Hidden Track

Crystal Shawanda is a gifted, inspiring artist who's been singing her heart out her whole life. She got her start in music as a kid growing up in the Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, and as a teenager, she followed her dreams all the way to Music City: Nashville, Tennessee. She quickly scored a house gig at one of Nashville's most storied honky-tonks, really paid her dues, and wound up signing with RCA Records, the legendary label which has been home to musical giants from Hank Snow to Elvis Presley. With her RCA debut, Crystal became the first Indigenous artist ever to enter the top 20 on Billboard's Country Albums Chart; she had truly arrived as a hitmaking major-label country music recording artist. But that's when she felt her artistic voice pulling her down another path. About a decade ago, she branched off to form her own label, and pursued a new journey as an original blues artist. Since that time, she's become a multiple Juno Award winner, a global force on the blues scene, and a role model for Indigenous artists everywhere. In this episode, we caught up with the incomparable Crystal Shawanda in the midst of a months-long tour, in a rare moment that found her briefly back in her old stomping grounds on Manitoulin Island. She opens up about her heartfelt new album Midnight Blues, out on True North Records September 30th, 2022; influences from Hank Williams to Howlin' Wolf, from Buffy Sainte-Marie to Celine Dion; how despite despair, intergenerational trauma, and loss, music has the power to bring freedom, connection and hope; and how her path, which has taken her from the First Nation where she grew up, to Nashville, and now to the global blues stage, has brought her closer to her roots and her home community than ever.

Out September 23rd, 2022 via Sonic Records, Adam Baldwin's new album Concertos & Serenades is a study of the dark side of East Coast culture. It's a captivating collection of musical short stories and character portraits; a collection which, as Adam tells us in this episode, almost feels like it's halfway between an album and a true-crime podcast. Adam Baldwin is an acclaimed, award-winning Nova Scotian singer/ songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist who's renowned as a brilliant folk-rock troubadour with an honest, earthy approach. He's also widely known for the many years spent he's spent travelling the world, playing alongside fellow Nova Scotia great Matt Mays. But on this much-anticipated new release, Adam's taking a whole new, conceptual approach to his songcraft. With Concertos & Serenades, he presents a strikingly stark and devastatingly dark brand of East Coast raconteurship. Along this ride, we encounter unforgettable characters who often begin with the best of intentions at heart, find themselves ground down by forces beyond their control, and make choices that often lead to disastrous consequences. Though Adam employs the sort of classic storytelling approach that Nova Scotia's known for, these songs present an updated and unflinching look at the very modern, very troubled community he's called home for his whole life. It's a kind of Nova Scotia noir or East Coast gothic style that, for Adam, accurately reflects the smouldering heartbreak and desperation that he feels is the inescapable undercurrent of small town life in contemporary Atlantic Canada. As powerful as it is, however, this album very nearly never was. After hitting a low point in his career which found him legitimately preparing to quit the music business that's been his lifelong pursuit, he was suddenly seized with the compulsion to begin exploring and documenting his home community through this inspired suite of homespun musical narratives. In this conversation, Adam lets us in on how this album came along at the strangest time and was lit by a most surprising spark; he recalls some of the true-life characters and places which inspired these tales; discusses the underlying cultural forces driving these shadowy East Coast yarns; and gives us the inside track on some of the artists who've inspired him creatively - from Springsteen to The Trailer Park Boys to Adam's longtime friend and collaborator, Matt Mays. Hidden Track is a CKUA production, and is presented by Bent Stick Brewing.

If you've ever seen Ruthie Foster perform live, you'll have no trouble understanding why she's a member of the Texas Hall of Fame, a four-time Grammy nominee, and has been hailed as one of the most remarkable blues, folk and gospel voices of the 21st Century.

As striking as she is as a musician, however, the road that's taken her there is every bit as compelling. She started off as a child star on the gospel circuit, followed by a stint working on helicopters in the Navy. She later dove back into music, but gave up on New York City and a contract with Atlantic Records, returning instead to her tiny Texas hometown to care for her mother, eventually making her debut album for her own label. And that's literally just the beginning of her storied recording career!

Her debut album celebrates its 25th anniversary this year. Over that quarter-century, she's carved out a unique place for herself as an uncategorizable artist, drawing from gospel, blues, folk, jazz, pop, soul, rock, and opera; recording compositions by the likes of 1940s guitar firebrand Sister Rosetta Tharpe, metal forefathers Black Sabbath, and exalted poet Maya Angelou; and of course, writing profoundly heartfelt songs from her perspective as a genuinely self-actualized artist.

In this conversation, the candid, soulful and hilarious Ruthie Foster speaks off the cuff and from the heart, discussing her unique lifelong journey as an artist, her abiding interest in everything from big band jazz to opera, her perspective as a gay woman in roots music, her stunning latest album Live at the Paramount, always striving to stay grounded through family and work, and reaching for all good things that life has to offer.

Kicking off her recording career in the mid-1990s, Bif Naked became a platinum selling, chart-topping, Lilith Fair-headlining artist, fusing punk, pop, metal and dance... fearlessly following her own instincts, exploring often uncomfortable truths through her music, and always striving for boldness and authenticity in all things.

On top of her life in music, Bif is also an author, poet, actor, yoga devotee, straight-edge vegan, cancer survivor, and quite simply an instantly recognizable, tattoo-bedecked, colossal presence in Canadian pop culture.

And she's got a new album on its way, Champion; which, as we'll hear, is maybe her most ambitious project ever.

On this episode, we hear from the always-candid Bif Naked all about the hardscrabble world of DIY prairie punk rock; how beating cancer shaped her artistic journey; what's it like to be back "home" on the road; and what it's like to have influenced, inspired and empowered generations of young people, over her nearly three decades as a recording artist.

