Country

Alt. Rock, Americana, Americana, Business, Canada, Culinary, Flute, Folk, Guitar, JUNO, Kathleen Edwards, Pop, Rock, Songwriter, Toronto, Voice August 13, 2020

After a divorce and depression drove her away from the music business, Kathleen Edwards is back with an album of confessional songs

Nick Krewen  Special to the Star Sometimes to move forward, you have to take a few steps back. Or stop completely. For singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards, who releases Total Freedom her first album since 2012’s Voyageur, on Friday (August 14), the latter move was her answer to a decade of the non-stop rinse-recycle-repeat music industry treadmill that took its toll. In 2011, her marriage to local producer and Blue Rodeo guitarist…

Arranger, Bob Dylan, Canada, Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame, Canadian Music Hall Of Fame, Composer, Country, Folk, Gordon Lightfoot, Guitar, JUNO, Songwriter, Toronto, Voice March 20, 2020

Gordon Lightfoot’s new album, like his recent biography, is a little too revealing for some

Nick Krewen Special To The Star “It ain’t gonna stop now!” a feisty Gordon Lightfoot declares at the conclusion of a 30-minute interview about the state of his six-decade-plus career. We’re sitting at a table at his record company headquarters north of the 401, and it’s obvious that at 81, the fire still rages in the Orillia-born troubadour’s belly. He’s not interested at slowing down in the slightest. Lightfoot, who resumes touring…

Americana, Composer, Country, Electronic, Grammy, Guitar, Songwriter, Soul, United Kingdom, Voice January 8, 2020

She’s been poor, homeless and a ‘doormat.’ Now she’s a four-time Grammy nominee bound for Toronto

Nick Krewen Special to the Star January 8, 2020 Fear is either a paralyzer or a galvanizer, and no one knows that situation better than four-time Grammy nominee Yola, the current purveyor of big-voiced country soul. After wrestling with self-doubt for decades – and finally winning the battle with the release of her critically acclaimed debut solo offering Walk Through Fire, the Bristol, U.K.-based singer and songwriter refers to it…

Aubrey "Drake" Graham, Canada, Children's Music, Country, Education, Grammy, Nashville, Pop, Songwriter, Taylor Swift, Toronto, United States August 26, 2019

Regent Park School of Music is glad to have a friend in Taylor Swift

By Nick Krewen Special to the Star August 26, 2019 The Regent Park School of Music has discovered that it’s nice to have a friend in high places – especially if that friend is named Taylor Swift. It turns out that several Regent Park School of Music students between the ages of nine and 18 appear on the Nashville-based Swift’s latest album Lover, released last Friday: specifically on the sample…

Canada, Composer, Country, Folk, Indie pop, JUNO, Nova Scotia, Pop, Producer, Rock, Songwriter, Tourism, Travel April 20, 2019

Cape Breton’s Fertile Music Scene

Story by Nick Krewen | September 17, 2018 For SOCAN Words & Music On Cape Breton Island, the music flows like water. Despite its relatively modest population, at 132,000 residents, this Northeastern tip of Nova Scotia, spread over 10,311 square km, has launched a number of tuneful tributaries surnamed MacMaster, Rankin and Sampson: artists that have impacted lands and listeners far beyond its borders. The Island’s musicians are largely known…