We Love Canadian Music

Inspired by her deep connection to the North, Dene singer-songwriter Leela Gilday shares a very personal vision of life as a northern woman. During her conversation with Heather Gibson they explore topics of social justice, the challenges of being an Indigenous artist and her latest album North Star Calling. (Recorded with a live audience.) Links: We Love Canadian Music podcast: https://nac-cna.ca/en/podcasts/show/we-love-canadian-music NAC Presents: https://nac-cna.ca/en/presents About the National Arts Centre: https://nac-cna.ca/en/about More NAC Podcasts: https://nac-cna.ca/en/podcasts

This episode is guaranteed to cure your post holiday blues with laughter. Heather and the Good Lovelies do their best to keep things professional as they chat about performing their 13th annual Christmas tour, bringing their kids along for the ride and mastering social media. The Good Lovelies are unanimous in their vote for favourite tour location but there is dissent in the roller coasters vs waterslides poll. Also… tambourine pants.

Amanda Martinez is a singer-songwriter whose music exultingly blends her Mexican father and South African mother's roots with Latin soul and folklore. Her sultry, bright vocals and upbeat sound get entire audiences on their feet around the world. Amanda chats with Heather about her work with SOS Children's Villages and the inspiration for her fourth album Libre.

With over 10 years and 4 albums to their name, Ottawa's Amos the Transparent are a long-standing staple in the independent Canadian folk-rock world. They have performed at SXSW, WayHome, The Strombo Show, CBC's Q, and the Big Sound Festival in Australia. Amos the Transparent are best known for their dense instrumental arrangements, layered sounds and lush harmonies. Heather speaks with the band about taking on side projects, how they approach music writing and things to do on a 15 hour drive to Halifax.

Born in a tent and raised in a cabin on the shores of a glacial lake in the Kluane region of Canada's Yukon, country-roots artist Diyet is a seamless amalgam of cultures. Via folk music and Aboriginal forms, she channels her various linages (Southern Tutchone, Japanese, Tlingit and Scottish) into stories and melodies deeply rooted in her Indigenous world view, and northern reality.

Megan Bonnell has never been easily pigeon-holed into the predictable mold of the singer-songwriter and her new album Separate Rooms embraces this edict, turning traditional musical genres on their heads. With her hallmark honesty, Bonnell effortlessly tackles such intense subject matter as mental illness, early pregnancy loss, and the dissolution of love.

Hillsburn's indie-rock sound draws on the songwriting focus of folk music, and combines it with a pop sensibility. The band's performances are dynamic, energized, and emotive. You won't want to miss this band that is already on its way to becoming a national treasure.

For close to thirty years now, Blue Rodeo has taken the road less travelled – and succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations. The band emerged in the early 80's as a countrified rock band in the era of hair metal and glossy pop.

Earnest, and with a touch of heart-felt twang, Suzie Vinnick is a prodigious singer-songwriter, and veteran of the Canadian roots scene. A Saskatoon native transplanted to the Niagara Region of Ontario, she's the proud owner of a gorgeous voice, serious guitar chops, and an engagingly candid performance style.

If raw denim had a sound, it'd be a Christina Martin. In the grand tradition of highway Canadiana, Martin's songwriting is honest-to-goodness jukebox rock for the craft beer generation. The winner of multiple East Coast Music Awards, Christina Martin cut her teeth in Austin Texas, and returns with her most personal and ambitious record to date “Impossible To Hold”.

Kalle Mattson is a 27-year-old Ottawa musician who first caught the public ear with 2014's Someday, The Moon Will Be Gold, an album that dealt with the death of his mother, when he was 16. His new album, Youth., is a coming-of-age record about innocence lost, promises denied, and the purgatory of one's mid-20s.k

JUNO-nominated folk singer Jeremy Fisher brings his catchy songwriting to circle time with his first collection of music aimed at young listeners. His trademark wit and penchant for story telling ensures that there's a little something for the whole family.

With her lilting alto and serpentine melodies, Ottawa's Lynn Miles furtively holds a vital place within Canadian folk music's firmament.

Born in Sri Lanka, raised on Prince Edward Island and now residing in Ottawa, ON - Amanda Lowe Warnakulasuriya is a multi-lingual singer-songwriter that writes music that can be sweet, heartbreaking, and enchanting. With just her voice, her guitar, a pinch of reverb, and awkward wit she creates a warm inclusive vibe, highlighting life's dark, cloudy and sunny days.

Sarah Bradley is a singer-songwriter based in Ottawa, ON. She captivates audiences with her keyboard, soulful voice, and songs that are full of emotion and sincerity. Her musical influences are pulled from a wide array of genres, but her ambient-pop sound remains her own. Sarah's solo singing and songwriting has earned her an esteemed spot in the Franco-Ontarian music scene. In 2009, she participated in the competition La Brunante, where she finished in second place. In 2010, she participated in the Ontario Pop contest, where she won the prize of Prix de la Première Chaîne de Radio-Canada.

