Feist
For nearly a decade, Leslie Feist did not stop moving. Her 2004 Juno award winning album Let It Die led right into 2007’s The Reminder, which earned her four Grammy nominations, six Juno wins, the Shortlist Music Prize, and the opportunity to teach Muppets to count on Sesame Street. She made her Saturday Night Live debut and toured the world. She covered an album with Beck, recorded with Wilco and watched Stephen Colbert shimmy in a sequined
Emmylou Harris
Already celebrated as a discoverer and interpreter of other artists’ songs, 12-time Grammy Award winner Emmylou Harris has, in the last decade, gained admiration as much for her eloquently straightforward songwriting as for her incomparably expressive singing. On Hard Bargain, her third Nonesuch disc, she offers 11 original songs—three of them co-written with Grammy–
Daniel Lanois
One of the world’s most influential music producers – a shaper of albums by U2, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel and Bob Dylan - Daniel Lanois is also the world’s best arguments for working from home. From the time he started his own record studio at age 17 in his mother’s laundry room in Ancaster, Ontario, to his storied home studio in Silver Lake, California (where he recorded Neil Young’s Le Noise in 2010), wherever Lanois hangs his hat is ground zero for great music.
Gord Downie and The Sadies
While the occupation that Gord Downie lists on his passport is "musician", he could just as easily have cited "songwriter", "poet", "video director", or even, existentially speaking, "restless spirit". "I enjoy the process of writing to a fault," he admits. "I love doing the work. I love solving the puzzle."
Sarah Harmer
In 2005, Sarah Harmer co-founded Protecting Escarpment Rural Land (PERL), a community
group dedicated to protecting and enhancing Burlington’s Niagara Escarpment and rural lands in
the region of Halton, Ontario. PERL seeks to help create an Ontario Sustainable Aggregate
Resources Act to ensure that quarrying provides the highest degree of environmental protection
Brady L. Blade, Sr. and the Hallelujah Train
Pastor Blade is tall in statue and has all the characteristics of a Baptist Preacher. His soulful bellows and melodies have been lifting up parishioners at the Zion Missionary Baptist Church in Shreveport, Louisiana where he has been pastor for the past 51 years.
Brian Blade
Blade was born on July 25, 1970 in Shreveport, Louisiana. His mother, Dorothy Blade is a retired kindergarten teacher and his father, Brady L. Blade, Sr., the pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Shreveport. During his childhood, Brian would hear Gospel music in his everyday life, as well as the music of Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire, and the Staple Singers.
Mix Master Mike
Named as one of the greatest DJs of all time by USA Today, Mix Master Mike got his initial itch for vinyl while growing up in San Francisco listening to his uncle's extensive record collection. Years later, the moment that had the most impact on him was catching Grandmixer DST on stage with Herbie Hancock.
Jesse Cook
Seven studio albums in fifteen years is, in itself, a measure of Jesse Cook’s artistic success. And, for this latest recording he wanted to trace rumba flamenco back to its roots in Cuba. His instincts though got the better of him and he wound up spending time in Bogota, Colombia.
The resulting body of work is sublime, a continuation of Cook’s insatiable appetite for world music in all its forms.
