Guitar

Brampton singer/songwriter AHI talks influences and the winding path that led him to music

His third album, Prospect, released late last year, with singles “Danger” and “Coldest Fire,” is an extraordinary folk-rooted effort. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star February 23, 2022 From a stranger outside Thunder Bay to Prospect Cemetery, to Bob Marley: Ahkinoah Habah Izarh — AHI for short — finds inspiration in all kinds of places and people. The Brampton-born singer and songwriter’s third album Prospect displays 10 songs of…


Blue Rodeo on the making of new album Many A Mile: ‘Everybody was willing to let go of how everything was before and it was really great’

By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Sometimes fate intervenes in mysterious ways. For example, take Blue Rodeo: the creation of the Toronto collective’s new album Many A Mile, released Friday, was as much a surprise to the band’s co-founding songwriters Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor as anyone. Even though it’s been five years since their last studio effort, 1000 Arms, it seemed it would be another little while before…


Gordon Lightfoot, 82, thrilled to be reopening Toronto’s Massey Hall

The 13-time Juno Award winner who has entertained more than 165 audiences at the venue says he would have been in the building for the reopening regardless of whether he was performing. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star Well, we almost had a Massey Hall reopening without a Gordon Lightfoot concert. Reached at home by phone on Monday, Lightfoot admits that  even though his Nov 25-27 dates to welcome patrons…


Serena Ryder on touring, living hard and the mistakes that aren’t mistakes

By Nick Krewen Special To The Star        Serena Ryder knows all too well about the art of falling apart.        As a recording artist who used to tour relentlessly, the six-time Juno Award winner found the incessant grind of the road personally damaging, as she relied on a steady diet of drink, drugs and cigarettes to cope and carry on. “Being a touring musician can be one of the most draining…


Canadian women are crushing it in Nashville

Nick Krewen Special to the Star She may be from Texas, but don’t be surprised if country singer and songwriter Mickey Guyton ends up hanging a flag bearing the Maple Leaf outside her house: Canadians have been a paramount factor in her ground-breaking success. “I looooovvvve Canadians – yes I do!” gushes Guyton, whose racially insightful anthem “Black Like Me” earned her pioneering stature as the first Black female to receive…