Lord Byrun (Byrun Boutin-Maloney) was crowned Grand Winner of the 50th Granby International Song Festival in August, the first Western Canadian artist to take the prize. The festival is the largest French-language song contest in North America, with preliminary auditions held throughout Canada annually culminating in four semi-finalists appearing at the gala concert. Boutin-Maloney is from Riceton SK, and is formerly of Indigo Joseph. He is also a visual artist who paints and creates sculptures from objects found on his family farm. Prior to participating in Granby, he first won the Nouvelle scène competition in Saskatchewan, followed by Chant’Ouest 2017 in Yellowknife. He receives a cash prize of $25,000 in addition to other benefits, including a cross-European tour in 2020. His next two years will be very busy with performances. https://www.facebook.com/ByrunLord/
Sunny Day Encore returns with two new singles, collectively titled “Double A-Side”, to be released on the day of love (or perhaps, anti-love), February 14. A clear distinction from their Feb 2018 LP release “Rememberable,” the two singles exhibit maturing songwriters Justice Ausum and Chad Christison, and their eagerness to expand their musical capabilities as well as establish a greater emotional connection with their audience through more meaningful lyrics and carefully crafted compositions. The duo has let go of the synthesizers from the first album and have honed in on a more alternative sound that they believe captures the emotions they are trying to portray with more honesty and integrity. “Double A-Side” has been released online-only. https://www.facebook.com/SunnyDayEncore/
G. B. Loon is Devon Dozlaw’s solo folk/spoken word project. With it, Devon pairs dense poetry and lyrics with comedy. G.B. Loon’s first LP “Restaurant at the End of the Gloomy Verse” was released last summer, while “The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Solo EP” was released in October. It was recorded with the help of Jeffrey Campbell (of the Venus Extraction). The new 6-song EP features a couple tracks of spoken word with sung choruses and some simpler folk songs. gbloon.bandcamp.com
Coherency and the WHL’s Regina Pats teamed up for the new music video, “Bleed.” It’s inspired by NHL playoff montages by blending bone crunching hits, big goals, and a big tune to get the adrenaline flowing. Coherency’s four bandmates have two things in common that binds them together: music and hockey. The band has all played hockey together for years every Sunday night, and also try to make some music from time to time as Coherency. Having the idea to combine their two passions, Coherency reached out to the Pats’ Phil Andrews, Voice of the Pats and Director of Media and Communications, who loved the idea and gave them access to an endless supply of highlight footage, as well as some time at the Brandt Center to do some on ice filming. The video was shot by their longtime friend Dustin (Dukes) Hassard, who has worked with them on the previous music videos “Mental Breakdown” and “Apathy.” “Bleed” is off their new album “Cognitive Dissonance” released in June 2018. http://coherency.ca
GrassRoots Regina kicked off its twelfth season of intimate acoustic concerts, assembling a lineup of some of Canada’s and Britain’s finest musical talent. “We’re particularly enthused about the coming year,” says GrassRoots Regina co-founder and local music maven Karen Haggman. “Our shows cover folk music’s diverse flavours, from alt-country to bluegrass to blues to storytelling songwriters. As well, we’re excited to introduce a couple of Britain’s most acclaimed acts to Regina audiences.” GrassRoots Regina insists on a concert experience that is casual, friendly, and respectful of both artist and audience. Concerts this season take place at The Exchange. GrassRoots Regina, a non-profit organization, has presented 120 high-quality folk and roots concerts since 2007. www.grassrootsregina.com
Lyn Besse McGinnis had a productive 2018; she released her third album “a simple life” in October and her first music video for the song “You Shine” in December. Along with her solo career, Lyn, Terry Hoknes & Tom Kennedy have formed the trio All Together Now - 3 voices, 3 guitars & some roots for lunch. 3 singer/songwriters mixing it up with all the essential ingredients for a great Canadiana style kitchen party.
Session 1 Records recently completed the recording and mixing of Call Me Mildy’s new record,”Take A Bite Of This.” Since opening in 2016 the studio has worked with more than 70 artists. Notes owner/producer Steven Dueck, “We’re a Universal Audio/AVID Studio using 2-Apollo 8p Audio Interfaces and ProTools 2018 for our mixing. Recent technology upgrades include UAD-2 Satellite that provides additional DSP to run required plugins necessary to achieve A-Class recording and mixing. Combined with our new studio acoustic treatment and isolated vocal booth these upgrades provide a comfortable professional studio environment for recording artists.”
