Episode #438 Sunday, April 8, 2012

It’s Easter Sunday, so that means we’re bound for trouble with a little bit of sacreligious snarky music. We try to redeem ourselves by celebrating birthdays, paying tribute to the late great John Bottomley, and looking forward to exciting upcoming shows, including the long-awaited return of Kathleen Edwards.

Artist – Song title – Album Title – CDN=Canadian – WPG=Winnipeg artist

2:00 – 2:30 pm

NQ Arbuckle – Danko/Manuel – live recording – CDN
Woody Guthrie – Jesus Christ – My Dusty Road
Deer Tick – Christ Jesus – The Black Dirt Sessions
Paul Thorn – Rise Up – So Far So Good Live
JP Hoe – Rise – The Dear John Letters – CDN – WPG

2:30 – 3:00 pm

Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat – Rabbit Fur Coat
Kris Demeanor – Chocolate And Lust – Go Away (With Me) – CDN
James McMurtry – Candyland – Candyland
John Bottomley – The River – Blackberry – CDN
John Bottomley – Klee Wyck – Blackberry – CDN
John Bottomley – The Healing Dream – The Healing Dream – CDN

3:00 – 3:30 pm

Jay Aymar – My Cherry Coloured Rose – Halfway Home – CDN
Jay Aymar – This Town Ain’t Big Enough – Halfway Home – CDN
Cara Luft – Only Love Can Save Me – Darlingford – CDN – WPG
The Other Brothers – Second Wind – Points of View – CDN – WPG
Romi Mayes – Ball and Chain – Lucky Tonight – CDN – WPG

3:30 – 4:00 pm

John Wort Hannam – Requiem for a Small Town – Queen’s Hotel – CDN
Brian MacMillan – Shine – Shine – CDN
Hannah Georgas – Lovers Breakdown – This Is Good – CDN
Jim Bryson – Fleetwood – The North Side Benches – CDN
Kathleen Edwards – Empty Threat – Voyageur – CDN
Kathleen Edwards – 12 Bellevue – Failer – CDN

An Evening with Garnet Rogers

Influential North American folk musician Garnet Rogers will be performing two sets of the music that has defined his career thus far at the West End Cultural Centre on Sunday May 27th.

In a darkened bedroom, lit only be the amber glow from an old floor model radio, two young brothers aged 6 and 12 lay in their beds, listening to the country music broadcasts from the Grand Ol’ Opry, and practiced their harmonies. Two years later, the youngest one was playing the definitive 8-year-old’s version of “Desolation Row” on his ukulele. He soon abandoned that instrument to teach himself the flute, violin and guitar.

Within ten years, and barely out of high school, Garnet Rogers was on the road as a full- time working musician with his older brother Stan Rogers. Together they formed what has come to be accepted as one of the most influential acts in North American folk music.

Since then, Garnet Rogers has established himself as ‘One of the major talents of our time”. Hailed by the Boston Globe as a “charismatic performer and singer”. With his “smooth, dark baritone” (Washington Post) his incredible range dramatic phrasing, Garnet is widely considered by fans and critics alike to be one of the finest singers anywhere. His music is literate, passionate, highly sensitive, and deeply purposeful. Cinematic in detail, his songs “give expression to the unspoken vocabulary of the heart” (Kitchener Waterloo Record). An optimist at heart, Garnet sings extraordinary songs about people who are not obvious heroes and of the small victories of the everyday. As memorable as his songs, his over-the-top humour and lightning-quick wit moves his audience from tears to laughter and back again.

Resolutely independent, Garnet Rogers has turned down offers from major labels to do his music his own way.

Among the most significant folk stars working today. – Boston Globe

Website: http://www.garnetrogers.com/bio.shtml

An Evening with Garnet Rogers
Sunday May 27th, 2012 @ The West End Cultural Centre
Doors 7:15 pm | Show 8:00 pm
Tickets: $20 advance | $25 door
Tickets available now.
Available at the West End Cultural Centre, Ticketmaster, Music Trader, and Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store

SWEET ALIBI COME HOME TO WINNIPEG

Local group hits the Park Theatre with Toronto’s The Strumbellas

(Winnipeg) – Three stunning voices, one great band – Sweet Alibi returns home to Winnipeg after their western Canadian tour. Since their debut in the spring of 2009, Sweet Alibi has been captivating audiences with their alluring blend of soulful melody and folk/roots tradition. Playful sense of lyricism set to powerful vocal harmony set the stage for a performance which is up front and personal and instinctively compelling.

Drawing influence from a vast array of musical references, Sweet Alibi apply a quirky pop sensibility to an eclectic set. Songs range in mood from hauntingly provocative ballads to left of centre takes on everything from Country to old school RnB. Backing their vocals with electric guitars, banjos, hand percussion, ukuleles, upright bass, kazoos and whatever else they can get their hands on, Sweet Alibi compliment a diverse set with an equally eclectic instrumentation.

