Kim Beggs Offers a Sneak Preview of Blue Bones on Spring Tour
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9-Apr-10 Clandeboye,MB -Homeroutes House ConcertSeries
10-Apr-10 Winnipeg, MB – Homeroutes House Concert Series
12-Apr-10 Winnipeg, MB – Homeroutes House Concert Series
14-Apr-10 Pinawa, MB – Homeroutes House Concert Series
15-Apr-10 Steinbeck, MB – Homeroutes House Concert Series
16-Apr-10 Winnipeg, MB – Homeroutes House Concert Series
17-Apr-10 Altona, MB – Homeroutes House Concert Series
19-Apr-10 Holland, MB – Homeroutes House Concert Series
20-Apr-10 Shoal Lake, MB -Homeroutes House ConcertSeries
21-Apr-10 Minnedosa, MB -Homeroutes HouseConcertSeries.
22-Apr-10 Heddingly, MB – Homeroutes House ConcertSeries
23-Apr-10 Rossburn, MB – Homeroutes House Concert Series
24-Apr-10 Toronto, ON, – Cameron House double bill with The Undesirables
25-Apr-10 Barry’s Bay, ON House Concert
27-Apr-10 Sudbury, ON – House Concert
29-Apr- 10 Regina, SK – House Concert
30-Apr- 10 Saskatoon, SK – Caffe Sola
01-May-10 Edmonton, AB – Northern Lights Folk Club
May 2-3 – TBA
04-May-10 Calgary, AB – Ironwood Stage and Grill with Elena Yeung
May 5-7 – TBA
08-May-10 Cochrane, AB Cochrane Folk Club Volunteer Party – Curling Club
Award-winning Yukon singer-songwriter Kim Beggs is embarking on a cross-Canada tour this spring, offering up both a collection of favourites from her first two albums and a sneak preview of her forthcoming new project, Blue Bones. The album is currently scheduled for release this summer, with copies going to North American media on July 21st. It will mark Beggs’ debut on the esteemed Canadian roots label, Black Hen Music.
CaneFire’s brand new sophomore album is Calypso Latin jazz Pandemonium
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April 27 – The Cellar, Vancouver
April 29 – Rotary Centre, Kelowna
April 30 – Athabasca Performing Arts Centre
May 19 – Glenn Gould Studio, Toronto
No sooner had Canada’s Latin-Caribbean jazz supergroup, CaneFire, arrived in Vancouver last summer for the start of its debut Western Canadian tour when its centerpiece, Mark Mosca, one of the world’s leading steelpan players, was hospitalized for the entire month-long road-trip.
The band is hoping for much better luck when it heads west again next month for the launch of its sophomore album Pandemonium—which includes a humourous nod to Mosca’s predicament in the form of a number called “Nothing by Mouth.”
Literary pop takes a big leap forward with Kele Fleming’s World in Reverse
Kele Fleming launches World in Reverse
April 7 – The Rainbow Bistro in Ottawa
April 8 – Slacks in Toronto
April 10 – Tranzac in Toronto
Summer dates in Western Canada and the U.S. TBC
Kele Fleming began writing World in Reverse with the goal of creating a sonic novel. By the time she was done, she had created a sonic Ulysses, a series of vignettes that coalesce into a subtle social commentary.
The English Lit major and leader of the 90s pop band Hazel Motes had previously combined her talents in music and text on her 2004 album songs from the tinforest, a collection of her poetry set to music. Now the woman The Province said “might have the most original songwriting style in Vancouver” fuses the disciplines more fully – joining her highly literate lyrics, idiosyncratic compositions and ambitious artistic vision into a cohesive body of work that, as the title suggests, reflects on a feeling of life in regression.
Jazz vocalist Miranda Sage returns to Vancouver and Victoria
March 26 – Carlson’s on MacLeod, High River, AB
March 27 – Flare and Derrick Community Hall, Turner Valley, AB
March 28 – The Stop, Black Diamond, AB
April 1 – The Cellar, Vancouver
April 2 and 3 – Hermann’s Jazz Club, Victoria
Jazz vocalist Miranda Sage is getting set to make her first appearance in Vancouver since the release in January ’09 of her most recent album, Daydream. She will also be performing at Hermann’s Jazz Club in her hometown of Victoria. The shows represent a sweet return home for Sage following her first tour of Alberta in several years.
Ray Montford releases The Live Sessions
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March 23 – Superior Café, Victoria (solo w/ Ian Tamblyn)
March 24 – Joe’s Garage, Courtenay
March 25 – Roxy Theatre, Gabriola
March 26 – Dancing Bean, Chemainus
March 27 – Rossland
March 28 – Selkirk College, Nelson
March 29 – Workshop @ Selkirk (Nelson)
March 30 – Ironwood, Calgary
March 31 – Matchbox Theatre, Red Deer
Listen to the full CD at http://raymontford.bandcamp.com/
“a sensitive and exploratory musician.” – Atom Egoyan
“incredible playing … singular musical voice.” – Will Ackerman, founder of Windham Hill Records
You’ve got your ace fingerstyle players and your high-speed electric guitar noodlers, but there aren’t too many musicians out there playing electric with the soul of a David Gilmour or a Mark Knopfler. Ray Montford might just be the only guy in Canada pulling it off with such flair.
Yael Wand teams up with Corwin Fox on Good Stitch Gone
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Joyful, earthy, and delightfully free of pretense, wilderness-based B.C. songbird Yael Wand is like a breath of fresh air in the Canadian roots scene, blessed with a voice as pure as the air in her Barkerville home and a penchant for writing music that radiates the bliss of mountain life.
