Hidden Track

Ever the masterful crafter of musical stories, Corb Lund has just released his eleventh album El Viejo — a new collection that weaves together inventive narratives and introduces us to some compelling characters. On this record we encounter: a veteran card sharp dealing out hard-won wisdom, a down-on-his-luck journeyman MMA fighter, a speed addict trying to kick the habit on the family farm, and on the album’s title track, a true-life heartfelt tribute to the recently departed country great Ian Tyson, known to some friends as “El Viejo” — or “The Old Man”.  Listen closely, and you’ll hear lots of Corb’s own story, too — there are a few tales of adventures and misadventures on the road, and the song “I Had It All” in which he muses about having a “cowboy past and a speed metal future”.  Corb’s professional life in music began with a stint in jazz college, followed by a dozen years in a celebrated band who played a blend of psychedelic rock, hardcore punk, and speed metal -- not exactly a textbook beginning to a fruitful career in roots country music.  Corb Lund initially embarked upon his career as a singer-songwriter as an acoustic side project - one that stood out in sharp contrast to the decidedly heavier stylings of his internationally renowned rock band, The Smalls. It allowed Corb to develop his personal sense of expression and storytelling, while also connecting with the roots music that he heard growing up in the rural foothills country of Southern Alberta.  Eventually, The Smalls broke up and Corb's solo project became his primary focus. True DIY success would soon follow with a series of gold records, international tours and meeting personal heroes like Ian Tyson. Throughout it all, he’s been determined to walk his own path and to keep his roots at the center of everything he does.  El Viejo takes Corb’s homespun philosophy to a whole new level. The first Corb Lund album since the 1990s to feature exclusively acoustic instruments, it was recorded in his own Southern Alberta living room, performed live off the floor in a circle with his bandmates.  The international El Viejo tour saw Corb Lund and the Hurtin’ Albertans take a spin through Corb’s home province, and he shared an intimate backstage conversation just ahead of soundcheck at his Edmonton show. He reflected on his journey, how he’s still bridging the metal/country divide, being outspoken in his advocacy for preserving the Rocky Mountain foothills, the long shadow of his friend and mentor Ian Tyson and finding new ways to be as personal as he can with the art that he creates.   ____________________________________________________________________________________  Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer  The Hidden Track podcast is a CKUA production made possible by the generosity of our donors. Thank you for your continued support!

The Bros. Landreth return to Hidden Track for a Season 5 Session!  When they started their band, it was just an excuse to spend time together, given that the brothers David and Joey Landreth were often embroiled in their careers as top–call players in the Winnipeg music scene.   The brothers came together to write some original songs and their first album as The Bros. Landreth was born. Released independently without much fanfare, Let It Lie soon drew them an audience from across the world.  It's somewhat ironic that the album is titled “Let It Lie”, as it did anything but lay down - especially where the Bro’s musical careers are concerned! Ten years on, this beautiful album continues to resonate and do astonishing things in the world. For instance – it would have seemed impossible for David and Joey to believe in 2013 that a decade later, they could say that a song on this album has been recorded by one of their all-time heroes, Bonnie Raitt – and that it won a Grammy Award!  It says a lot about the work ethic of the Bros. Landreth that their way of celebrating the debut record's 10th anniversary was no mere victory lap. Instead, they created a whole new version of the album – featuring acoustic re-interpretations of all the songs on Let It Lie – and took it on the road for a gigantic tour. It was during that tour that the band found themselves with a couple days off in Alberta! Between their sold-out concerts, the Bros. Landreth elected to play a free Saturday covers set at a local pub and took a trip down to CKUA's Edmonton Performance Space for this beautiful Hidden Track Session.  Something of an intergenerational affair, this Session features David Landreth on bass (and some harmonica). Then, on acoustic guitars, we have: Joey Landreth, long-time collaborator Murray Pulver, (from hitmaking Winnipeg bands like Crash Test Dummies and Doc Walker); and the band's drummer, Roman Clarke, a great young multi-instrumentalist, who like everyone else in this session, is an absolute monster singer and musician – as well as a kind-hearted, down-to-earth, sincere, and hilarious human being.  This episode is a candid visit with the Bros. Landreth – in conversation, plus live performances of three songs from Let It Lie: "Nothing", "Where Were We", and that Grammy-winning song of theirs, "Made Up Mind".  Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer Session recording: Scott Zielsdorf | Mixing: Duke Paetz | Video Editor: Jasmine Vickaryous.   The Hidden Track podcast is a CKUA production made possible by the generosity of our donors. Thank you for your support!  Subscribe to the Hidden Track podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify. 

