Well after midnight, on a cold stretch of highway somewhere in British Columbia's Cascade Mountains, a party is in progress. It's mid-November, and members of the Tragically Hip, fresh off a successful tour opening in Vancouver, are celebrating as their bus whisks them northeastward overnight towards the Okanagan Valley. The air is thick with smoke. "Pass me a beer?" asks drummer Johnny Fay, slipping a CD by the Asian Dub Foundation into the stereo system. As heavy rhythms flood out, heads nod appreciatively. The hypnotic instrumental number suits quiet conversation or zoning out. Several beers and too much David Bowie later, guitarist Robby Baker puts a more eclectic spin on things, playing...

On the Sunday before he died, Paul Quarrington was doing what he’d spent the last seven months doing: as much as possible. Whether it was writing, performing, recording, travelling, fishing, watching his beloved Leafs or partying with family and friends, Paul was packing it in, squeezing the juice out of everything before taking his leave.On this particular Sunday, Paul was in the studio laying down one more track for his solo album, in this case a part for his brother Joel, an accomplished classical double bassist. I wanted to witness this session featuring two talented individuals who’d been in my life since childhood.Back then, I was best friends with Joel and knew Paul as his shy and ins...

What do you think was the best album of 2009?Troubadour - K'naan  35.7% other   21.4% Glasvegas - Glasvegas   7.1% It's Not Me, It's You - Lily Allen   7.1% Together Through Life - Bob Dylan   7.1% Wilco (the album) - Wilco   7.1% Humbug - Arctic Monkeys   7.1% Three - Joel Plaskett   7.1% What do you think was the best single of 2009? The Fear - Lily Allen   30.8% Pulling on a Line - Great Lake Swimmers   23.1% other   15.4% Wavin' Flag - K'naan   15.4% Use Somebody - Kings of Leon   7.7% Warm Heart of Africa - The Very Best feat. Ezra Koenig   7.7%

Folksinger Kate McGarrigle left a deep musical legacy both in recordings with her older sister Anna McGarrigle and in her two children, singer-songwriters Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright. Kate and Anna McGarrigle were revered for their heavenly harmonies and sensitive love songs, made famous by the likes of Linda Ronstadt and Maria Muldaur. Lavish praise greeted the Montreal duo's arrival in the mid-1970s, with the British and American press citing the intimacy of their voices and honesty of their songs. Along with critically lauded albums, the McGarrigle sisters each gave birth to musically talented offspring. Kate McGarrigle grew up bilingual, but, in many ways, music was her first ...

The following were my picks for this year's 19th annual eye weekly music critics poll: BEST ALBUMS OF 20091: Joel Plaskett/Three (MapleMusic)2: K'naan/Troubadour (A&M/Octone)3: Arctic Monkeys/Humbug (Domino)4: Lily Allen/It's Not Me, It's You (EMI)5: Neko Case/Middle Cyclone (Anti)6: Wilco/Wilco (the album) (Nonesuch)7: Great Lake Swimmers/Lost Channels (Nettwerk)8: Bob Dylan/Together Through Life (Sony)9: Junior Boys/Begone Dull Care (Domino)10: Glasvegas/Glasvegas (Columbia) BEST SINGLES OF 20091: The Very Best feat. Ezra Koenig/"Warm Heart of Africa" (Green Owl)2: K'naan/"Wavin' Flag" (A&M/Octone)3: Metric/"Help I'm Alive" (Last Gang)4: Lily Allen/"The Fear" (EMI)5: Great Lak...

This Beat Goes On tells the story of Canadian music in the 1970s, a ground-breaking era of great sounds, from glam and progressive rock to punk and reggae. Set in the formative years of Canada’s music industry, This Beat Goes On offers a jukebox full of chart-topping songs from, from Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundown” and Burton Cummings’ “Stand Tall” to Trooper’s “Raise a Little Hell” and Loverboy’s “Turn Me Loose.” Mixing archival footage with candid interviews, the documentary features proven hitmakers like Anne Murray, Neil Young and The Guess Who as well as a wealth of new folksingers, blues artists and mullet-rockers. Solo artists like Joni Mitchell and progressive rockers Rush still rule, b...

Rise Up looks at the digital age of Canadian music in the 1980s, a visual era of big hair and shoulder pads, when music videos helped homegrown artists to take off internationally. America’s MTV and Canada’s MuchMusic provide launching pads for artists as varied as Triumph, Bruce Cockburn, Chilliwack, Jane Siberry, Men Without Hats and Bryan Adams. Blending illuminating interviews with thrilling concert footage and videos, including Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” 54-40’s “I Go Blind,” Blue Rodeo’s “Try” and k.d. lang’s “Hanky Panky,” Rise Up takes viewers on a thrilling ride into the decade’s pop stratosphere. Along with such telegenic performers as Gowan and Dalbello, the hit-filled documentary inclu...

Details: Author: Nicholas Jennings; Hardcover: 168 pages; Publisher: Macmillan Canada; 2000, Language: English; ISBN 0771576641 Book Description from Amazon In fifty years, EMI Music Canada has grown from a local distributor for Capitol Records into a major player in our music industry. While ensuring that Canadian music-lovers could get the latest Frank Sinatra release (and later The Beatles), EMI staff also began to visit local music scenes across the country to find and promote homegrown talent. From The Esquires and Gisele Mackenzie to Anne Murray, Glass Tiger, Tom Cochrane and Susan Aglukark, EMI has championed Canadian musicians and singers and brought them to the attention of both nat...

Book Description from Amazon This is an entertaining, authoritative, and highly anecdotal look at the golden era of Canadian pop music-the historically important decade that gave birth to such internationally respected recording artists as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Ian & Sylvia Tyson, Gordon Lightfoot, Murray McLauchlan, Bruce Cockburn, Buffy Saint Marie, Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Ronnie Hawkins. In the bohemian sixties, Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood was a hippie haven-our version of Haight-Ashbury or Greenwich Village, a place where coffeehouses like the Riverboat and the Purple Onion offered a creative mecca for musicians from across Canada. They came from Saskatoon and Winnip...

Synopsis

The 1970s gave us bell bottoms, shag hair and shag carpeting a whole lotta great music…from glam and progressive rock to punk and reggae. This Beat Goes On offers a jukebox full of chart-topping songs, from “Sundown,” Gordon Lightfoot’s confessional tale of infidelity,” to Trooper’s rambunctious party anthem “Raise a Little Hell,” to showcase the rapid growth of the Canadian sound.

Mixing archival footage with candid interviews from top artists and industry heavyweights, Hour One focuses on the formative years of Canada’s music scene, a time of proven hitmakers like Anne Murray, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and The Guess Who. The decade starts out on a controversial note, as a government ruling forces radio stations to play 30 per cent Canadian content, or CanCon. “That was the biggest problem,” DJ Red Robinson believes, “that arbitrary 30 per cent. I think it should’ve started at 10 or 15 per cent and then let it grow.”