Roots Music Canada (2025)

04/10/2025

In today’s economic climate, it’s important for touring performers to adapt to changing realities. Last year, Gatineau, QC-based singer-songwriter Mia Kelly played 120 shows. Averaging out to one concert every three days, it means a lot of travel and a lot of nights in hotels, motels or other accommodations. It can all be a bit much to take — and can be quite expensive. Because of that, Mia bought a Sprinter van and had it converted into a home on wheels.

“It’s been life-changing for the comfort and lifestyle.”

Besides having the luxury of always resting her head on her own pillow, Mia can choose where she stays each night. This past summer, while touring in Atlantic Canada, she parked near the ocean after a gig.

“I woke up to the most jaw-dropping, gorgeous sunrise over the ocean!”

Mia has had a love of music since she was about seven years old, appearing in musical theatre productions.

In today’s economic climate, it’s important for touring performers to adapt to changing realities. Last year, Gatineau, QC-based singer-songwriter Mia Kelly

03/10/2025

COLTER WALL ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM MEMORIES AND EMPTIES

Since emerging on the scene in 2015 with his debut EP Imaginary Appalachia, Colter Wall has been at the forefront of the latest wave of Americana singer/songwriters. The Saskatchewan native -- his father is former premier Brad Wall -- is set to release his fifth full-length album, Memories and Empties on Nov. 14 via La Honda/RCA.

Wall recorded the 10-song collection, which includes a cover of the Ian Tyson classic "Summer Wages," in Nashville at RCA's Studio A where countless legendary artists such as Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard also worked.

COLTER WALL ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM MEMORIES AND EMPTIES Since emerging on the scene in 2015 with his debut EP Imaginary Appalachia, Colter Wall has been at th

02/10/2025

Autumn is the perfect season to ramble over to Stratford for a new series of five concerts featuring stellar all-Canadian artists, including Suzie Ungerleider, Lori Cullen and Zachary Lucky among many more.

Stratford’s String Bone Presents! and Onrush Music Festival are collaborating to present The Roots Ramble to Stratford audiences this fall. Barry James Payne (String Bone Presents!) and Tim Harrison (Onrush Music Festival) have invited several premiere Canadian musicians to participate in the series, running from Oct. 11 to Dec. 5 at Revival House and The Bunker Performance Lounge and Café.

The Roots Ramble series format, musically, is a nod to hometown legend Richard Manuel, who embodied roots music with his soulful and passionate voice and musicianship with The Band, the iconic pioneers of folk-rock Americana in the late 1960s through to the group’s final concert in 1976 and Manuel’s tragic death in 1986.
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Autumn is the perfect season to ramble over to Stratford for a new series of five concerts featuring stellar all-Canadian artists, including Suzie Ungerleider,

01/10/2025

TORONTO – After 25 years of making music together, JUNO-nominated duo Madison Violet are preparing to say goodbye. Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac recently announced that 2025 will mark both their 25th anniversary and their final year together as a band. Please see the full list of upcoming tour dates below. For more information, visit any of the links provided or the official website.

To celebrate, Madison Violet will release The Best of Brenley & Lisa on Oct. 2, 2025 — a retrospective album featuring fan favourites and personally chosen tracks that trace their journey with audiences worldwide. The collection reflects both their enduring careers and the bond they’ve built with listeners over the years.

The release coincides with a national farewell tour, giving fans one last chance to experience the duo’s trademark harmonies and heartfelt storytelling.

TORONTO – After 25 years of making music together, JUNO-nominated duo Madison Violet are preparing to say goodbye. Brenley MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac recent

01/10/2025

The Western Canadian Music Awards were handed out this past weekend at a ceremony in Winnipeg during Breakout West.

And it was a good night for roots artists even in non-roots categories.

Notably, Wyatt C. Louis won BreakOut Artist of the Year, to the surprise of nobody, and Kym Gouchie took home Children's Artist of the Year.

