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The Glorious Sons – Glory Days  

Roman Mitz
The Glorious Sons – Glory Days  
“Glory” is the 4th studio album from Kingston’s The Glorious Sons, co-produced by long-time collaborator Frederik Thaae. The album, which was recorded over a two-year period, is the band’s most intimate effort to date, yet it still blazes with outsized melodies that their fan base has come to love since their inception in 2011. Founded by guitarist Jay Emmons and... Read More

New Guitar Style Highlights Wide Mouth Mason’s New Album Release

Keith Sharp
New Guitar Style Highlights Wide Mouth Mason’s New Album Release
In 2019, Shaun Verreault and Safwan Javed, the two surviving members of Wide Mouth Mason entered the recording studio to release their seventh studio album, `I Wanna Go With You’, a blues-based album recorded live off the floor and geared towards a live performance.  This album also introduced Verreault’s new guitar-playing technique, a tri-style lap steel technique in which he... Read More

The Kings Are Out To Prove There Is More To Their Legacy Than Just One Monster Hit

Keith Sharp
The Kings Are Out To Prove There Is More To Their Legacy Than Just One Monster Hit
Classic rock music fans will wonder out loud if they have blundered into some kind of `Back To The Future’ time warp when they notice a double bill of The Kings co-featured in a series of Ontario-based concerts in late September alongside stalwarts Honeymoon Suite. The Kings have just released their first new studio album, `The Longest Story Ever Told’... Read More

Cathedral Performances A New Acoustic Twist For Billy Raffoul

Keith Sharp
Cathedral Performances A New Acoustic Twist For Billy Raffoul
When Leamington Ontario native Billy Raffoul toured Europe two years ago, he found himself booked to play in Hamburg Germany’s St Michael’s Cathedral as part of that city’s Reeperbahn Festival, the only time that venue is allowed to be used as a concert venue. That date was so successful and the acoustics in the venue so spectacular that Raffoul’s European... Read More

10 for the Show – Trooper’s Induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame

Music Express
10 for the Show – Trooper’s Induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame
By Brian Stanko - The red-carpet procession of the Trooper train spread across the branded backdrop where the members attempted to please the gaggle of photographers–aiming for poses that balanced the inherent sense of rock ‘n’ roll attitude with the fact that the accumulated years had taken much of the edge off that attitude, leaving some very broad and sincere... Read More

Injustice Corrected – Trooper is Inducted into Canada’s Music Hall of Fame

Keith Sharp
Injustice Corrected – Trooper is Inducted into Canada’s Music Hall of Fame
By Keith Sharp Outrageous negligence will finally be corrected Thursday, May 18th, when Vancouver’s Trooper is inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame at Calgary’s Studio Bell Centre. They, along with Country Artist Terri Clark, Francophone star Diane Dufresne and noted jazz pianist Oliver Jones will join Nickelback, who have already been inducted into the hall during this year’s... Read More

The Big Top returns to the banks of Quidi Vidi from June 14th-24th! St John’s NL and the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent – Music Festival 2023

Keith Sharp
The Big Top returns to the banks of Quidi Vidi from June 14th-24th! St John’s NL and the Iceberg Alley Performance Tent – Music Festival 2023
By Keith Sharp The region of Newfoundland/Labrador is known for its scenic beauty and its friendly people (see Come From Away)…but music events are not so much. But then Steeles Hotel chain President John Steele had this revelation when seeing a huge entertainment tent resurrected in London, England and felt the same concept would work back in his native St... Read More

Amanda Marshall Survives Prolonged Legal Battle, Releases New Single, and a New Tour.

Keith Sharp
Amanda Marshall Survives Prolonged Legal Battle, Releases New Single, and a New Tour.
By Keith Sharp For those music fans who wondered whatever happened to Amanda Marshall, do not worry; Amanda is back with a bang, and a national tour Amanda Marshall – 25 & Counting: The Heavy Lifting Tour and presented by Live Nation. With a début single, “I Hope She Cheats,” already hitting the social media airwaves, Marshall is obviously thrilled... Read More

Triple Concert Chaos Under Control For 2023

Keith Sharp
Triple Concert Chaos Under Control For 2023
By Keith Sharp Understanding the chaos caused by the cancellation of one festival concert caused by the pandemic, you can imagine the effect of planning three festivals and having all three put on hold for the past two years. But that’s exactly what happened to the organizers of Dauphin’s Countryfest, Rockin The Fields Of Minnedosa and Thunder Bay’s Country In... Read More

Bluewater Bridge No Barrier to The Bluewater BorderFest

Keith Sharp
Bluewater Bridge No Barrier to The Bluewater BorderFest
By Keith Sharp The Bluewater Bridge spanning between Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan, as well as the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor with Detroit, represents the lifeblood of commerce to this South Western Ontario outpost. So when the COVID pandemic practically closed off access between the two cities, any major social events planned for Sarnia in 2020 and 2021... Read More

The Many Faces Of Michelle Truman

Keith Sharp
The Many Faces Of Michelle Truman
By Keith Sharp Michelle Truman is a musical schizophrenic. Some nights she exhibits an aura of Stevie Nicks, other nights, she stars as one-quarter of her own ABBA tribute team or captures the spirit of Shania Twain, Joan Jett or Lita Ford. And more recently, she has assumed lead vocal in the band Toronto as a replacement for Holly (Annie) Woods,... Read More

Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy Create A Musical Canvas With New Studio Album

Eric Alper
Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy Create A Musical Canvas With New Studio Album
Photos Credit Rebekah Littlejohn A blank canvas is full of possibilities—much like the partnership of Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, whose new album Canvas comes out on March 17, 2023.  They are two of the world’s top Celtic fiddlers: she is a renowned, award-winning solo artist from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; he is from the legendary Leahy family of Ontario,... Read More

McBowl Concert Series Has North American Appeal

Keith Sharp
McBowl Concert Series Has North American Appeal
Photo by Andrew Clowater By Keith Sharp The 6th Annual McBowl Concert, in support of Ronald McDonald House promoter Ed Sousa can usually tell how well his annual concert festival is doing by how many tickets are sold nationally and throughout the United States. “Last year, we sold tickets to 20 U.S. states and every province in Canada. So far... Read More

Coney Hatch’s UK Tour 40 Years In The Making

Keith Sharp
Coney Hatch’s UK Tour 40 Years In The Making
By Keith Sharp The invitation came right out of the blue. When Coney Hatch bassist Andy Curran touched base with Iron Maiden bassist Steve Harris during his band’s Toronto and Hamilton dates (as part of Maiden’s global Legacy Of The Beast tour), Harris mentioned he would be taking his British Lions’ side project on a brief but intense 11 dates... Read More

Blakk Turns Traumatic Childhood Experience Into Moving Emotional Vignettes

Keith Sharp
Blakk Turns Traumatic Childhood Experience Into Moving Emotional Vignettes
By Keith Sharp Considering Forest Blakk’s traumatic childhood upbringing, it would have come as no surprise if his musical influences had been Thrash Metal or Gangsta Rap. Yet his third EP, ‘Every Little Detail’ contains eight emotional introspective compositions which rank highly on wedding musical theme lists, an image which belies his gruff, tattooed physique. Blakk grew up in Montreal,... Read More