The Rural Alberta Advantage's much-anticipated October 2023 album The Rise & the Fall - their first in a half-dozen years - is once again chock full of Albertan references. However, it has also managed to connect with fans from around the world! Renowned UK newspaper The Independent named it one of their Best Albums of 2023, alongside albums by Olivia Rodrigo and Lana Del Rey. Perhaps the most exciting part of this new album, and its subsequent world tour – is that it sees all three original members – and longtime great friends – back in action together.  They are Nils Edenloff (the Alberta expatriate who's the chief singer, songwriter and guitarist in the band), drummer extraordinaire Paul Banwatt and Amy Cole, who does pretty much everything else! Keyboards, bass pedals, harmony vocals – she's an orchestra unto herself! She took a break from the band back in 2016 and returned to the fold just in time for the new album and ensuing tour. Appropriately enough, the tour saw the band take a swing through Alberta, which included a visit to CKUA’s studios for this episode of Hidden Track Stories - and what stories they are! In this episode, we hear all about the band's rich history, the Alberta folklore that's fascinated them and their fans for so long, how they keep themselves grounded with family and careers outside of being internationally-celebrated musicians, what it's like to play for 50,000 fans and several dozen NHL hockey players at this season's Edmonton Oilers/Calgary Flames Heritage Classic and - more than anything – the shared love, respect, and chemistry that's gotten them to this point.  Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer Recording and mixing provided by Brendan Cross.  The Hidden Track podcast is a CKUA production and made possible by the generosity of our donors. Thank you for your support! 

When you think about it, being a YouTuber isn't so different from being a singer-songwriter.  In each case, you need to dig deep, be original, authentic and often get incredibly vulnerable – all while the world is looking on.  Canadian singer/songwriter Haley Blais has proven truly brilliant in both fields! This hit-YouTuber-turned-award-winning-musician shows us exactly why that is on her new album Wisecrack, and furthermore with the performance she shared with CKUA in this beautifully candid Hidden Track Session.  Haley has experienced a unique artistic evolution, to say the very least. Originally from Kelowna, BC, she started off her involvement in the arts as a classically trained opera singer, eventually making the move to Vancouver and cultivating a fruitful career as a content creator. But music has always been with her, and homespun musical performances proved to be hugely successful on her YouTube channel, including one ukulele-accompanied performance of an old pop song from the 1920s - which has received millions of views in the 2020s!  She has continued branching out into new adventures in music and her career as a singer, songwriter and recording artist kicked into high gear with her debut EP in 2016. In late 2023, she released her sophomore full-length album Wisecrack on Arts & Crafts. The album release tour saw her take a spin through Alberta in early 2024 and brought her to CKUA’s live performance space for an intimate, funny, heartbreaking and occasionally expletive-laden session on the Hidden Track Podcast.  Hidden Track is a CKUA production made possible by the generosity of our donor community. Thank you for your support!   

Careful of Your Keepers, the sixth full-length album by This Is the Kit, ends with the mantra-like benediction of "Be Okay". It's a beautifully delicate place to land, after ten songs that navigate their way through a world full of actions, their equal and opposite reactions, and the inextricably linked, overwhelmingly human dance between beauty and pain.  It's an album that starts with a goodbye. Or more precisely, it starts with a track called "Goodbye Bite", which carries on with plenty of bite throughout. The lyrics and imagery are are full of teeth and clawing and chewing. As Kate Stables sings on the chorus to the song "Inside Outside" – quoting Ralph Wiggum's celebrated Valentine note to Lisa on an episode of The Simpsons – "Bite off as much as you can chew/ I chew chew choose you."   Kate Stables is the singer/ songwriter/ multi-instrumentalist/ banjo enthusiast at the heart of this project. She grew up and fell in love with music in Winchester, one of Old England's oldest cities. She then moved on to the magical music city of Bristol, also the birthplace of groundbreaking acts like Portishead and Massive Attack. It's been a couple of decades since she moved to the artists' mecca of Paris, along with her husband (and fellow musician/bandleader) Jesse Vernon.  She and her musical collaborators have quietly built a body of work that's seen This Is the Kit become one of the most revered and distinctive creative forces in folk music. Their much-acclaimed 2023 album builds on 20 years of creative evolution, and finds them collaborating with a hero of Kate's from back in her teenage years – Gruff Rhys, who came to fame as the frontperson for Welsh '90s indie rock deities Super Furry Animals.  During the course of a wintertime 2024 tour through Alberta, Kate Stables stopped off at CKUA's Calgary studios to share an illuminating conversation about the elliptical nature of reality, her musical beginnings and creative evolution, drawing inspiration from a century-old banjo discovered in someone's attic, her surprisingly robust connections with Canada and/or Canadian music, working with one of her heroes, and what she always carries in her handbag. 