As for the categories where you'd expect to see roots and global music winners, here's who won:

Afrobeats Artist of the Year: Tommyphyll – MB

Blues Artist of the Year: Big Dave McLean – MB

Country Artist of the Year: Jade Turner – MB

Global Artist of the Year: Kelly Bado – MB

Indigenous Artist of the Year: Wyatt C. Louis – AB

Roots Artist of the Year: Leaf Rapids – MB

The Western Canadian Music Awards were handed out this past weekend at a ceremony in Winnipeg during Breakout West. And it was a good night for roots artists

30/09/2025

Gordy the Moose is back! And he's catching up on the releases he missed out on earlier this year.
Matt Andersen - The Hammer and the Rose
Matt Andersen mellows right out on this heartfelt collection of soulful roots and blues numbers that’s filled with wholesomeness and heart.

He’d started showing his sensitive side more on 2022’s House to House, but what sets the Hammer and the Rose apart is the level of vulnerability he brings to these performances and the moody arrangements coloured by lap steel and acoustic bass.

The standout tracks are about relationships – with Matt’s girlfriend, with his dad, with a friend, and with himself.

“Tonight Belongs to You” is filled with love and gratitude for the woman who sticks by Matt while he’s on the road.

“Always Be Your Son,” is a nostalgic ode to Matt’s dad from a middle-aged son who knows their time left is limited.

And the title track is a metaphor for the battle between the heart and the mind, between emotion and logic.

Gordy the Moose is back! And he's catching up on the releases he missed out on earlier this year. Matt Andersen - The Hammer and the Rose Matt Andersen mell

29/09/2025

Wow! It's quite a month at the Rogue Folk Club.

We've got the legendary Lee Boys, an iconic Irish instrumentalist, and the guy who sings all the anti-MAGA cover tunes on social media.

And that's not even all of the shows.

Hopefully you've got a good-sized concert budget, because good luck picking from among these.

For information and tickets to these shows, visit http://www.rogueolk.bc.ca or call 604-736-3022.

Here's what's coming up.
John Doyle – Oct. 2 at Mel Lehan Hall at St. James
Name many of the most notable recordings and performers in Irish music, and it’s a fair bet that John Doyle had something to do with them. Liz Carroll, Eileen Ivers, Karan Casey, Solas, Michael Black, Mary Black, the trio of McCusker, McGoldrick and Doyle, The Teetotalers (Martin Hayes, Kevin Crawford, John Doyle), and now Usher’s Island (Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Mike McGoldrick, Paddy Glackin and John Doyle) — a veritable who’s who of the greatest names in Irish music.

Wow! It's quite a month at the Rogue Folk Club. We've got the legendary Lee Boys, an iconic Irish instrumentalist, and the guy who sings all the anti-MAGA co

27/09/2025

Growing up surrounded by music in Newfoundland and Labrador, Matthew Byrne didn’t think his family was unique in any way. His father, Joe, was one half of the folk duo Pat and Joe Byrne while his mother was a song collector. There was always unaccompanied singing in the house, sometimes until the wee hours of the night. But it wasn’t until he reached high school age that Matthew realized his family was out of the ordinary.

“It was just a common place thing to get together and share music," he said.

Now that he’s a father himself, Matthew is passing down the love of music to his young son. And his son is recognizing that sometimes daddy leaves home to sing to people.

These days Matthew is singing songs from his new album, Stealing Time. The album is a very special project in that it was recorded in Sheffield, England with veteran performer Martin Simpson acting as producer. Matthew’s connection to Martin goes back to when he opened for Martin at a couple of concerts in St.

Growing up surrounded by music in Newfoundland and Labrador, Matthew Byrne didn’t think his family was unique in any way. His father, Joe, was one half of the

26/09/2025

BAHAMAS PREVIEWS MY SECOND LAST ALBUM WITH "THE BRIDGE"

Afie Jurvanen (aka Bahamas) has announced My Second Last Album, his seventh studio release and the follow-up to 2023’s CCMA-nominated country-infused Bootcut. The record arrives everywhere on October 24 and finds Jurvanen back in Nova Scotia, trading Nashville’s storied studios for the coastal quiet of a backyard shed.

