Producer

Canadian musicians remember record producer Steve Albini as ‘an extremely generous and kind soul whose work did unmeasurable good’

Albini, who died Tuesday, engineered seminal albums by Nirvana, the Pixies and P.J. Harvey, but he also loved working with Canadian bands.  by Nick Krewen Special to the Star Thirty years later, Toronto’s Don Pyle still sounds shocked that legendary producer and engineer Steve Albini told a music magazine he’d rather work with Pyle’s Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet than British synth superstars Depeche Mode. The year was 1993 and Albini…


‘All women suffer from injustice’: Mali singer Oumou Sangaré on why she’s still speaking out for women in Africa and beyond

Sangaré, who has been opposing arranged marriages, polygamy, sexual subservience and genital mutilation for more than three decades, makes a rare Toronto appearance on April 20.by Nick Krewen Special to the Star She’s known worldwide as “the Songbird of Wassoulou.” But over the past three decades, Malian singer-songwriter Oumou Sangaré, who makes a rare Toronto appearance on Saturday, has meant so much more, especially to the women of Africa. Since…


It turns out Sheryl Crow’s final album wasn’t really the last. The singer explains why she made another one

The new record, Evolution, out Friday, is about “what’s happening in all of our daily lives,” including AI and social media negativity. By Nick Krewen Special to the Star When she released Threads back in 2019, nine-time Grammy winner Sheryl Crow decided her 11th studio album would be her last and declared it as such. How, then, does she explain the arrival of Evolution, her 12th, out Friday? “Yes, I did announce…


Drunken poker, gummy bear highs and a famous friend: Corb Lund on his new album El Viejo

The Alberta singer-songwriter’s talent for (true) storytelling is on full display in El Viejo. Lund plays the Danforth Music Hall on March 20. by Nick Krewen Special to the Star When it comes to penning storytelling adventure songs, nobody is more entertaining than Taber, Alberta’s Corb Lund. Especially when they’re extracted from actual experience. On his 10th and latest studio album of uniquely authentic Western originals, El Viejo, there are several…


Controversial and popular country music star Toby Keith dies age 62

“Most people think I’m a redneck patriot. I’m O.K. with that,” the musician from Oklahoma once said. He won a slew of awards and 32 chart-topping hits   By Nick Krewen Special to the Star For the first decade of his career, country music superstar Toby Keith philosophically commiserated with the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield: he felt he got no respect.  That changed by the end of his life, at least…