She's truly a study in contrasts – right from her chosen moniker, Sunny War.  Her story is an utterly extraordinary one, in terms of both her brilliant musical arc and her often-tumultuous life journey. She spent much of her teens and early 20s as an itinerant busker, living where she could, sometimes hopping trains around the States, experiencing trouble with the law, and battling drug and alcohol addiction. All along, Sunny War's lone constant companion – her true lifeline – has been her guitar.  The folk/ punk/ gospel/ blues artist was born Sydney Ward into a musical family in Nashville, steeped in rock, folk, and classical music, and started playing guitar as a child. Moving to L.A., she discovered punk rock in her early teens, which led her to a true DIY musical apprenticeship busking on the streets of Venice Beach. It was there that she began to develop her unique artistic voice, one that utterly transcends genre and era. She cites the influence of everyone from 1930s blues greats like Robert Johnson and Skip James, to 1980s reggae/punk firebrands Bad Brains and current experimental rap artist JPEGMafia.  Her 2022 album Anarchist Gospel was mainly written in the wake of a devastating breakup, in the loneliest depths of the pandemic, just before she decided to pull up stakes and move back to Tennessee. There, she made this album with producer Adrija Tokic (who has worked on albums by folks like Alabama Shakes and Hurray for the Riff Raff) and with collaborators like roots music heavyweights Allison Russell and David Rawlings.  Anarchist Gospel draws on the sense of duality that's at the heart of her work – these are heart-rending songs about romantic pain, family strife, and doomy environmental woes, yet the album overall is somehow strangely uplifting.  We hear that in the songs she shares with us in this episode of Hidden Track: "New Day", "Whole", and "No Reason". She performed them solo in a breathtakingly intimate session, as she travelled through Alberta playing a pair of wintertime music festivals. Travelling solo, of course!  Hidden Track Sessions are produced by CKUA Radio and is made possible by the generous contributions of our donors. Find out how you can get involved at ckua.com/donate! 

'Tis the season to be jolly!  This holiday season, CKUA's Hidden Track team busted out the stockings, tinsel and trees, festooned CKUA’s cozy music library with festive décor, and invited a few musical friends over for a special holiday episode!  Our guests brought with them some heartfelt reflections on the Yuletide season, some beautiful live performances of holiday songs ranging from ancient to brand-new, and some truly gaudy holiday apparel. Joining us in our Cozy Christmas Corner are CKUA favourites Baby Jey, VISSIA and Hawksley Workman!  Baby Jey share a wintery song from their debut album and a contemporary re-imagining of the traditional British carol "Deck the Halls." VISSIA performs her winter-embracing song Snowed In and Hawksley Workman is joined by his longtime piano accompanist Mr. Lonely for an inspired performance of material from his beloved holiday album Almost a Full Moon.  Plus, our guests spin us tales of gifts, treats, holiday albums, and Christmastimes past.  So... don we now our gay apparel! And sing we joyous, all together. Happy holidays, from all of us at CKUA's Hidden Track!    Credits: Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs & Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer Recording for this holiday session provided by Duke Paetz and Brendan Cross. "Christmas Anticipation" is provided under license by De Wolfe Music. The Hidden Track podcast is a CKUA production made possible by the generosity of our donors. Thank you for your support!  

