Check out an amazing, revealing article about Buddy & Julie Miller now available from Paste Magazine. If there were ever a reason to consider helping with the new movement to save Paste from being another victim of the struggling economy, this is it.
First off, a great thanks to everyone who attended the Tell the Band to Go Home show this week at the West End. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and many of you have been kind enough to say the same. A special thanks to Dom for making it happen and for all of the great times this week. I’ve already seen 4 shows in the new building, and I’m looking forward to many, many more. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you simply must.
And what better way than to see one of Canada’s greatest living songwriters in a full night of amazing songs, stories, and guitar playing. Thursday night at WECC, the great Stephen Fearing takes the stage. If you’ve never seen Stephen live, you’re missing out on something special. Those of you who have seen him in his many appearances at WECC or the Folk Fest surely know what I’m talking about. As I’ve told you many times before, seeing Stephen at the Folk Fest back in the early 90s sent me down the long road to finding out what other amazing artists I was missing out on, and inspired me to want to share them with you so you wouldn’t be left out. What I’ve found out since then is that Stephen is one of the most humble, approachable, appreciative musicians out there, so it’s my great pleasure to be speaking with him again this Sunday. We’ll chat about his new home, his new record of mostly old material, his experiences at WECC, the new Blackie album which is slated to be recorded very soon, and much more.
I’ve also got another huge pile of great new music, including one that is surely this year’s Discovery of the Year award winner. Check it out this Sunday.
And, if you haven’t done so yet, check out the new look of tellthebandtogohome.com. The always great KK has teamed up with her talented brother Jason to give us a much needed makeover, and I think it looks fantastic. Not everything works like it will, and not many of the other pages have been updated, but take a peek at the home page and tell us what you think. I can’t say enough how much I appreciate the help behind the scenes, so let’s hear it for KK and Jason.
And thanks to all of you for sticking around and putting up with my ramblings. Your support and encouragement makes this the most rewarding unpaid job in the world.
Last year when I first heard Christina Martin’s album “Two Hearts,” it blew me away. It’s so melodic and so interesting and so powerful and so pretty and just plain AWESOME. I’ve said before that she combines the heartbreaking lyricism of Lucinda Williams, the smoky, sexy voice of Amy Rigby, and the immediately memorable melodies of Shawn Colvin into one complete package. I really think that this gal should, and hopefully will be a well known and well respected artist, world wide, some day, so I’m getting in on the ground floor as quickly as I can. I tried to get her hooked up with a show in the area so I could see her live, but then I realized that sometimes, if you want something done right (and I’m not going to screw this up!), you just have to do it yourself. And so, I’m very excited and proud to present live, in concert, in my house, Christina Martin and her good friend Steven Bowers (another talented singer/songwriter who I know you’ll love), live at the Sunset Saloon on August 27. That’s still a ways away, so no real need to worry about getting tickets now, but mark it on your calendar and make sure you’re around, because you’re not going to want to miss this one!
I love it when I get something in the mail that absolutely takes my breath away and makes me wonder how the hell I’ve been missing out on this for so long. Last year when I heard Christina Martin for the first time, it was just like that. Previously, Catherine MacLellan and a bunch of others had that distinction.
This year, a couple of other lovely ladies are trying to steal my heart. True North Records is slowly resurrecting itself from the dead and slipping out some exciting new stuff, including a band called Madison Violet. They used to be called Madviolet, and if memory serves me correctly, they were pop tart kind of fluff. Well, either I’m really wrong about that, or they’ve grown up a lot. Check out their new album “No Fool for Trying,” or tune in to Tell the Band to Go Home to hear what they sound like. They’re kind of a rootsier version of Dala, or Kasey Chambers x 2. They have the pop hooks (and the hot looks), but this is a pretty country-oriented affair. It’s pretty damned impressive, and I know this band has a bright future with stuff like this. Check them out SOON.
After a long, lonely absence, our beloved West End Cultural Centre is ready for business, and this week’s Grand Re-Opening festival is giving us plenty of reasons to celebrate on this week’s show, including Wednesday’s Tell the Band to Go Home Songwriters’ Circle. The show was largely devoted to previewing those shows, although some great new music made it in, and we paid tribute to the folks at Paste Magazine who are going through some hard times but are getting some help from some very talented musicians.
And, for some added entertainment and educational value, Carter and “Sophie” came in to co-host!
I built the Tell the Band to Go Home website myself on a whim a few years ago. I had all of these grand ideas for all of the great content that it would contain, and the ways in which it would change and get better. Then reality set in, and the site got neglected like oh, so many projects before. It’s been needing an overhaul for a long time, but I can’t really find the time or the creative spark to reinvent it in a way that makes sense. I’ve been thinking more and more about finding someone who could help me fix it up right, but I wasn’t sure who would undertake such a thankless proposition. Enter, KK’s brother Jason, who’s an all around good guy, and who, it seems, builds websites in his spare time. Who knew? Well, Jason’s hard at work trying to fix us up right, and I know that the inconvenience of having the site down for a while will be worth the wait. Stay tuned for our grand re-launch, coming soon. Thanks Jason and thanks to everyone who visited that old dinosaur of a site. Looking forward to brighter, better days ahead!
Pre-recorded live from the comfort of my living room. We get a special visit from a pint-sized cohost, great new music including the amazing new Jim Bryson live album, another attempt to prove that Band of Horses is really just folk music in disguise, and a 90th birthday tribute to the great Pete Seeger!