Instruments

Chilly Gonzales deserves a warm reception at Toronto show

He’s better known as a collaborator with Feist, Drake, Peaches and Tiga, but Chilly Gonzales is an accomplished performer in his own right. Chilly Gonzales’s background is classical but he considers himself pop. “I want to be a man of my time,” he says. By: Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Wed Nov 07 2012 Chilly Gonzales is so prolific, it’s a surprise he’s not more of a…


Junior Brown invents his place in Sleepwalk Guitar Festival

Musician’s creation, the guit-steel, lets him stand out amid sea of talent at Toronto fest. Junior Brown and his guit-steel are guests of the Sleepwalk festival     By: Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Wed Oct 31 2012 When the second annual Sleepwalk Guitar Festival convenes at the Great Hall from Nov. 2 to 4, there will be plenty of six-string pioneers but only one inventor in…


Iris DeMent wants songs to be worth the wait

By NICK KREWEN Special to the Star Fri., Oct. 19, 2012 The last time Grammy-nominated, Americana music siren Iris DeMent released an album of original songs, Lisa Marie Presley had divorced Michael Jackson; Diana, Princess of Wales was still among the living and social media was restricted to email. Not that it matters to the DeMent faithful who will pack Hugh’s Room to the rafters this weekend for a pair of…


Toronto’s Lindi Ortega a rising alt-country star in Nashville

Lindi Ortega brings her blues-infused songs opening for Social Distortion at Toronto’s Sound Academy. “I like evolving and learning and exploring what I’m interested in, and I wanted to show that musically,” says Lindi Ortega of her new disc, Cigarettes & Truckstops.   By: Nick Krewen Published on Wed Oct 17 2012 If Lindi Ortega’s star is rising so rapidly, then why is she singing the blues? The answer can…


Ellie Goulding just passing through pop

New hit album for star playing Sound Academy is just a diversion, she says, from dance music. Ellie Goulding plays Sound Academy on Sunday, Oct. 14. By: Nick Krewen Special to the Star, Published on Thu Oct 11 2012   You can take the girl out of EDM, but you can’t take EDM out of the girl — at least if Ellie Goulding has her way. The 25-year-old British singer…