Backstage Pass – Details, episodes & analysis

Contemporary roots-folk singer-songwriter Howard Gladstone officially released his eighth album Crazy Talk (Sonic Peach Music) on September 20,2024.

The twelve new songs cover genres from folk to jazz to folk/rock to world music.

Howard Gladstone, Toronto-born singer/songwriter, is releasing his eighth album of original music in September 2024. He is also publishing a book of his collected lyrics titled "Timepieces." Veteran Canadian songwriter James Gordon has called the work a "remarkably compelling collection."

Gladstone is continuing with his monthly residency at Toronto's Tranzac Club, where he is accompanied by regular band members (Tony Quarrington, Laura Fernandez, Bob Cohen, Ambrose Pottie). Previously Gladstone co-founded and produced the not-for-profit Toronto City Roots Festival from 2004 to 2010. He recovered from a life-changing spinal cord injury in 2014 and released the album Hourglass inspired by his healing journey, in 2017. While in recovery, he found new strength, resolve and solace in music, and understood more deeply its healing power. His follow-up album The Promise was recorded and released during the pandemic lockdown, with musicians working remotely. Gladstone continues to write, record, perform, and occasionally guest host "Corby's Orbit" radio show. Back in his university days, he was a journalist, and his interview with Robbie Robertson was re-published in Rolling Stone magazine.

He and Laura Fernandez formed the boutique record label Sonic Peach Music.

ALFIE SMITH Every Rome Needs A Nero  Alfie Smith released his eighth album, Every Rome Needs A Nero, in October 2024. The Hamilton-based troubadour is a popular and crowd-pleasing fixture on the Ontario’s blues/folk/roots festivals and club circuit, but it has been a full decade since his last release, Come On In My Kitchen, a duo record with his wife, Nicole Christian. In a relaxed conversation, Alfie Smith shared some of his songwriting inspirations and discussed various tunes on the album, as well as some of his thoughts on guitars, tunings and songwriting in general.
Every Rome Needs A Nero, is a timely and provocative album filled with some intimate lyrics and deeply felt performances. An album to treasure for years to come.
“His return to the recording arena with Every Rome Needs A Nero finds Alfie at the height of his creative powers. He is a triple threat: a guitar virtuoso fluent on slide and vintage National and resonator instruments, an eloquent songwriter in the classic blues tradition, and a powerful singer with a voice to match his formidable physical presence. That deep voice sounds like it has been dredged from the depths of the muddy Mississippi River. It is rich and earthy, and capable of expressing tenderness, melancholy, joy, and, in the case of the new album’s title track, righteous anger. Alfie fully flexes his songwriting muscle on Every Rome Needs A Nero, and the gap between albums meant he had a large selection of material upon which to draw. The title tune and opening cut sets the stage sweetly, via a cool trumpet solo, crisp acoustic guitar and a laid back vibe. Smith’s voice locks into a mellow groove, while lyrics featuring historic references remain relevant today.

GRAVEN (Matty McKechnie) - Always Everything A new album from Graven is always an eagerly anticipated event. Always Everything released June 30,2024, is a set of songs that look all the ups and downs, the highs and lows that every life must pass through, captured in a way that only songwriter Graven is capable of.
GRAVEN (Matty McKechnie) is an independent folk-rock singer-songwriter from Ottawa, Canada. An innovative Nepean-born songmaker with a key focus on cultivating joy and wonder in Canadian geography, Matty (Graven) is a wiley wordsmith whose passion is to create a highly accepting and inclusive community of music lovers. Although exposed to classical tunes with piano lessons during childhood and playing the alto sax in Grade 9 - none of that moved the needle. Hearing his dad spin endless vinyl through the floorboards to the tune of Lionel Richie, Kenny Rogers, Whitney Houston, Neil Diamond and many others in his preteens, however, was the spark in Matty's musical fire. Later, he was enthralled by the rhymes and rhythms and wordplay of Hip Hop and rap music, with Run DMC, Beastie Boys, LL Cool J and the Fat Boys kicking open a door in his subconscious teen mind. Lyrics have always been Matty's true north and they provide the canvas for the rainbow-coloured paint spatter of his heart-sleeve songs.