It's been an amazing Season 4 here at Hidden Track. We've had visits with an astounding array of inspired artists, ranging from local heroes to global greats; from a reigning Polaris Prize winner to a newly minted Grammy Award winner; from hip-hop to hardcore punk to homespun folk. It's been such a wild 2023! So wild, in fact, that we felt the need to do a special episode to wrap up the season.   Given the daunting task of summarizing such an incredible season, Grant decided to call in a little help! For this year-end episode, Grant Stovel is joined by Hidden Track producer Scott Zielsdorf to help share some great stories and songs from amongst this season's 21 episodes.   In particular, this collection of magical moments zeroes in on the idea of connecting to something larger through music -- whether that's connecting with family and friends, with community, with humanity at large, connecting with your own inner sense of humanity, even connecting with your true artistic self. That yearning to connect is often the catalyst that compels musicians to create, to express, to be part of something.   Music can be a vector for connection in amazing ways -- as we hear in this episode! With memorable stories and songs from the likes of William Prince, Tanika Charles, Arlo Maverick, Wendy McNeill, Dan Mangan, F*cked Up, Young Fathers, Aysanabee, Andy Shauf, Kid Koala & Leilani, Alex Cuba, and July Talk.   Thank you for being with us in 2023! And we thank all of our guests for being so generous with their time and their hearts. All the best for 2024, and we can't wait to share Hidden Track Season 5 with you!    Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Music: Doug Hoyer | Graphics: Shaun Friesen   The Hidden Track Podcast is made possible by the generous contributions of our donors. Thank you for your support!  

Made in a basement studio littered with instruments and synth gear, Young Fathers’ new album Heavy Heavy was created entirely by the three members of the band - with the exception of a single guest vocal from a friend. The album features layer upon layer of voices and instruments, creating a sonic maelstrom of dynamics, moods and textures. And while the songs do vary widely, and occasionally tackle dark subjects, the overwhelming feeling is one of joy, connection, celebration, and togetherness.  Alloysius Maasaqoui, Kayus Bankole, and Graham Hastings have been together a long time. Hailing from the magical musical city of Edinburgh, Scotland, Young Fathers are a group of friends who met up as teenagers, and who have spun their undefinable blend of post-punk, soul, noise pop, hip-hop, and lo-fi electronica into a unique, compelling, Mercury Prize-winning body of work.  The latest album finds the group embracing a diverse swath of influences and inspirations. Two of the members of the group, Allosius and Kayus, spent parts of their early years in Africa; this album integrates some of that influence in exciting new ways. The band is also inspired by a wide range of global music, from Jamaican reggae to gospel from the American South.  Musical collaborators for more than two decades now, 2023 marked the 15th anniversary of the trio’s debut single, plus the release of the band’s widely lauded new album. This year also sees the band touring internationally on a bill with one of the most foundational, influential bands in electro pop history, Depeche Mode. The bill brought Young Fathers to Alberta in late 2023, where they took some time to drop by CKUA’s music library for a conversation about their stellar new album, their creative journey as perennial pop music renegades and the weight they bring to Heavy Heavy.  The Hidden Track podcast is produced by CKUA Radio and made possible by the generosity of CKUA's incredible donors. Thank you for your support!  Host: Grant Stovel | Recording: Duke Paetz | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer 

Arlo Maverick seems to be on a mission to ensure that Edmonton takes its place as a destination to be reckoned with on the hip-hop map. An award-winning artist, Arlo is a well-loved pillar of the hip-hop community here in Alberta. He's also toured all the way to the other side of the world and back, winning himself global fans and forging a wide network of collaborators.  More recently, he's achieved renown as a documentary filmmaker and a chronicler of local hip-hop culture and history. Arlo Maverick is truly solidifying himself as an Edmonton hip-hop ambassador to the world.  Now, a library might seem like a funny place for a hip-hop show, but it makes all the sense in the world. For thing, CKUA's legendary music library is the home to music of all kinds, including a vast trove of music by Alberta artists. Plus, artists don't come much more studied about the history and culture of Alberta music than Arlo Maverick. And, as we hear in this episode, his eureka moment as a hip-hop creator happened in church! So maybe a library isn't too much of a stretch.  Just ahead of the release of his new album, Blue Collar, Arlo Maverick and his wildly talented six-piece band set up in CKUA's music library for the first in what we hope will be a series of live music events, featuring a small, select audience of CKUA supporters, staffers, and community members. They rocked our library lunch hour with a superb set, and later on, Arlo also shared generously of his own life story in a wide-ranging and insightful interview with CKUA's Grant Stovel.  The Hidden Track podcast is produced by CKUA Radio and made possible by the generosity of CKUA's donors.  Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer Audio engineering for this live studio session was provided by Duke Paetz, with sound assistance from Scott Zielsdorf. 

