The 2011 Western Canadian Music Awards take place tonight, and the slate of nominees is especially strong, and especially stacked with Winnipeg artists, so what else are we to do but play a whole bunch of the nominees? We’ve also got a heaping helping of great new music, and a couple of show previews featuring Oh Susanna and Elliott BROOD.

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Dale Murray is one talented dude, and the first part of the show demonstrates that. He produced the wonderful new record by Steven Bowers, as well as the recent works of our good friend Christina Martin, and he used to play in Cuff the Duke, who return to Winnipeg this week. We heard a few requests/dedications, before dusting off a big ol’ pile of vinyl records for a great set of golden oldies.

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Today we catch up with our old friend David Francey, who returns to town this week for a can’t-miss show at the Park Theatre. Also, it’s Jetsgiving in Winnipeg, where we celebrate Thanksgiving and the return of our NHL team. We played some music in honour of both, and then shut the show down a wee bit early so our intrepid host could head home in time for the opening faceoff, and a fabulous dinner with the family.

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Although he’s always out playing his heart out, Dan Frechette hasn’t put out a CD in a long time, but he’s back with two new ones, so he dropped by the studio, after a similarly long absence, to chat and play a bunch of new songs. He even brought his friends Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, and Neil Young along (you have to hear it to believe it.) His former producer, Bill Bourne, is also back with a new blues record and visiting town, so we preview his show as well as some others.

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We’ve had some pretty notable guests on this show over the years, but even I was a little surprised and impressed when we landed today’s interview with the legendary James McMurtry. He’s one of the most powerful songwriters in the world, and he returns to Winnipeg next weekend for the first time in 19 years. Sadly, this means that we won’t be going to see Danny Michel, but we played a bunch of his songs to soften the blow. We’ve got a bunch of other classics to round out the show.

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