Graven's first release was a basement recording in 1999, and since then, he's shared stages with the likes of Steve Poltz, Jim Bryson, Danny Michel, Sarah Harmer, Elliott Brood, Joel Plaskett, Kathryn Calder (New Pornographers), Stephen Stanley, Ron Hawkins and many more. Focusing on the guitar and vocals, and having eclectic and broad contemporary Canadian musical influences with more than 16 major releases under his belt, Matty has toured all the way across Canada thrice, with a powerful mission to empower his listeners to embrace their authentic selves without judgment. https://www.graven.ca/biography

Her new album, ‘RESONANCE’, is out now! Full of exciting new songs and sounds, Briar is clearly destined for national renown with her brand of infectious pop-rock. Nothing is stopping Briar’s ascendence into pop stardom!

Briar Summers is a singer-songwriter from Muskoka, and now based in Toronto.

Produced and mixed by Wayne Cochrane, mastered by Chris Crerar, at Metalworks Studios, Mississauga ON, it features the incredible talents of Ben Riley (drums), Drew Jurecka (viola, violin), Jack Gaughan (guitars), Cole Jodouin (bass), Daniel Dennis (cello), and Louis Tusz (trumpet).

Briar has performed on many stages throughout Muskoka and beyond - Summerfolk Festival, Muskoka Pride, Muskoka Music Festival, Bala Cranberry Festival and Huntsville's Festival of the Arts, and has played countless other concerts and venues as well. She is performing in Europe for the first time this summer.

Her debut album FROM THE ASHES (2021), was produced and mixed by 3x Grammy-award winner David Bottrill.

Adrian's fifth solo album released, February 27, 2024, ‘You’re Just A Place That I Know’, tracks the story of his Ukrainian grandparents’ flight from their homeland in the 1940s, settling to begin life anew in Montreal. Situated somewhere in Glynn’s usual wheelhouse of dark indie folk, the album has tinges of traditional Ukrainian folk music, featuring instruments like the bandura and the lira (or “hurdy-gurdy”), as well as strings, a full band and a young men’s choir.

Adrian Glynn McMorran is a Vancouver, Canada-based actor and musician. Raised in Vancouver, Adrian received a BA in Theatre from the University of British Columbia and studied acting at New York's Atlantic Theatre School.

Adrian also records and tours as a singer-songwriter ("Adrian Glynn") and has spent the past few years playing shows in Canada and Europe, both as a solo act and as a member of the Canadian modern folk group, The Fugitives.

The Fugitives 2014 release, Everything Will Happen, garnered them nominations for the Canadian Folk Music Awards and the Western Canadian Music Their most recent album ‘No Help Coming’ is a stunning reflection on the looming environmental crisis that we can’t seem take seriously.

Nothing ever really, truly ends. Even with our sights set on the future, once a significant event—a love lost, a love found, the birth of a child, the death of a friend—passes, we're bound to our memory's eternal return. On New Kind of Familiar, his second album under the Clever Hopes moniker, Andrew Shaver explores the texture of transition with lush folk-rock and poetic lyricism, from a liminal vantage point that offers both views of where he's come from and the places he might be headed.

Between writing his debut Clever Hopes album, Artefact, and the songs that comprise New Kind of Familiar, Shaver experienced his fair share of significant events—falling in love, moving to Nova Scotia, becoming a father. These are the things occupying his mind on the new record, and yet, they don't exist in a vacuum; Shaver rejects tidy narratives and time's linear arrow, and instead lets the album take shape with the same flow and verve of real life, bouncing back and forth in his lyrics between memory, the glorious, the complicated present, and anticipation.

The result is appropriately dreamy, drifting, rhythmic, and charged. On the record's soulful, simmering opener, "The Only One," Shaver's dusky delivery plays foil to longtime collaborator Eva Foote's airy vocals as he tentatively moves into new romance while acknowledging the lingering sting of a past breakup. The horn-blasted "Thrown It Open" finds him fully fallen into a big love and embracing the unknown; haunted pedal steel colours the reflective "Holes" as the relationship shifts and unsettles; with the quick-shuffling "Blue Parachutes," hazy memories of a lost year in Australia convince the songwriter's present self to pull it together.

"There was a lot of looking back on Artefact," Shaver says. "New Kind of Familiar is far more forward looking; there are songs on which I've been able to celebrate the place I'm in now - a place of stability and clarity.

As Shaver puts it: "I love a slow fade to black."

NATE SILVA RETURNS with ‘The Chase’

Nate Silva has made a name for himself as a consummate guitarist, songwriter, singer and entertainer. On June 07,2024, Nate will return to Huntsville, in concert, with his trio, showcasing a new album- ‘the Chase’, tour and triumphant set of songs at Canvas Brewing Company.

