Backstage Pass

This week, [someone], [someone else] and [another person] cover [topic].....

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This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

LYNN HARRISON

Lynn Harrison joins Douglas in conversation about her newest album, Treasure and performs three songs acoustically during our talk, letting the magic of these songs speak for themselves.

“A gifted artist known for thoughtful, heartfelt songs of uncommon beauty, power, and insight; Toronto singer-songwriter LYNN HARRISON is an inspiring presence on Canadian stages. Her new seventh solo album TREASURE (produced by Douglas September) features musicians David Woodhead, Bob Cohen, and Ambrose Pottie.

Lynn Harrison is a concise storyteller, prolific songwriter, and an expert turner of memorable phrases. Her previous, highly acclaimed album Something More was ranked among the Top 20 albums of 2020 by Jan Hall of Folk Roots Radio, among others. Also, as an ordained Unitarian Universalist (UU) minister currently serving at First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto, it’s clear that in all paths of her work, Harrison presents an inspirational message of love, hope and justice.

Treasure is an album about staying sane in a mad world; about facing change with love and optimism; a 12-song prayer cycle that's both personal and universal – from a songwriter's songwriter, whose deft lyricism, melodic sensibilities, and captivating voice are second to none.

www.lynoleum.com

Lynn plays three selections from Treasure:

To the hypnotic, percolating sound of Harrison's fingerpicked rhythm guitar, "Punctuation" ingeniously parallels an author's periods, question marks, and run-on sentences with those of our lives.

"Good Songs" is a tender-hearted acoustic solo piece featuring Harrison's intimate vocals and sparkling guitar, affirming the value of songs to inspire love and heal the world.

Kate Weekes // Better Days Ahead

February 3rd, 2023 Release Date

On her 4th album, Better Days Ahead finds the Quebec-based singer-songwriter Kate Weekes exploring “the liminal space created by lockdowns and cancelled plans”. Given that Weekes’ song writing has typically been inspired by travel, Better Days Ahead required an entirely new way of writing, using internal cues to map a moment in time. Composing mainly in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec, Weekes found “the boreal forest and Canadian Shield were beautiful places to pass a challenging period.” Indeed, the wildly eclectic songs assembled on Better Days Ahead — which Weekes variously describes as “Appalachian-influenced murder-suicide ballads, anthemic folk-pop, whimsical instrumental waltzes,” and “moody, horse-riding cowboy meets British rock”— announce an artist fiercely unbound by musical convention yet precisely able to articulate her vision.

https://kateweekes.com/home

With their new album, “Inside These Walls”, the Salt Cellars have made a huge step forward on their road to establishing themselves as a major, must hear act. This conversation took place in April 2022, before the album release in August. I have long hoped to publish this talk with these talented musicians to Backstage. Take some time to get to know this incredible band.

The Salt Cellars come from the south side of Algonquin Park. The Salt Cellars are currently a 5-piece band made up of Virginia DeCarle (Lead Vocals and Harmonies), Rob Bersan (Lead Vocals and Harmonies, Guitars), Ron Kapitain (Harmonica, Accordion, Keyboards, Harmonium), Richard Joudrey (Bass guitar), Anne Wilde (Harmonies).

Virginia deCarle and Rob Bersan are the singer/songwriter foundation and in 2016, they formed the duo, ‘The Salt Cellars’. The two have also played music together in previous years with other musicians. Drawing from their love of Americana, Folk, Blues, Jazz, Reggae, Rock and pretty much any other music that tickled their ears, they have written an eclectic mix of songs over the years. After many years of writing individually they brought their lyrics and music to each other. They also write collaboratively and have played in many venues in different parts of Ontario (Rob in Sweden too), getting great feedback from audiences who attended their shows. People loved the tight harmonies and skilled musicianship.

In 2017, Ron Kapitain, consummate harmonica, accordion & keyboard player from the Maynooth area, joined the duo. In late 2017, the trio met Anax Junius Music Studio producer and JUNO winner, Richard Joudrey (Blue Peter/Rational Youth). Impressed by their originality, he was excited to begin production of their first CD entitled, ‘Truth’.