Comprised of three core members (Jessica Rae Ayre, Amber Neilsen, and Michelle Anderson), and backed by an array of Winnipeg’s finest musicians, the group performs steadily both as a stripped down trio and with a fully fleshed out rhythm section. The band has shared the stage with many of Manitoba’s folk/roots community and have performed everywhere from intimate coffee houses and mainstay clubs to outdoor concert series and festivals (including an appearance at The Winnipeg Folk Festival). Having finished their highly anticipated self-titled debut album with Juno award winner Mitch Dorge, Sweet Alibi are currently touring their album across Canada including this stop at the Park Theatre on May 30th in Winnipeg.

Supporting the night are Toronto’s newest hit makers The Stumbellas. Having received rave reviews, CBC called them a “band to watch”, while their 2009 EP was well-reviewed across the blogosphere and in Now Magazine. February 2012 saw the release of their highly anticipated debut album, “My Father and The Hunter.” This is the band’s first ever show in Manitoba.

Sweet Alibi
w/ The Strumbellas

May 30, 2012 – The Park Theatre, Winnipeg
Tickets $12.50 at The Park Theatre, Music Trader, & www.ticketbreak.com/parktheatre
Doors 715pm Show at 8pm
ON SALE THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2012 AT 10AM
presented by The Park Theatre

www.sweetalibi.com
www.thestrumbellas.ca

An Evening with Jane Siberry

Jane Siberry is a singer-songwriter from Canada with 12 recordings. Her best known song is perhaps “Calling All Angels” which has been used in a number of films and television shows. k.d. lang recorded her songs “Love Is Everything” and “The Valley” on her Hymns of the 49th Parallel.

After stepping away from the mainstream music industry while it went through it’s breakdown and re-structuring, Jane has been quietly fashioning a way of living a joyful life as a musician and doing business ‘unto others as I would have business done unto me’. This has generated a sense of trust and community with those who have found her online without the big machinery of the music business. As a performer, she mixes it up with concerts on world stages such as Carnegie Hall and living rooms in the north of Finland.

Her creative spirit can also be found in her paintings and her writings for the Huffington Post. Her recent collection, the Three Queens Trilogy has been released over the past few years. A fourth addition, Consider The Lily, is a gathering of the most universal songs of the trilogy and is being produced by fellow Canadian and first-class musician, Peter Kiesewalter for a late 2012 release.

An Evening with Jane Siberry
Sunday May 6, 2012 @ The West End Cultural Centre
Doors 7:15 pm | Show 8:00 pm
Tickets: $30 advance | $35 door
Tickets available now.
Available at the West End Cultural Centre, Ticketmaster, Music Trader, and Winnipeg Folk Festival Music Store

The Return of my good friend Fred

Ol’ Fred’s coming back to town once again, and he’s likely to have some insults to throw my way. That’s becoming an annual event, as is him taking on the Winnipeg Folk Festival, by playing here on opening night. We here at TTBTGH wish him well with that, even though we’ll surely be at the festival. We’ll have our spies in attendance to provide us with a full report.

FRED EAGLESMITH’S ‘TRAVELING STEAM SHOW’ COMES TO WINNIPEG

Rocker/Writer’s New Album 6 Volts Drawing Widespread Praise

(Winnipeg) – What happens when one of North America’s most heralded and adventurous rock songwriters hits the continent in support of a brand new record? Fans and Fred-heads alike will find out as the Fred Eaglesmith Band pulls into Winnipeg on July 4th as part of the Traveling Steam Show tour.

Acclaimed singer, songwriter and bandleader, Fred Eaglesmith is a genuine iconoclast and true original. It’s the natural result of following the cue of his musical career and now 19 albums with the January 2012 release of “6 Volts”. The result is one of the most fascinating and musically rewarding careers in contemporary music. As he has doggedly gone his own way as an independent musical artist, Eaglesmith has also enjoyed such high profile rewards in recent years as having his songs covered by country superstars Toby Keith, Alan Jackson and Miranda Lambert, among many other accomplishments.

6 Volts is yet another landmark on a journey. The album takes its title from the battery that powered the game-changing transistor radio – introduced in 1954, the same year that rock’n’roll emerged into popular consciousness – and embodies the notion of back to the future. Captured live in the studio with one microphone onto a one-track reel to reel recorder like so many enduring classics, 6 Volts also bristles with contemporary urgency.

Fred Eaglesmith
Wednesday, July 4, 2012 – The Park Theatre, Winnipeg
Tickets at The Park Theatre, Music Trader, & www.ticketbreak.com/parktheatre
Tickets are $25 plus applicable service charges
ON SALE THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2012 AT 10AM
presented by The Park Theatre

Bruce Cockburn TV special, May 4

Bruce Cockburn Shares a Slice O’ Life, Music and Spirituality

A VisionTV World Premiere!
Bruce Cockburn: Pacing the Cage

An intimate look at the legendary Canadian songwriter and activist
Friday, May 4, 2012 at 10pm ET/7pm PT

In 2008, Canadian music icon Bruce Cockburn set out on tour to make a live, solo album, “Slice ‘O Life”. Cameras followed the man whose legacy includes songs like Wondering Where the Lions Are, If I Had a Rocket Launcher, and If A Tree Falls, as he performed to sold-out crowds in benefit concerts across North America. The filmmakers also followed Bruce to his San Francisco home for candid conversations about his views on topics from religion to new parenthood.

