“NY80: A Celebration of Neil Young and His Music,” hosted by CBC’s Tom Power, will take place Nov. 12. Nov. 9, 2025 By Nick Krewen Special to the Star On the cusp of 80, few performers have remained as relevant as Toronto’s own Neil Young. He’s been steadily rockin’ in the free world since forming The Squires in Winnipeg in 1965 — and in a career that has seen him thrive…
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The 79-year-old musician will play the Lightfoot Stage at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Orillia on July 7. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star The second time he played the Mariposa Folk Festival, in 1969, Bruce Cockburn wasn’t supposed to headline. That honour belonged to Neil Young, fresh from his split with Buffalo Springfield, until a last-minute health issue forced the Ottawa-born folksinger and songwriter — who, until that point, had…
If anyone thinks Sylvia Tyson at 83 is any less authoritative an artist, hearing “At the End of the Day” will quickly quell that notion. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Her singing voice is a little more weathered, but no less formidable; her lyrics are incisively sharp. If anyone thinks the legendary Sylvia Tyson at 83 is any less authoritative an artist, hearing her newly released 12-song album At…
‘Packed with several gems of emotional nuance and sly wit and humour, the album doesn’t stray too far fromthe low-fi, grassroots charm that Hayden first established. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Even when you enjoy a career as low key as Paul Hayden Desser and his music, eight years between albums is quite the delay. For the artist who plies his trade by his middle name – Hayden –…
By Nick Krewen Special to the Star For his new, brilliant gospel-flavoured soul album Heavy Sun, seven-time Grammy winner Daniel Lanois had to convince a Shepherd to leave his flock. Describing himself as a “now-and-again” guitarist for the Hallelujah Train band at the Shreveport, Louisiana-based Zion Baptist Church run by Brady Blade Sr., the Hull, Québec-born artist and award-winning producer of blockbuster albums by Peter Gabriel, U2 and Robbie Robertson says…
