Top 20 greatest Canadian bands

 by Madison McSweeney 20. Blue Rodeo The Toronto country rockers have released fifteen original albums since their formation in 1984, winning twelve JUNO Awards. Their 1993 album 5 Days in July went 6x Platinum With well-known songs “Hasn’t Hit Me Yet,” “5 Days in May,” and “Til I Gain Control

Canadian music veteran Alan Doyle shows a new side

 While Alan Doyle's projects have led him through folk, rock and pop music, his latest EP sees his love for country coming through the most. With a cast of co-writers, Rough Side Out has Doyle balancing strong creative friendships with ambitious firsts in his career. We caught up with Doyle

Ottawa resident Séan McCann and founder of Great Big Sea to release memoir

 Séan McCann, founder of Great Big Sea will release a memoir in April titled One Good Reason: A Memoir of Addiction and Recovery, Music, and Love. The narrative moves back and forth between Séan and his wife Andrea Aragon’s points of view as they move through his addiction, and recovery.

Looking Back, Gazing Ahead — It’s all Beautiful to Alan Doyle

 “They came to see you. So you be you and nobody else,” Gord Downie once told Alan Doyle. They are words he’s never forgotten. Words that remain as the one time member of Great Big Sea, Canada’s biggest party band, continues his career as a solo musician. Once, in what

Guitars for Vets Provides Musical Medicine

 “With a guitar in your hands you have an instant companion,” says musician Séan McCann. He knows firsthand of music’s potential to heal. These days he reaches for Old Brown instead of a bottle. While music has made up a big part of who he has been for much of

Folk Music Ontario Conference Celebrates 30 Years

 All photos by Andre Gagne. When Murray Foster of Great Big Sea and other bands took the stage at the Folk Music of Ontario Conference Awards Brunch on Sunday, he admitted it was his first time at the conference. He didn’t know what to expect and now that it is

From the Rock to the Capital, Séan McCann’s Road to Recovery: Part 1

 Photos by Dave Howells / Artwork by Meaghan Smith Séan McCann stood facing the two men he’d spent 20 years of his life with. As musicians, they travelled miles together for hundreds of nights in song. Now they were silent. It was two months before a tour that would celebrate their band. Soon the

Tie Up Your Dancing Shoes and Get Ready for Sea Perry

 Get ready to put on your dancing shoes for the single Molly’s Shoes by Canadian folk-rock band Sea Perry. The catchy and upbeat song dropped at the beginning of April from the band’s debut full-length album, Do What You Do, set to be released April 21. If this first single

Great Big Sea: “Ottawa Is Like Coming Home”

 On the 20-year anniversary of touring the band’s East Coast folk music around North America, Great Big Sea is happily bringing the show back to the capital at Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest – one of the many seasonal festivals that have welcomed the legendary Canadian band with open arms. Whether the