before he cancelled!). Recent performances include solo recitals atBishop’s University, the JS BachHaus in Ontario, SUNY Oswego in New York, and the Regina Musical Club.