This month the Israeli-Canadian singer-songwriter releases Good Stitch Gone, the follow-up to her universally lauded sophomore album At Your Door and a collaboration with quirky Victoria producer, Corwin Fox. It is Wand’s most mature and cohesive album to date – one that places her squarely into the Americana genre without compromising either her airy, free-spirited sound or her worldly sophistication.
The writing is Wand’s best yet, much of it building on her penchant for creating intimate and inspired poetry from simple encounters with the landscape – both the emotional one and the physical one. The arrangements are lush and at times orchestral, with old-timey banjo, fiddle and mandolin right up front, accentuated by all manner of less traditional accompaniment: electric guitar, organ, congas, trumpet, and French horn, by way of example. The fiddle and trumpet parts come courtesy of Vancouver Island virtuoso Daniel Lapp, who adds a hoppin’ solo to “Lightspeeds”; electric guitar is contributed by Jordy Walker, who rocks out on the gospel-inspired “Take Me to the Water”; and accordion lines are added by idiosyncratic B.C. artist Raghu Lokanathan, whose work gives “Ballad of You and I” an Eastern European feel. Also accompanying Wand is long-time collaborator and roots cellist of choice, Christina Zaenker.
Alex Cuba earns third Juno nomination for third solo album
April 6th – Aeolian Hall, London
April 7th – The Brock Centre for the Arts, St. Catharines ON
April 9th – The Living Arts Centre, Mississauga ON
April 10th – The Mod Club, Toronto ON
April 11th – Neat School House Stage, Burnstown, ON
April 13th – Cabaret La Basoche, Gatineau QC
April 14th – Centennial Theatre, Sherbrooke QC
April 15th – Salle Mechatigan, Sainte-Marie de Beauce QC
Cuban musical revolutionary Alex Cuba has just achieved a Juno hat trick, having today earned a World Music Album of the Year nomination for his self-titled third album (which was released October 27th, 2009).
Briga launches the Balkan pop Diaspora
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In Toronto
Tuesday, February 23rd, 8pm, at Hugh’s Room
Tickets $10 in advance, $12 at the door
Reservations: 416-531-6604
In Kingston
Februrary 24th at The Mansion
To heck with women in rock. When was the last time you saw a woman fronting a Balkan pop ensemble?
Well, meet Briga, a Geoff Berner accompanist and Les Gitans de Sarajevo and Rembetika Hipsters alumnus who is stepping out from her sideman (er, sidewoman) status to launch her debut solo project, Diaspora.
Having already made her mark on Montreal, where she is an esteemed member of the Gypsy revival scene, she is now preparing her entry into Toronto with the launch of Diaspora February 23rd at Hugh’s Room. Those who attend can expect an evening of entertainment that befits the cabaret-style lay-out of the venue.
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Redgy Blackout tours the insanely hooky “The Leap”
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Redgy Blackout … The Like Penguins Tour 2010:
Jan 30 – Kelowna, BC – Streaming café
Feb 1 – Prince George, BC – Nancy O’s
Feb 2 – Kamloops, BC – The Commodore Cafe
Feb 3 – Golden, BC – Rockwater Grill
Feb 4 – Canmore, AB – Canmore Hotel
Feb 5 – Grand Prairie, AB – Better Than Fred’s
Feb 6 – Grand Prairie, AB – Better Than Fred’s
Feb 7 – Calgary, AB – Dickens Pub
Feb 11 – Nelson, BC – The Royal
Feb 12 – Nakusp, BC – Three Lions Pub
Feb 13 – Fernie, BC – Bulldogs
Feb 14 – Rossland, BC – Miners Hall
Feb 19 – West Vancouver, BC – Olympic Celebration Site
It’s hard to describe the music made by Vancouver’s Redgy Blackout, but damn is it ever hooky!
Combining elements of pop, swing, reggae, jazz and who knows what else, the four-piece, whose name is derived from the lead character in the TV series “Dead Like Me,” writes ridiculously catchy songs, enhanced by the versatile and expressive vocals of Vancouver theatre performer, Scott Perrie – who most recently appeared in the North Shore production of High School Musical 2.
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Leah Abramson launches The Abramson Singers
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Jan 26 — Toronto (Tranzac)
Jan 29 — Halifax (In the Dead of Winter Festival)
Feb 2 — Montreal (Le Divan Orange)
Feb 4 — Kingston (The Mansion, TBC)
Feb 5 — Wakefield (The Blacksheep Inn, IDOW festival redux)
The commercially available version is at www.whitewhale.ca
When singer-songwriter-guitarist Leah Abramson developed tendonitis in her wrist three years ago, she didn’t despair. Unable to write songs on guitar, Abramson – who, as a member of Dyad, earned a 2006 CFMA nomination for Emerging Artist of the Year – borrowed an 8-track and started recording a cappella vocal pieces under the name The Abramson Singers.
Now healed and playing her guitar again, Leah is preparing to release the resulting self-titled digital-only album on Toronto’s White Whale Records. She will be kicking it off with daily shows on the Via Rail train out to Toronto and then playing a handful of shows out east.
The Abramson Singers is a mesmerizing indie-folk noir album that showcases Leah’s glorious vocals in arrangements of up to eight-part harmony. Praised in the past for her “soft focus” sound and her “rough charm that dissipates into subtle beauty,” Leah recreates that vibe on the new album with music that is at once melancholy and uplifting. Read the rest of this entry »