“If I try to understand what it means to be a Christian, I look at the two instructions that were given in the Bible that are paramount, and those are to love God with all your heart and mind, and to love your neighbour as yourself. That’s it.”
-Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn: Pacing the Cage sheds new light on Bruce’s spirituality, and his thoughts on activism, politics, writing, and his life in the music industry. An Officer of the Order of Canada and Canadian Music Hall of Famer, Bruce Cockburn’s important lyrics and strong melodies have graced 31 albums. He is a Christian, but his spirituality is universal. For over 40 years, he has brought Canada’s attention to causes around the world. He was the recipient of the first ever Humanitarian Juno Award and continues to make music that matters.

Pacing the Cage includes never-before-seen live performances of songs from his 40 year-plus catalogue of music and appearances by:

Bernie Finkelstein
Colin Linden
Michael Ondaatje
Bono
Sarah Harmer
Lt. Gen Romeo Dallaire
Sylvia Tyson
Jackson Browne
Theology Professor Brian J. Walsh
Christian author William Young
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings
The Wailin’ Jennys

Bruce Cockburn: Pacing the Cage was produced by BB&J Productions for VisionTV.
The documentary was written and directed by Joel Goldberg and produced by Joel Goldberg and Bernie Finkelstein.

Episode #437 Sunday, April 1, 2012

A real mixed bag today, something for everybody: April Fools, 90s indie rock, new music, goodbye Earl (Scruggs), birthday parties for Emmylou, Merle, and Eilen, as well as a look at this year’s Junos. All of that, jammed into 2 hours.

Artist – Song title – Album Title – CDN=Canadian – WPG=Winnipeg artist

2:00 – 2:30 pm

Rufus Wainwright – April Fools – Rufus Wainwright – CDN
Chalk Circle – April Fool – The Great Lake – CDN
The Inbreds – Drag Us Down – It’s Sydney Or The Bush – CDN
Rheostatics – King of the Past – Whale Music – CDN

2:30 – 3:00 pm

Great Lake Swimmers – New Wild Everywhere – New Wild Everywhere – CDN
Great Lake Swimmers – Don’t Cry No Tears – Borrowed Tunes II: A Tribute to Neil Young – CDN
Tom Russell – Navajo Rug – Veteran’s Day
David Newberry – Easter – No One Will Remember You – CDN
Old Time Machine – Doin’ All I Can Do – Old Time Machine – CDN
Trampled by Turtles – Risk – Stars and Satellites
Iris DeMent – Quality Time – The Way I Should
David Wilcox – Three Women – Rhythm of Love – CDN

3:00 – 3:30 pm

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will the Circle Be Unbroken – Will the Circle Be Unbroken Volume Two: And the Circle Will Continue
Emmylou Harris – Jupiter Rising – Stumble Into Grace
Gram Parsons w/Emmylou Harris – Love Hurts – Heartaches & Highways: The Very Best of Emmylou Harris
Blackie & The Rodeo Kings w/Emmylou Harris – Step Away – Kings & Queens – CDN
The Wailin’ Jennys – Deeper Well – The Wailin’ Jennys – CDN – WPG

3:30 – 4:00 pm

The Wailin’ Jennys – You Are Here – Bright Morning Stars – CDN – WPG
Bruce Cockburn – Pacing the Cage – The Charity of Night – CDN
Dan Mangan – About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All – Oh Fortune – CDN
Lindi Ortega – Jimmy Dean – Little Red Boots – CDN
Eilen Jewell – Dusty Boxcar Wall – Letters from Sinners & Strangers
Merle Haggard – Sing Me Back Home – 16 Biggest Hits

FAR #152

Artist: Album (Label) *JR

AoM: Rose Cousins: We Have Made A Spark (Outside) *JR
2. K Phillips: American Girls (self)
3. Great Lake Swimmers: New Wild Everywhere (weewerk)
4. Lucero: Women & Work (ATO)
5. Trampled by Turtles: Stars and Satellites (Six Shooter)
6. Audrey Auld: Resurrection Moon (Reckless)

Steel Belted Radio – March 29, 2012

Tonight there’s a can’t miss show going on at the West End, so we’re pre-recorded. Tonight’s concert features two great bands who have visited us in the past for some conversation and live performances. Those were great sessions, worthy of reviewing while we dash off to see the concert tonight. So, we revist classic live sessions with The Wooden Sky (recorded in February, 2010) and The Sunparlour Players (recorde in November, 2009).

playlist
[download id=”148″]
[download id=”149″]

March 25, 2012

We gots lots goin’ on today, including previews of some of the best shows coming up this week (and there are plenty), including Rose Cousins, who joins us on the telephone today to chat about her fine new album and upcoming debut at the West End Cultural Centre. We’re also celebrating Nick Lowe’s birthday (whenever it might be) and looking at the lineup for this year’s Winnipeg Folk Festival, which was announced this weekend.

playlist
[download id=”146″]
[download id=”147″]