Award Winners

Robert Plant Gets the Led Out

  Nick Krewen Hamilton Spectator December 12, 1988 Robert Plant loves his music. Already elevated to the status of rock immortal for his contribution as vocalist for Led Zeppelin – arguably the mightiest and most influential of the crunch-chord dinosaur rockbands – Plant is enjoying an enormously successful career as a solo artist. His fourth and most recent album, Now And Zen , has gone platinum twice-over in this country,…


Keeping Owen Bradley in the Barn

    Nick Krewen The Spectator June 28, 1988     MOUNT JULIET, TENNESSEE:  In one corner of his luxurious recording studio, Bradley’s Barn – located approximately 35 miles outside of Nashville – there are five mounted posters representing record producer Owen Bradley‘s angels. They are the late Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells, Loretta Lynn, Brenda Lee – and Consort, Alberta’s k.d. lang. The 73-year old Bradley – who produced lang’s…


Moving into Shadowland

  Nick Krewen Hamilton Spectator June 25, 1988   NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE: She once raised a ruckus at the Juno Awards by donning a wedding dress and reciting vows, formerly dressed like a cowpunk rodeo spinster and at one time claimed to be the spiritual reincarnation of country legend Patsy Cline. That was three years ago. Nowadays, k.d. lang, the 26-year old pride of Consort, Alberta (population 650) – is treated with…


Robbie Robertson’s Music For Native Americans

 NICK KREWEN Special To The Hamilton Spectator Thursday, March 12, 1998     TORONTO:  In 1994, Robbie Robertson embraced his Native heritage with the documentary soundtrack album Music For The Native Americans. He continues the exploration of his roots with his latest album, Contact From The Underworld Of Red Boy — released this past Tuesday — but says that this album is much more personal. “It isn’t a sequel to…


‘Better, not bitter’

Carlos Santana’s strategy for success has kept him on top for 20 years   Nick Krewen Hamilton Spectator Friday, July 24, 1987   It was 20 years ago today that Carlos Santana taught his band to play. The summer of love may be best remembered for The Beatles‘ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,  but 1967 should also go down in history as the year Latin rock surfaced to the…