For me, personally, the greatest musical discovery I made in 2020 is PEI band The East Pointers. It's not even close. They are a delight, and everything that trio has done is delightful. I love their dedication to folk music and to Atlantic Canada.
For those outside Canada, YYG is the code for Charlottetown Airport, on Prince Edward Island. And yes, WestJet does fly from YYG to and from YYC - that's the code for Calgary, an airport I know very well - on a seasonal basis.
Gordon Lighhtfoot is a Canadian treasure. On this, there can be no debate.
Of course, the song was written on a hot summer's night in Cleveland, Ohio in the mid-1960, as Gordon was missing his wife while on tour. It is a sweet song that is now a winter staple in my house. I hope it is in yours as well.
Captial Q and King Lou were just a couple of friends from Toronto who came together to sample an old Quincy Jones song that was a television theme song. I suspect it is this song that caused "Soul Bossa Nova" to be the theme for the Austin Powers movies, although Mike Myers is Canadian, so he'd probably have seen the Canadian game show Definition.
And now you know where the chorus for this song comes from. And why the song has such a long title.
In case you were wondering about Definition, here's a 1982 episode. YES, that's the guy from Card Sharks.
Every one knows that Len is a one hit wonder. That doesn't mean they didn't release other music, or even that "Steal My Sunshine" was their first single. The Canadian band preceded that huge hit with this single, and a video that features some sweet snowboarding.
"Trillion Daze" is much less hip hop and much more straight-ahead rock with punk sensibilities. I like this incarnation of the band.
We have featured The Weakerthans before. "Tournament of Hearts" is absolutely the greatest song ever written about the uniquely Canadian sport of curling.
The single that followed that great song was this one, a working man's anthem from a working class band. The band, proud of their hometown of Winnipeg, filmed this video there. Together, they make a fitting tribute to life in the middle of Canada.
Who would have thought that an song that sounds like a traditional Irish folk composition would be a top 20 hit?
And yet, that's exactly what happened to Canadian Celtic singer Loreena McKennitt in 1997. A tribute to the mummers' plays of spring, it is an odd but sweet song, bolstered by her sharp soprano vocal. It would be her only hit outside of her native Canada, as she did take a hiatus from music following a deep personal tragedy in 1998 - but she has returned to music and is still releasing new material.
Spirit Of The West aren't a band most Americans have heard, but were wildly successful with their Irish-tinged music in their native Canada. So, this article is going to hit a certain number of you more in the feels than others.
That statement should sound familiar, and yeah, this story doesn't end better.
In 2014, the band's frontman, John Mann, was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease. He continued with the band as long as he could, but it clear he was not long for the music industry. He passed away in 2019, at the age of just 57.
This song was an anthem of the band from 1990, but wasn't released as a single until 2014, when it was released in a limited manner on Record Store Day. In the wake of the announcement of Mann's illness, it was quite a bit more poignant than the drinking song it was originally intended to be.
The first time the band played at the famous Massey Hall was on June 6, 2015 - and it was one of their last shows. Mann actually forgets the lyrics for a bit during the song - but the audience had his back. It is one of the greatest moments in Canadian music history.