Known primarily for his virtuoso guitar stylings with the Slyde (2009-2021), an internationally successful recording band, he was much beloved for his exhilarating cover sets where he displays his artistry and melodic flourish on acoustic guitar. http://natesilvamusic.com/

Nate is also highly regarded for his extensive studio work as session player and producer. He has toured with an impressive variety of artists, in almost every genre available in today’s music scene, such as Gabrielle Goulet, Cindy Doire, Reuben and the Dark, Tim Piper and many more.

His powerful, multi-octave singing range, often compared to Geddy Lee and Freddie Mercury, is beyond thrilling. Above all, Nate is a dynamic, exciting presence on stage and engagingly charismatic considering how thunderous his music can get.

http://www.nathandasilva.ca/

LORI YATES - MATADOR

“Matador," released on January 29, 2024, is an exciting, thoughtful album from a veteran songwriter and performer. In this delightful, easy-going conversation, Lori discusses the album and what it means her and her many years thriving in the music industry.

Lori Yates is a renowned voice, a respected singer/songwriter in roots music, and a pioneer of “alternative country music” in Canada.

The Band's Rick Danko once described Yates as having "that desperate Canadian sound," sealing her legendary status.

Yates returns with her eighth album, "Matador," released on January 29, 2024, a testament to Yates’ enduring influence and artistic evolution.

https://loriyates.ca/

NO HELP COMING. - THE FUGITIVES

'No Help Coming', to us, isn't a negative," says Glynn. "It means humanity's alone in this, but we're alone in this together."

The Fugitives are: Adrian Glynn: vocals, guitars, bass, balalaika, piano, additional percussion Brendan McLeod: vocals, guitars, ukulele, bad banjo Carly Frey: vocals, violin Chris Suen: vocals, banjo, ukulele

BIO: Formed in Vancouver, Canada in 2007, The Fugitives are a folk collective headed by songwriters Brendan McLeod and Adrian Glynn. The band has toured extensively in Europe & Canada, won multiple folk music awards and released 5 critically-acclaimed albums. On "No Help Coming" they took the learnings from months of research from their JUNO nominated previous release, "Trench Songs", to playfully take on deadly serious topics. "No Help Coming" is concerned with the climate emergency, and how humanity's only choice is to work together.

The Fugitives are an acoustic folk-roots group headed by songwriters Adrian Glynn and Brendan McLeod. They’re joined by banjo player Chris Suen (Viper Central) and violinist Carly Frey (The Coal Porters).

Over their first five albums, they’ve amassed a JUNO nomination, numerous CFMA and WCMA nominations, and toured extensively through Canada, Europe, and the UK. Performance highlights include most major Canadian folk festivals, a slot at Glastonbury, and a tour opening for Buffy Sainte-Marie. In 2020, the band created “Ridge”, a WW1-centered theatre show, which was named a Globe & Mail “Top Arts Pick of the Year”, and has toured to over 30 theatres across Canada.

The band has earned a reputation for unforgettable live shows, brimming with complex harmonies, infectious storytelling and top-notch musicianship. As the CBC has it: “This show is simply brilliant.”

54•40 is a legendary Canadian rock band that emerged from the vibrant music scene of Vancouver, British Columbia. Formed in 1981, the band's name is derived from the westward expansionist James K. Polk (11th President of the USA) political slogan “54-40 or Fight”! The band’s core members are Neil Osborne (vocal’s, guitar and Brad Merritt (bass). Both high school friends with a shared passion for music, they were later joined by Phil Comparelli (guitar) and Matt Johnson (drums), who became important contributors to the band’s signature sound. After Phil Comparelli's departure from the band, Dave Genn joined 54•40 as the new guitarist. His addition to the lineup brought a fresh perspective and musical talent that complemented the band's existing sound. Dave Genn had already gained recognition in the Canadian music scene through his work with the band Matthew Good Band. With Dave Genn on board, 54•40 continued to create memorable music and deliver electrifying performances. Their chemistry as a group remained strong, and they embarked on successful tours, both nationally and internationally, further solidifying their status as one of Canada's most cherished rock Acts. In 1984, 54•40 released their self-titled album debut, which included tracks like "Baby Ran" and "I Go Blind." These songs garnered significant video exposure on Much Music and quickly established the band as a promising force in the modern rock scene. Throughout their career, 54•40 has earned critical acclaim and numerous awards, solidifying their status as Canadian music icons.

In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the band achieved even greater success with albums like "Show Me" (1987) and "Dear Dear" (1992), “Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret” (1994). The latter featured the hit single "Ocean Pearl," which became one of their most recognizable and beloved songs.