The band became a six piece, including Rick Joudrey on bass, Anne Wilde on backing vocals and Brendon Burgess on percussion and drums.

BIO -

Most comfortable slinging an acoustic guitar and crooning to an attentive audience, Barber has been known to plug in and get sweaty in the din of a rock club as well from time to time. Like his heroes Neil Young and Bob Dylan, he feeds off of the contrast of intimate solo performance and electric band energy and this balance has been reflected in his body of work. From his early Paper Bag Records and Warner Music Canada days and continuing throughout his longstanding relationship with Outside Music, Barber’s album Ghost Notes has garnered millions of streams, was nominated for a Juno Award, with almost every track from the record licensed to both film and TV spots, including Hockey Night in Canada, Heartland, Gabriel’s Inferno and more.

As the road miles have accumulated, Barber’s live shows have leaned away from the raucous and more to the mellow side of things. In 2016 Matthew collaborated with his talented sister Jill Barber and the result was The Family Album and an extensive tour with three generations along for the ride. Many memorable tours happened before and after, including a 20-city tour of China, a couple of forays in Europe, several trips Down Under and countless miles on the trans-Canada highway.

2022 will see Barber releasing new music of his own for the first time since 2018’s Phase Of The Moon and he is very excited about it.

In this intimate and personal conversation David Myles takes us inside the making It’s Only a Little Loneliness, his fifteenth album release – a album of very special songs lyrically, thematically and beautifully performed and recorded.

Our most fundamental questions—about how to exist in this world we share, and how best to love the people we love—so often keep us awake at the end of the day, at a loss for answers. From the plaintive opening notes of David Myles’ It’s Only a Little Loneliness, the New Brunswick-based songwriter testifies that he’s no exception: “I could try to explain what goes on in my brain, but I’d have to pretend that I knew,” he sings on “Certain.” On his introspective 15th studio album, Myles establishes himself as a seeker—of paths, of new sonic expressions, of God. Concrete answers, however, elude him the same as they elude the rest of us. All of that seeking reveals one clear conclusion, though: we are bound to each other. “But it’s late at night, and I’m reaching for the light,” he continues over soft, arpeggiated guitar on the album’s opening track. “And I want to spend my whole life with you.”

This podcast is hosted by ZenCast.fm

David Libert had such a long and interesting career in the music business, his friends encouraged him to write a book about it…so he did.

Rock and Roll Warrior is a unvarnished, no-holds-barred, stories of his life in the rock ‘n roll fast lane on the road, backstage, on private jets and inside notorious after-show parties with music legends in the era of free-spirit, hard driving rock ‘n’ roll and R&B. It’s life on the road in technicolor. A roller coaster ride peek behind the curtain at the good, the bad and the ugly in the music biz of years gone by.

The book is a riotous, humorous, intimate, provocative story of Libert’s life in music. He has absolutely no qualms about sharing stories of all aspects of his life that will amaze, titillate, impress, and endear him to those who read his fascinating life journey in music.

From his tenure as co-lead singer of 60s pop hitmakers, The Happenings, to his role as tour manager for Alice Cooper’s most legendary 70s tours, to managing funk/R&B legend George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic to eventually being imprisoned for dealing drugs in L.A.,

Bruce Cockburn: Kicking at the Darkness

Bruce Cockburn’s conversation with Douglas McLean covered his stellar career of over fifty years in the music industry . Recorded in February 08, 2022. For 50 years, this Canadian musical legend has been capturing in song the essence of human experience – while fiercely striving to make it better.“One of Canada’s finest artists, Bruce Cockburn has enjoyed an illustrious career shaped by politics, spirituality, and musical diversity. His remarkable journey has seen him embrace folk, jazz, rock, and worldbeat styles while travelling to such far-flung places as Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique, and Nepal, and writing memorable songs about his ever-expanding world of wonders. “My job,” he explains, “is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper and the pulling of notes out of metal.”

Backstage Pass with Douglas McLean

Episode 1 - Julian Taylor

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