Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Over the course of 30 years, Blue Rodeo has built a loyal following of fans drawn to memorable songs and the warm harmonies of frontmen Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor. In 1993, the beloved Canadian alt-country rockers decamped to Keelor’s farm and recorded what many consider to be their best album: Five Days in July, a sunny collection with a communal feel that featured friends like Sarah McLachlan. Last fall, the 11-time Juno Award winners and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees returned to Keelor’s rural home and once again harvested pure gold. Says Cuddy: “It was apparent right away that it was going to be a good vibe record.” Songs like Cuddy’s shimmering “New Morning Sun” and Keelor’s hope...

It's nearly impossible to imagine Margo Timmins as a bad-tempered diva. The angel-voiced singer of Canada's Cowboy Junkies has always been a point of calm in the stormy world of rock 'n' roll, a soothing balm amid so much angst, rage and excess. But three years ago, even the ever-gracious Timmins began to lose her cool. The Junkies had just released their eighth album, Miles from Our Home, and she and her bandmates felt it wasn't getting the marketing support it deserved from its U.S. label, Geffen Records. During a flight to Los Angeles, Timmins finally expressed her festering frustration to her brother Michael, the band's guitarist and songwriter. "I was ready to quit," Margo recalls. "Dea...

With his straggly, shoulder-length hair, torn blue jeans and red sneakers, Greig Nori doesn’t look like the sort of man to be wined and dined in elegant restaurants by smooth-talking business executives. But Nori, who is in his late 20s, is a singer-guitarist in a band called treble charger, one of the hottest new acts in Canada. And several major record companies have been vigorously courting the group for the past year with a series of lucrative contract offers. Although flattered by the attention, treble charger shocked many in the record industry last month by turning down all the big-league offers. It chose instead to continue releasing albums on its own Smokin’ Worm Records, the company the band created in 1993 for its acclaimed debut, NC17. Distribution will be handled by another tiny label, Hamilton’s Sonic Unyon. "Sure, a record deal may be every kid’s dream," says Nori, who is originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. "But we felt confident enough that we’re better off on our own."