Rosie & the Riveters never planned to get political. But opening a newspaper or watching the news these days made it impossible to see the status of women around the world and stay silent. The result is Ms. Behave – a collection of gritty, sultry, vintage-inspired folk anthems that paint a portrait of a woman's voice in a man's world.

An east coast legend, Mark Bragg is perhaps one of Newfoundland's most flamboyant singer-songwriters. Mix the earnest rock of Bruce Springsteen, with Elton John's showmanship, and Tom Wait's dramatic flair, and you're about half way there.

After making waves as the 1st runner-up on TVA's La Voix (The Voice : Canada), Rebecca was invited by The Jacksons to make a guest appearance on their Canadian tour. She has also performed alongside Roch Voisine, UK's Birdy, USA's Florida Georgia Line, and continues to tour with French-Canadian music icon Marc Dupré.

Influenced by the contrasting cultures of Canadian prairies and the west, Noah Derksen writes with the groundedness of harsh Manitoba winters mixed with the optimism of British Columbia's coastline. Ever seeking motion and progression, Noah's self-described “contemplative folk” has taken him across Canada and the United States.

Emma Cook combines a powerful and haunting voice reminiscent of Sarah McLachlan with the song stylings of Feist or Jenn Grant. She also knows what it means to struggle. The Toronto indie-pop singer was well on her way to making a name for herself before a falling tree branch caused a serious head injury and forced her to take a hiatus from music to focus on recovery. After a three year battle with Post-Concussive Syndrome, Emma drew 2016 to a close with the release of her third album Same Old Song.

Kelly Sloan is an award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter with pure and clean vocals, which compliment her personal and earnest songwriting. Her musical influences range from folk to country, while fusing elements of vintage '50s and '60s pop rock. Kelly's unique delivery brings her sound to life with a continuity of vibration, offering a singular statement of heartfelt expression and honesty. Isaac Vallentin has been surreptitiously creating some of Canada's most fearless avant-garde pop music of the last 3 years. His charcoal baritone stitches abstract song-poems through a patchwork of art-soul, electronics, and American primitive guitar traditionalism.

Port Cities' self-titled debut album may be the group's first effort together, but its members share deep, intertwining roots in the Maritime music scene. In addition to releasing three solo albums, Carleton Stone has written songs for and with everyone from Quebecois soul sensation Bobby Bazini to beloved acoustic troubadour Donovan Woods. Dylan Guthro has parlayed his own folk/RnB fusions into match-ups with Halifax hip-hop hero Classified and EDM crew Neon Dreams (whose 2015 single “High” featured Guthro alongside rap superstar Waka Flocka Flame). And Breagh MacKinnon is a jazz-schooled chanteuse whose 2012 album, Where the Days Went, was nominated for an ECMA Award; she has since lent her voice to recordings by East Coast pop icons David Myles and Ria Mae.

Whitehorse-based, Western Canadian Music Award-winning artist Sarah MacDougall is an up-and-coming artist known for her honest and poetic songs, passionate performances, and unique voice. Born in Sweden, 24 hrs Vancouver called her “one of the most promising exports out of Sweden since ABBA.”

Erin Costelo is Halifax's queen of salt water soul. Armed with her husky baritone and endless poise, ECMA winner Erin Costello channels the grand tradition of southern US vocal jazz and R&B, embodying the spirit of legends like Nina Simone and Donny Hathaway. Her latest album “Down Below, The Status Quo” was recorded with east coast stalwart Joel Plaskett, and has received glowing praise nationally.

Amelia Curran is a Juno-Award winning songwriter, activist and mental health advocate from St. John's, Newfoundland. Curran's music is distinguished by her intricate and elliptical lyrics, geologic in their resilience and oceanic in their depths. Over the course of a decade, Curran has built a shoreline of song, a place of radical, perpetual collision of matter and form. Even as she leads us to the ever-eroding lip of the abyss, Curran's music helps us make sense of the heart's imperceptible, relentless attrition.

Alejandra Ribera has been writing about the unexpected places we find light since the release of her critically acclaimed debut album La boca. She cites some unlikely influences as inspiring her approach to her newest recording, THIS ISLAND: a speech by actress Tilda Swinton at the Rothko Chapel, a documentary about performance artist Marina Abramović and studying movement in Paris with one of Pina Bausch's earliest devotees.

Jenn Grant is a three-time JUNO nominee, Polaris long listed artist and ECMA winner, now living in Nova Scotia, Canada. Most recently, Grant took home the ‘Solo Recording of the Year' award at the 2016 East Coast Music Association for her two-time JUNO nominated album Compostela. Her newest album, Paradise, came out in March 2017 to critical and popular acclaim

A modern indie folk trio from Newfoundland, The Once has collected a trio of Canadian Folk Music Awards, numerous ECMA awards, was named Artist of the Year by the Newfoundland & Labrador Arts Council. They have earned not one, but two JUNO nominations for best Roots/Traditional album, the most recent in acknowledgement of Departures (2014). While originally known for its haunting interpretations of traditional music, The Once has at long last uncovered a sound that truly represents their inner artistry.