Dan Mangan is fond of summing up his whole approach to a creative life in music with a simple axion: "It's cool to care."  Dan models that approach in everything he does. Whether he's starting his own label, Madic Records, or co-founding community concert platform, Side Door Access; acting as a longtime vocal advocate for the de-stigmatization of discussions around mental health; or through his countless epic live performances over the years and seven albums to date... it's very clear that Dan cares, and he doesn't mind who knows it.  Ever since he first burst out of the Vancouver scene with his debut album, nearly two decades back, Dan's been deeply interested in trying to involve people in not just his music, but what music can do; drawing people into that shared experience. Sometimes he's bringing his dynamic range all the way down to whisper-quiet, making audiences lean in closer. Sometimes - as on the giant Going Somewhere tour which brought him to Alberta in Fall 2023 - it's sending out a phone number to fans and asking them to text him their song requests before the shows. The point is, he cares about those moments of real human connection, and he hopes that you think it's cool to care, too.  Dan's latest Juno-nominated and Polaris Prize-shortlisted album Being Somewhere is a distillation of his whole ethos. And this autumn, he brought some of that music to CKUA.  Amidst the stacks of vinyl and shellac in CKUA's legendary music library, Dan shared an insightful and occasionally hilarious conversation, and performed beautiful, intimate, solo acoustic versions of two songs: Being Somewhere standout "Fire Escape" and as his latest, a single called "Say When." The Hidden Track Podcast is produced by CKUA Radio and made possible by the generous contributions of our donors. Thank you for your support!  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer  Sound mixing for this Hidden Track session provided by Brendan Cross. Videography assistance from Bailey Richards. 

Many first knew Ariel Posen as the mind-bendingly gifted guitar player with fellow Winnipeg act, The Bros. Landreth. Over the years, he’s lent his six-string talents to a wildly eclectic array of artists, ranging from John Mayer to Tom Jones. Ariel Posen’s international stature as a rising guitar star became so substantial that it came as something of a surprise to many when in 2019, he put out his own debut album as a singer-songwriter, How Long.  Ariel's solo career, which initially began as a side project for this guitar ace, quickly became his full-time occupation. His work as a recording artist combines his guitar wizardry with a penchant for biting, heart-on-sleeve lyrics and a sweet, soulful voice. Over the course of several solo LPs and EPs now, Ariel’s unerring knack for timeless grooves and melodies has continued to evolve and his music now connects with audiences around the world. The September 2023 release of his third full-length album Reasons Why sees him headlining tours all across North America and Europe. The autumn leg of this trek was kick-started by a massive show in Los Angeles, where Ariel was among the luminaries playing at Eric Clapton’s legendary all-star guitar-centric concert series Crossroads.  And from there, the tour took Ariel straight to Alberta, where he took some time to drop by CKUA studios, guitar in hand, to talk about his meteoric rise, sharing the stage with guitar gods, and his inspired brand-new album. In this solo session among the stacks of records in CKUA’s storied music library, Ariel shared a wide-ranging conversation and very intimate, stripped-down performances of songs from the new record.  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer  Sound mixing for this session provided by Duke Paetz. 

It’s a testament to the connection and chemistry this band have built together over more than twenty years that they were able to pull off a unique feat of artistic daring for their latest album, 2023’s much-acclaimed One Day. Each band member, on their own, composing and recording an entire album’s worth of instrumental parts in a 24-hour span, then passing it down the line to the next band member, for them to add their own inspired contributions to the brew.   For a band that’s been known to spend literally years crafting elaborate, sprawling, world-building concept records, this is perhaps the most radical and adventurous idea they’ve ever undertaken. The resulting album is heartfelt, brilliant, and full of the musical imagination and raw emotional power that's made F*cked Up one of the most beloved bands in hardcore punk rock over the past two decades.   As a band, they go all the way back to when these musicians were not much more than kids, growing up in turn-of-the-century Toronto, and falling in love with the punk scene. F*cked Up are now, as then: singer Damian Abraham, bass player Sandy Miranda, drummer Jonah Falco, guitarist Mike Haliechuk and fellow founding member and touring guitarist, Josh Zucker. The artistic challenge on their new album is just as epic as ever, but they’ve gone from macro to micro. For this one, their ever-present big, bold artistic scope is more extreme close-up, rather than wide-angle lens. They're a band that loves a good challenge, and they continue to challenge themselves to find innovative paths toward artistic evolution and reinvention, over and over again. On the Alberta leg of their album release tour earlier in 2023, bass player Sandy Miranda and lead singer Damian Abraham stopped by CKUA studios to share a characteristically hilarious and candid conversation with Grant Stovel. On this episode of the Hidden Track Podcast, we hear some of the band’s stranger-than-fiction stories and what it was like trying to distill their entire artistic essence into One Day.  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer 