Formally known as Cquel, hip-hop MC Evan Thompson has transitioned to the name Ev Thompson for his releases going forward. Thompson’s released a number of singles/music videos under the new name including “3peat,” “Idgaf,” and the latest, “Watch Me” to much success and will be opening up for American MC legend, Tech N9ne and Krizz Kaliko, for their March 16 tour date at Coors Event Centre, Saskatoon. Ev will have his full display of new merch, a completely revamped live set full of new music, plus a limited amount of promotional CDs available. Ev’s song ‘3Peat’ was recently chosen to compete on the Demo Battle segment of the Lord Sear Special on Eminem-produced satellite radio station Shade 45. Ev is one of few Canadian independent rappers ever to be chosen to played on the station.
Jess Moskaluke and Hunter Brothers joined Canadian country music superstar Paul Brandt and multi-CCMA winners High Valley on The Journey Tour cross-Canada tour 2019. The tour kicked off in Abbotsford BC on January 25, and wraps up 21 stops later in Sudbury ON on February 24. www.thejourneytour.ca. Both artists have been extremely busy this past year, with award nominations and wins and chart success (more details elsewhere in this issue). Hunter Brothers’’ “Born and Raised” was recently voted in by the public to become the Official 2019 World Juniors Tournament Anthem presented by SiriusXMCanada.
The Johner Boys released two recent singles: the pop-flavoured “Love in California” in October, written by Luc Johner and Eric Taylor; and the Christmas single “Let It Snowman, Let It Reindeer” in December. Luc says, “Love in California sounds like a sunset and feels like a road trip,” while for the holiday track, “We wanted to produce this as if it were a traditional holiday tune, using some ‘classic Christmas chords’, and letting the 4-part harmony shine through.“ The tracks are available online. www.thejohnerboys.com
Andrew Bennett (aka Factor Eight), Saskatoon composer and music producer, has been honoured with a prestigious SOCAN Foundation Award for Emerging Audio-Visual Composers. It’s an annual competition designed to recognize Canadian composers who are 30 years of age and under for original musical themes or scores created exclusively for audio-visual support (TV, film, Internet, et al.). Submissions are examined by a jury of prominent composers selected by the SOCAN Foundation, with excellence being an overriding factor in adjudication. Bennett’s composition for the short biopic film ‘Citizen’ (written and directed by Brock Newman) was awarded third place in the ‘Best Original Score - Non-Fiction’ category. Bennett was nominated for his third consecutive Western Canadian Music Award for Visual Media Composer of the Year in 2018. Bennett’s passion is collaborating with fellow artists and has worked with prestigious brands like GMC, So You Think You Can Dance, Salomon, Jaybird, and Gillette, making waves in the music and film industries both locally and internationally since starting out online in 2013. He is currently creating a second full-length album. www.factoreight.net
Jeffery Straker was in Nunavut for the first time in January – specifically Resolute Bay, to do a songwriting workshop with students in the local Qarmartalik School. He noted, “Over the 3 days working with the students, they wrote a brilliant (& touching) song called ‘Our Hearts will Stay’ - all about their love of the people, landscape, & traditions of their home in the north, and performed it at a feast for the community on the final night. CBC Radio and TV as well as the Nunavut News covered the project all across the North.” Jeffery has a a lot of upcoming shows including a repeat tour to the Netherlands April 3-15, and dates across Canada. He’s also well into writing songs for the next album, with recording to commence this year.
www.jeffstraker.com.
