Hey, hey, the gang’s all here… well, for 2/3 of the show anyway. For the last half hour we ducked out to go to the Haiti relief fundraiser at WECC, but we left a present behind. Jeff came in on Monday to record an AMAZING live set with The Wooden Sky featuring conversation and the entire band playing live, in-studio!
Another busy week of upcoming shows in Winnipeg, featuring The Wooden Sky, Jason Plumb, John Wort Hannam, and Spring Breakup, among others. We previewed those, had a listen to some Winnipeg classics, paid a birthday tribute to one of our most devoted listeners, and we still had plenty of time for new music from the mailbag and beyond!
It’s KK & The Mudge in-studio this week as we play a wide variety of music, just the way we like it: some pop, some roots, some rock, all good.
We’re extremely lucky in Manitoba to have an incredible music industry featuring some of the best artists in the world. That’s in no small part thanks to the behind the scenes industry folk (and the horrendous weather!) at organizations like Manitoba Film & Sound. As great as that organization is, sometimes, they screw up. Big time. This Sunday is one example of that. The folks at Film & Sound put together an amazing showcase of Manitoba music, featuring steallar stars like The Weakerthans, Romi Mayes, JP Hoe, Paper Moon, and many, many more. What’s more, they’re putting it on for FREE this weekend at our wonderful concert hall. Sounds great, right? Well, they made one tragic mistake. They booked it on Sunday at 2 pm. I know, what were they thinking? No respect, I tell ya.
Well, I’m not one to sit and gripe about the foolishness of others. Instead, I’ll be the bigger man and give you the weekend off to go support our wonderful artists. This week we’re pre-taped so that I can go down to the concert hall with my picket sign bearing the TTBTGH logo. Maybe we’ll get Stu Reid to pick up a dozen eggs and join us.
But, I’m not one to leave you in silence or slack off and run some old show you’ve heard already. No sir. This week, I put together another one of those timeless classics (and by that, I mean that you might hear it again some Sunday when I do slack off and run some old show…). This one is a good one. As I said on Thursday, I might actually be jealous of folks who stay home and listen. I pulled out some old classics that we haven’t heard in a while. I even cobbled together a weak theme for the show. I won’t tell you what it is, but I will tell you that the music this week is AMAZING, and this is one show you won’t mind hearing again some time down the road.
This week Steve Earle brings his Townesaoke tour to Winnipeg. I’ve long said that I’d rather hear Steve Earle do his own songs and hear Townes do his own songs, so this week that’s exactly what we did. We also heard from Hayes Carll, James Keelaghan, Geoff Berner, and Rae Spoon who are all appearing in town soon. And, some new music that I’ve been dying to play (and a Fred Eaglesmith tangent it set me off on.)
The Mudge goes it alone this week with some previews of some great upcoming shows, and a sad, posthumous tribute to the late, great Paul Quarrington.
I’ve learned the hard way that sometimes, it is indeed best not to meet your heroes. With this in mind, for some reason, I’ve purposely avoided talking to one of the greatest songwriters in the world, even though I see him all over the place and have heard that he’s a humble, decent dude. This week, I took my chances and chatted with John K Samson of The Weakerthans, and found that he is every bit as decent as I’ve heard. Phew. He kicks off a preview of an incredibly busy week in local shows, featuring John & Christine & friends, Dala, Joe Pug, Cuff the Duke, Blue Rodeo, and more!
It’s been far too many years and one failed attempt, but finally, at long last, James Keelaghan drops by the studio to chat and sing us some of his amazing songs. He even asked me for a request (and wasn’t bothered in the least by it) AND promised to come back! Now that’s a show worth listening to again or catching up on if you missed it the first time.
This week we hear from a bunch of artists who made (and inspired) great music in 2009. We talked about what they’re up to, but more importantly, we dedicated the show to our good friend Dietmar in Germany who is a tireless champion of the music that we love. He is an inspiration and a great help the the artists we talked to, including Leeroy Stagger, Evan Phillips, Romi Mayes, Dustin Bentall, Matt Epp, T. Nile, and more! Here’s to you, Big D. Keep up the great work.