Recorded at DreamDate, the compact studio built by friend and collaborator Joshua Van Tassel, My Second Last Album was shaped almost entirely by the two musicians, who played every instrument across its 10 tracks. The result is one of the most effortlessly magnetic albums in the Bahamas catalogue -- Sonically adventurous, and deeply candid in its storytelling.

The first look at My Second Last Album comes with the new single, “The Bridge”, a text message-written collaboration between Jurvanen and M.C. Taylor of Hiss Golden Messenger.

BAHAMAS PREVIEWS MY SECOND LAST ALBUM WITH "THE BRIDGE" Afie Jurvanen (aka Bahamas) has announced My Second Last Album, his seventh studio release and the

26/09/2025

After establishing himself as a major voice on the Canadian alt-country scene with his 2024 sophomore album Make Way For This Heartache, Ben Arsenault has returned with a hauntingly twangy new single, “Motel In Southern Idaho.”

Produced by Aiden Ayers (who also contributes guitar and bass), the song features additional stellar backing by Caleb Melo on pedal steel, Joshua Contant on drums, and Darryl Havers on accordion. Like the soundtrack to a David Lynch film, “Motel In Southern Idaho” exudes mystery, something accentuated by Arsenault’s hushed vocal performance, and the song’s key verse:

You got to wonder when you’re a rambler
Do you ever get anything done?
And you’ve got to think when you’re a stranger
Are you remembered by anyone?

“It's a road trip song,” Ben explained. “It reflects on small moments on the road from Southern Idaho to West Texas, and to Chiapas State in Mexico. The road trippers in the song are a couple, romantically drinking their way through life.

After establishing himself as a major voice on the Canadian alt-country scene with his 2024 sophomore album Make Way For This Heartache, Ben Arsenault has retur

25/09/2025

Geneviève Racette releases her latest single “Common Denominator” tomorrow, and we're thrilled to premiere it here on Roots Music Canada.

It's a little different from some of the things we've heard from Geneviève in the past — a little less melancholy and a little more fierce.

It's about the painful realization that someone who always plays the victim might, in fact, be the problem.

“Common Denominator is for anyone who’s ever been gaslit, blamed, or manipulated — and then finally saw the truth for what it was,” Geneviève said. “It’s about realizing that when someone always has a story where they’re the victim, maybe the one common thread is them.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OULKXCK5R8

The song comes with a moody, cinematic video that mirrors its emotional intensity. Filmed in a forest at night, it features Geneviève surrounded by women dressed in white, gathered around a bonfire.

Geneviève Racette releases her latest single “Common Denominator” tomorrow, and we're thrilled to premiere it here on Roots Music Canada. It's a little

25/09/2025

With a voice timeless and true, Toronto singer-songwriter Clela Errington releases her second single, “Standing on the Platform."

Following closely on the heels of her excellent first single, “Full Moon Dark Time,” the new one is also drawn from the upcoming Walkin’ Each Other Home, Clela’s fifth studio album to date.

"Standing on the Platform" will be out on all major platforms tomorrow, and the accompanying video will be available on YouTube.

We're thrilled to premiere both of them here today on Roots Music Canada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejfz7IxTztg

“Standing on the Platform” is a contemporary folk ballad written and performed by Clela. With cinematic scope and a reflective heart, it’s rooted in folk tradition, but carries jazz and blues sensibilities in Clela's phrasing and harmonic openness.

Her warm, unhurried vocals float over acoustic guitar, piano, and subtle percussion, creating a quiet power and sense of anticipation — like standing at the threshold of change.

With a voice timeless and true, Toronto singer-songwriter Clela Errington releases her second single, “Standing on the Platform." Following closely on the

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