Spoon, a critically acclaimed rock band from Austin, Texas, consists of front man Britt Daniel, drummer Jim Eno, Ben Trokan on bass, and guitarists (as well as keyboardists) Alex Fischel and Gerard Larios. Critics have often described the band's musical style as "art rock" or "experimental rock."

Formed by Daniel and Eno in 1993, the band has released ten albums and undergone quite a few roster changes over the years. These days, Britt Daniel and Jim Eno remain the only founding members, with other current members having joined in the late 2010s. The band's latest album is Lucifer on the Sofa, and Spoon is currently on a North American tour, with a show in Edmonton and an appearance at Calgary FolkFest.

Ever the music fans, the band is heavily influenced by a wide range of musicians and popular bands from their formative years, including rock legends like The Beatles. In this episode of CKUA's Hidden Track Podcast, Spoon members Britt and Alex join Grant Stovel to discuss their love of music, the inspirations behind their latest album, and how radio played a huge role in their musical development.

Consisting of husband-and-wife duo Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish, Digging Roots is a JUNO Award-winning band that combines a strong social message with elements of folk-rock, pop, blues and hip-hop. They are a band that strongly believes in the transformative power of music and its healing effects, much like the traditional medicine in which their name is derived.

As was the case with many artists over the course of the pandemic, the duo spent their time in lockdown crafting the songs that would eventually serve as the basis for their fourth studio album. Their latest release Zhawenim – a Anishinaabemowin word meaning "to love unconditionally"- marks the duo's first album in eight years.

The new LP serves as a distillation of their values and perfectly encapsulates their ethos of truth and love. With messages ranging from connection to the land, residential schools, gun-related violence and the climate crisis, the songs featured in this latest album all share a strong message of change, while ultimately aiming to inspire people to move together.

In this episode of CKUA's Hidden Track podcast, music and life partners Raven and ShoShona bring us a behind-the-scenes look at the inspirations behind their long-awaited Zhawenim album.

Ghostkeeper is a greatly acclaimed Alberta band, and at the heart of that band is a truly great love story.

The story of Sarah Houle-Lowry and Shane Ghostkeeper is woven all through the band's music. The Ghostkeeper story started when Sarah and Shane got together, having grown up in and around the Paddle Prairie Metis Settlement at the very northernmost tip of Alberta's Peace River Country. Their lives and artistic endeavours have been intertwined ever since, giving rise to this band nearly two decades ago.

The very heartfelt, homespun tales offered on the Calgary-based band's new album serve to open up a portal for other stories to find their way in; overlapping observations about family, community, culture, philosophy, spirituality, and all the important ways that we're connected with one another, and with the world. So it's fitting that this new record, which relates stories and ideas both very big and very small, is called Multidimensional Culture.

Sarah and Shane took a break from their busy music, visual art, and family life to take us deep into the band's remarkable story, which is full of twists and turns, at least one accidental float down a river - and of course - the journey that brought them to Multidimensional Culture.

"When I made Lavender Country, I wasn't planning on being the grandpappy of a music genre..."

These days, queer voices in country music are not unheard of. In fact, many of the most successful artists in the country music world of 2022 are gay, and are outspoken about it, both in their music and otherwise. That certainly was not the case when Patrick Haggerty made his first album, the 1973 self-titled debut by his project, Lavender Country.

This time out, Hidden Track traces the story of how Patrick Haggerty made history by boldly and resolutely remaining true to who he is, and by undergoing a rather astonishing journey which ended up leading him to make a groundbreaking artistic statement.

The Lavender Country LP was the first openly gay country album in history; but it certainly wouldn't be the last. While the band made only a modest splash at the time of the debut album's release, Lavender Country's music and story have lived on, continuing to unlock possibilities for generations of artists over the past half-century. These days, there are hitmakers all across the country music spectrum who are coming from a queer perspective, ranging from Brandi Carlile to Lil Nas X. Sensational young artists like Orville Peck and Trixie Mattel cite Patrick as a crucial inspiration, and have helped bring the music of Lavender Country into the 21st Century spotlight.

Nowadays, the long-dormant Lavender Country project is back with a new album, their first in 49 years! Just ahead of a June tour through Alberta, the open-hearted Patrick Haggerty walks us through the uplifting, occasionally heartbreaking, stranger-than-fiction story of trailblazing queer country band Lavender Country.

Bill Bourne was a collaborative, talented artist. Every song he wrote, every festival he played, and every project he touched was made better by his generous spirit and amazing musicianship. For generations, Bill's presence in the musical community of Alberta has been massive, and it ripples outwards all across Canada and the globe. This month, CKUA is in conversation with a cross-section of friends and colleagues of this remarkable artist and human being, who died April 16th, 2022, at the age of 68. In a heartfelt, homespun tribute, the Hidden Track podcast traces some of the astonishing, unique journey of this iconic folk musician through memories and stories from the likes of the Edmonton Folk Fest's Terry Wickham, John Armstrong of The Christmas Carol Project, Mile Zero Dance director Gerry Morita, CKUA's own Andy Donnelly and Cathy Ennis, and beloved musicians Lester Quitzau, Terry Morrison, Tippy Agogo, Scott Cook, and Jasmine Collette a/k/a Badlands Jazz of Blue Moon Marquee.

She's one of the biggest stars in the world of blues, a champion for (and of) guitar women everywhere, and she happens to be a Canadian.

Sue Foley is in the spotlight for the April episode of CKUA's Hidden Track podcast. Sue reflects on her three-decade long career, heroes like trailblazing guitar heroes Memphis Minnie and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, her Guitar Woman research project, becoming a college professor by day and guitar slinger by night, her acclaimed latest album Pinky's Blues (named after her iconic pink paisley guitar), and lots more.