With all the great shows that have happened in Halifax over the last few days ( Plants & Animals, Tegan & Sara, The Wooden Sky, Blue Rodeo , and Luke Doucet to name a few) and the ones still on tap ( Bahamas, John K. Samson, Jim Bryson ) it's easy to forget about the fact City & Colour are playing a two-night stint here next week = one with Island poppers, Two Hours Traffic and one with NB folkers Olympic Symphonium . The shows are sold-out, so unless [...]

Unfortunately we didn't make it out to any In The Dead of Winter festivities last night, but hopefully you did. Tonight is chock-a-block full of options again, as you likely remember from our Friday Preview - again, that Bahamas/John K. Samson bill at St. Pat's will be hard to pass up. But today, we're going to have a look at what's on tap for Saturday night: St. Patrick's Church, $25 : 8:00 - Catherine MacLellan 9:00 - Justin Rutledge 10:00 - [...]
With the annual IDOW festival kicking off this weekend, it's about time we got a more in depth look at the lineup. We already offered up our thoughts on the lineup in general - seeing names like Justin Rutledge, Bahamas, The Wooden Sky, CR Avery, Jim Bryson and local talent like Jon Mckiel present and accounted for means that IDOW will continue it's rapid maturation into one of Hali's best festivals. Even with all those terrific acts, the name that will draw most people's interest is that of John K. Samson . [...]

One of the great and sadly underrated festivals here in Halifax is the ice cold In the Dead of Winter Festival that tries valiantly to warm our January nights. This year, the organizers went above and beyond and signed up a bunch of terrific artists that everyone knows ( Ani , John. K Samson , Jim Bryson and Justin Rutledge ) but there are a ton of lesser known acts that you should think about seeing. One of those acts is The Abramson Singers . When I [...]

According to CBC Radio 3 , here are the most anticipated Canadian releases of 2010: 2010 Upcoming Canadian Album Releases JANUARY Jan 12 - Owen Pallett Heartland (Domino/For Great Justice) Jan 12 - Kate Maki Two Song Wedding (Confusion Unlimited) Jan 12 - Woodpigeon Die Stadt Musikanten (Boompa) Jan 12 - The Paperbacks Lit From Within (Parliament Of Trees) Jan 19 - Hawksley Workman Meat (Six Shooter) Jan 19 [...]

The Weakertans are currently in a cabin on Falcon Lake, Manitoba backing up Ottawa-based singer songwriter Jim Bryson on his new record. Bryson, who aside from his solo career regularly plays in Kathleen Edwards ' band, served as a member of the Weakerthans on their recent tour supporting Reunion Tour . The Weakerthans' upcoming live CD / DVD, which we first heard about back in May , how has a title and release date. Look for Live At The Burton Cummings Theatre [...]
Here is #21-#30 of MW2K . So there might be some surprises in this list. So enjoy this part. Demon Day - Gorillaz (2005) Who thought their second would be as big as their first album. Best tracks are Dare , Dirty Harry and Feel Good Inc. Ashtray Rock - Joel Plaskett Emergency ( 2007 ) [...]

It's the end of the year, the end of the decade. So far, I've resisted the temptation to add to the plethora of decade-end lists, which isn't to say that it won't happen... but for now, four versions of The Greenhornes' There is an End , followed by a grab bag of random links to recent things of note. " Spring brings the rain, With winter comes pain, Every season has an end. " The Greenhornes featuring Holly Golightly - There is [...]
Sun 12.13 Finest Kind at Black Sheep Inn Mon 12.14 The Vicious Guns at Zaphod Beeblebrox The Breakup Letter at Zaphod Beeblebrox Wed 12.16 The Arrogant Worms at Centrepointe Theatre The Rainbow at The Rainbow OCEANS [...]

Have to say that on December 11th, it was a totally busy day/night. After Bands Undone , I headed off to the CBC building down on Spark Street. There was a live event happening outside in the bitterly cold for CBC Radio 1's All In A Day . Special treat was a live performance by Jim Bryson and The Mighty Popo . There was a bid for the charity to have Jim Bryson sing whatever song the bidder wanted him to sing. [...]