After a trip to Australia in November to perform an official showcase at Australian Music Week, Amy Nelson returned to Australia in January for shows including a mainstage performance at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and while there also attended the Toyota Golden Guitar Awards with her new label Social Family Records. Her song “Dontcha Dare Do It” was added to official Spotify playlist “New Music Nashville” and has already garnered 20,000 streams. In November, the music video for her remake of “The Last Saskatchewan Pirate” debuted at a Saskatchewan Roughriders home playoff game and stacked up more than 100,000 views on Facebook alone. Her new album, “Good Intentions”, is due out soon. www.amynelson.ca
Ryan James Martens released his debut 4-song EP, “Ravens in the Valley” in September, working with producer Matt Stinn at Rainy Day Recording Co. Ryan’s blend of flamenco, folk, rock, blues, and country comes from a childhood spent listening to his dad’s record collection of Hank Williams, Marty Robbin, Johnny Cash and his oldest brother’s collection of Black Sabbath, AC/DC and Led Zeppelin. http://ryanjamesmartens.bandcamp.com
In 2018, Michael Boguski (Blue Rodeo), Chris Mason and Lucas Goetz (formerly of Deep Dark Woods), Jim Bowskill (The Sheepdogs, Blue Rodeo), Chris Sleightholm and Dustin Bentall, teamed up to form The Cold Manitoba Project. Spearheaded by Boguski, the collective of like-minded creatives were moved by Gord Downie’s call for all Canadians to do whatever we can to help move towards healing and reconciliation through awareness, education and action, and began the search for a grassroots charity to support, and a creative way to do so. Together, they recorded and released “Cold Manitoba,” and recently, second single “Hometown Down Heart”. “The goal of the project is to move people towards healing – healing as individuals and as communities – and to help bring more awareness to unifying issues, such as substance abuse and mental health, and to think of ways to reconcile and move towards peace and togetherness.” Proceeds from both tracks benefit the Native Addictions Council of Manitoba – a Native-owned and operated treatment centre that directly targets the addictions problems facing First Nations Peoples in Manitoba and the surrounding area. https://www.facebook.com/thecoldmanitobaproject/
Marentin Fehr released his self-produced debut EP “Tonight’s Performer” in August. Fehr performed all of the instrumentation and vocals on the original indie rock/folk songs. “This album was written at a transitional period in my life. Being 19 years old, having just moved to a new city, and finally getting serious about my music career, this album is about struggling with everything surrounding these issues. It also about my relationships with family, and mental illness. It is a coming of age story, if you will.” Fehr was a finalist in the Living Skies Teen Vocal Showcase in 2018 and was nominated for a Saskatchewan Music Award, and has just been nominated for a 2019 Indigenous Music Award. http://ww.facebook.com/marentinfehrmusic
Millions of viewers caught Tenille Arts performing her debut Reviver Records single, “I Hate This,” on ABC’s top-rated The Bachelor in January. Within 24 hours the song had hit #1 on both the U.S. and Canadian iTunes Country Charts and #9 U.S. iTunes All-Genre. The appearance also propelled her 2017 Rebel Child album to re-enter the iTunes Country Albums chart at #5. “I Hate This” debuted at #41 on the Billboard Hot Country Chart, making it their #HotShotDebut; also hitting #5 on the Country Digital Song Sales Chart for the week of Feb 2/19, charting top 40 on the Digital Song Sales (all-genre), and top 50 Hot Canadian Digital Song Sales. The Bachelor appearance came one week after “I Hate This” (which Tenille co-wrote with Adam Wheeler) hit the #1 spot on the Radio Disney Country Top 50 chart. The official music video is approaching 700,000 YouTube views and has reached as high as #4 on iTunes. The Nashville-based Tenille then returned home to Canada to open dates for Neal McCoy. She wrapped up 2018 opening for Dean Brody’s sold-out Dirt Road Stories Tour across Canada. She’s also been added to the AppleMusic #TheAListCountry playlist and is #5 on the Pandora Predictions chart. www.tenillearts.com
Dakota Favel hails from Ile-A-La-Crosse and currently resides in Prince Albert. Dakota has been perfecting his talent for the past 20 years; his accomplishments include charting on the National Indigenous Music countdown (#4) and Saskatchewan Indigenous Music countdown (where two of his original songs reached #1). Dakota has performed the Canadian National Anthem for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders and as well the Prince Albert Junior B Predators Lacrosse team. Dakota was also nominated for “best artist” and “best musician” in the 2018 Best of the Best Awards in Prince Albert. Dakota has won the 2018 “So you think you can sing” contest at the Northern Lights Casino which landed him $5000 worth of recording time with Mosaic Music.
Venue briefs:
Saskatoon’s O’Brians Event Centre changed its name to Coors Event Centre in September.
www.coorseventcentre.ca
Regina’s legendary The Pump Roadhouse closed its doors for the final time following a farewell bash held November 21-24, ending a 46-year run as a live venue.
Quick TAKES:
Hip-hop/funk group HOODOO held a release party for their debut album “GSwamp” on February 1 at the The Exchange, Regina.
Chris Henderson has released the first single, “I’ll Be Your Mountain,” from his upcoming EP, co-written with Steve Mitchell and produced by Brad Prosko.
Prince Albert rockers The Wolfe released with a new music video (Nolita Studios) for “You’re So Boring,” celebrating the release of their remix album, “Strange Words Remixed.”
Ponteix released video “Faux Pas,” the first single from their forthcoming album. The video was produced by Versa Films and directed by Dylan Hryciuk.
Compliments to Sask-born violinist Christina Day Martinson, 2019 Grammy nominee for Biber: The Mystery Sonatas with the Boston Baroque. Martinson serves as concertmaster for Boston Baroque, and is associate concertmaster for the Handel and Haydn Society.
