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Canada’s musical landscape in the early 1960s was dotted with smoky coffeehouses with folky minstrels inside, singing their hearts out to audiences hungry for emotional authenticity. This was the fertile ground from which sprang future icons such as Ian & Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot and, later, Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young. One of the brightest stars to emerge from that scene was David Wiffen. A dashing British émigré, Wiffen possessed all the qualities needed for fame and fortune. Tall, handsome, nattily attired and blessed with a captivating stage presence and a deep, stop-you-dead-in-your-tracks voice, he also had the songs — rich, blues-based confessionals about loss and ...

Not many artists can keep breaking new ground, album after album. But, with his 38th studio recording, Cockburn proves he’s one of the rare exceptions. The dozen new songs take the acclaimed singer-songwriter-guitarist into familiar territory—folk, blues and jazz-inflected numbers about topical and spiritual concerns. Yet he never repeats himself. “To Keep the World We Know” addresses climate change, while “Orders” counsels love and understanding, even in these times of political divisiveness. There’s humor in the whimsical “King of the Bolero” and joy in the jazzy “When You Arrive.” It all sounds fresh which, for Cockburn, is his modus operandi. 

As troubadours, Toronto’s Mose Scarlett and Leon Redbone were cut from the same vintage cloth. Both came up through the Yorkville scene of the late 1960s, performing songs from bygone eras–jazz, blues, ragtime and swing–and always dressed for the part: Scarlett neatly turned out in a three-piece suit and fedora or, more informally, a waistcoat and workingman’s flat cap; Redbone immaculate in a dark suit, a bow or string tie, topped by a fedora, straw boater, a Panama hat or even, occasionally, a pith helmet. They could have been arch rivals, instead they were good friends. When Mose and Leon died on the same day—May 30, 2019—many who knew the pair felt the coincidence as fitting as...

The result of three years of traveling to such far-flung places as Mozambique, Nepal and Central America, the songs on 1989’s Big Circumstance reflect Bruce Cockburn’s heartfelt reactions to war, repression and environmental abuse. The celebrated Canadian singer-songwriter was already well known for such forthright songs of the 1980s as “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” and “Call it Democracy.” With Big Circumstance, Cockburn ended the decade with some of the most politically potent material of his career, including “If a Tree Falls,” which tackled the issue of rain forest destruction. “From Sarawak to Amazonas, Costa Rica to mangy B.C. hills,” he sang angrily, “ancient cord of coexistence hacked...

Once again, I look back on a year of music. For me, 2023 was rich in some phenomenal sounds. But much of what I consumed was through live performances, less through studio recordings. The Polaris Music Prize offered plenty of new discoveries, including Debby Friday and her winning Good Luck debut, Aysanabee's Watin and Begonia's Powder Blue. For compilations of the past year, nothing for me can top Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos, a stunning seven-CD set compiled by Cheryl Pawelski of stripped down gems by unsung heroes who wrote the classic songs of Otis Redding, Carla Thomas, Sam & Dave and the Staple Singers. Jason Wilson's Ashara album, ...