Jill Zmud might be those hidden gems in the Ottawa Folk Pop Music Scene. In under just a year she has played at Westfest , opened up for Danny Michel, Kyrie Kristmanson and becoming a local favorite when she plays at the Black Sheep Inn . When she had her CD Release show at the Black Sheep Inn , was very surprised with the turnout. In just one year, she finally releases her debut album called "as we quietly drive by". Its eleven tracks mix of acoustic folk, pop, piano and [...]
It was a nice November 15th afternoon show at the Black Sheep Inn. A CD Release show for Jill Zmud 's debut album "as we quietly drive by". It was a long time in the making for her to release a album of this prestige. Which she got some help with Dave Draves. Also playing at the show were: Kim Wempe and Carmel Mikol Sheesham and Lotus [...]
i could continue this weeks pseudo philosophic literary music theme by making reference to michael moorcock who had a ship in a book called how the clouds have meaning, who hung with the original crazy druid noise bastards hawkwind. a band who's shadow in turn hangs over the radiation line. i could mention aleister crowley and his pagan ways. his constant search for growth and change, experience and new energies. to stop swimming is to die. says the shark. no two songs the same. no two records the same. that's the way of the radiation line. radioactivity, which [...]

Oh Christ an I aggravated. I spent an hour writing a great post about how amazing The Counting Crows ' tour with Spearhead and Augustana , and then wordpress crashes. Arggh! I don't know about you, but I have a hard time writing a second time with the same passion. But these guys deserve it, so here it goes again. On the show's site , Adam Duritz warns to get there on time because as soon as the curtain rises, they'll all be on stage jamming together. What it didn't say was [...]

Filed under: Concerts and Tours , News , Exclusive Fancy a round of golf with Counting Crows guitarist David Bryson or a drum lesson with sticksman Jim Bogios? Or what about owning frontman Adam Duritz 's handwritten lyrics? Perhaps you'd simply like to hang out backstage with the band before a show? Then head to CharityFolks.com , where the bidding is on for such prizes as well as tickets to the Crows "Traveling Circus and Medicine Show" summer tour. Money from the charity auction [...]
I've always been a huge fan of Jon Bartlett's bands from my first exposure. I have no idea when it was exactly but it was around the year 2000 when the first Rhume album, Snack Of Choice, came out. They were playing a show in Windsor at the now defunct Press Club, where I worked the door sometimes and I had played a couple of songs on my radio show to plug the gig. I really enjoyed the record and a friend played on it as well so I grabbed a copy of it before their gig [...]

Have you ever heard a musician talk about how their label is like, " a family " and how they " all get along ?" Of course you have. It's like an athlete saying they were just letting the game come to them or that they just want to go out there and give 100%. In reality, the days of small indie labels simply putting out music for the love are gone. No one really buys records anymore, so the cold reality of the music industry is crippling small labels and forcing labels to change their business model. [...]

Jim, was described by No Depression as "one of Canadian music's best kept secrets", three studio albums and a recent live release to date, which you can get your hands on at Kelp Records . I first stumbled on Jim's via a track called One Cigarette that appeared on a Bob Harris Presents CD compilation (Volume 4). [...]

Being The Tragically Hip fan that I am, I have yet to miss a single tour after each new album release. With the release of "We Are The Same" I knew another tour was on its way so as soon as I caught wind of their May 19th show, I got the best tickets I could and waited a good month or so for this highly anticipated event. I had never been to a concert at Massey Hall before but found the acoustics were amazing for the theatre which may not house as big an [...]

All I know about Indiana is that it's David Letterman's homestate and its residents are known as Hoosiers . I've no idea what the word means and hoped Bill Bryson's wonderful book Made in America would have the answer. To no avail. All I learnt about Indiana from Bryson is that the state passed a law in 1905, which reads in part: "Whoever entices, allures, instigates or aids any person under the age of twenty-one years to commit masturbation or self-pollution, shall be deemed guilty of sodomy". You learn something [...]