This year marks the silver anniversary of the barn-storming acoustic country music juggernaut known as Old Crow Medicine Show. They're a group that traces their roots to busking all across Canada and the United States. Since then, Old Crow Medicine Show has gained commercial success with their distinctively contemporary spin on old-school traditions. The band's song “Wagon Wheel” became certified Platinum in 2013, and is one of the best-known and most oft-covered roots music songs of this century. Old Crow Medicine Show's 25th anniversary is being suitably celebrated in Summer 2023 with the release of the band’s 10th studio album, Jubilee.  Founding member Ketch Secor has remained a constant of the band through the last 25 years, and remains the band’s lead singer, songwriter and fiddle player. In his early childhood years, Ketch's parents moved him around the country, opening up a series of schools in many different pockets of the United States. It awoke in him a lifelong love of travelling, and of learning. As a teen, he earned himself a scholarship to an illustrious prep school in New England - which is where he first got serious about old-time string band music. Ketch Secor and three other members of Old Crow Medicine Show dropped by CKUA's Edmonton studios just ahead of their headlining set at the 2023 Edmonton Folk Music Festival. They gathered around a single vintage microphone to share live renditions of two songs from Jubilee. Additionally, Ketch joins CKUA's Grant Stovel for an in-depth conversation that’s just as wide-ranging, authentic, and full of delightful surprises as the band’s music. The Hidden Track Podcast is produced by CKUA Radio and made possible by the generous contributions of our donors. Thank you for your support!  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer  Session Engineer: Brendan Cross

She's always had a way of finding those human stories that make us feel connected to some of the very big themes and questions that she tackles in her songs. Wendy McNeill's music often deals with the epic, the mythic, the unknowable, the elemental... but in an artfully narrative, poetically detailed way that draws the listener right into the very human emotions at the heart of it. And with her new album, First There Were Feathers, those very human emotions are evoked by 17 songs that are all about birds.  Whether she's wielding a guitar, a kalimba, a looping pedal, or her trademark accordion, Wendy McNeill's been crafting a sound all her own throughout her acclaimed discography, ever since she started her recording career more than a qurter-century ago now.   Her art has always been global in nature -- both in the sense that she contemplates issues that affect us all, ranging from ecological concerns to the mysteries of the human heart; as well as in the way that her noirish folk music draws on influences that seem to know no borders. And you can add "globe-trotter" to that description, as well, as she long ago branched out from her Alberta roots to live in various culturally rich locales in Scandinavia and Europe, making her home these days in Spain.  The place that she lives is along the flightpath of many migratory birds travelling between Africa and Northern Europe; after massive wildfires in both her adopted Spanish home and her old Albertan stomping grounds, she began to wonder how those birds were impacted by the fires. Digging into both the scientific and the poetic sides of this question, she created her new album as a means of exploring how birds could bring us stories, messages, and wisdom about the perilous situation that humanity is currently facing. "A wild wisdom wrapped in verse," as she says in the album track that she'll spin for us, "The Language of the Birds." Along the near-hour of music on her new album, we meet many different bird characters and narrators, as they share a diverse range of elevated perspectives. They relate tales from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Oscar Wilde, and Greek mythology, as well as many stories that spring from Wendy's own boundless imagination. During a visit to Alberta in the wake of the album's release, Wendy came to CKUA studios and brought along a song to spin for us, her captivating stories and wit, and of course, her trusty accordion, Ruby.  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer  With additional recording assistance from Brendan Cross and Duke Paetz.

Considering how much he shares of himself through his frank, tender songs, and how down-to-earth and open he is in live performance and in conversation, Doug Paisley has always seemed to be a bit of an enigma.  For one thing, his music seems so truly timeless. It’s like the Toronto troubadour’s lastest album Say What You Like could just as easily have been released in 1973 as in 2023. His unique blend of the cryptic and plainspoken - along with the specific, cinematic details - gives the sense that he’s on a distinct creative journey of his own, seemingly unrelated to trends in the larger musical world.  And yet, there are plenty of luminaries from that larger musical world that have collaborated with Doug on his greatly-acclaimed albums. In the past, Doug’s records have been graced by contributions from revered artists like Mary Margaret O’Hara and the keyboard genius from The Band, Garth Hudson. On his new album, Doug’s evocative songs, expressive guitar playing, and beautiful tenor voice are treated to some stellar production help from his old friend Afie Jurvanen and his band, Bahamas.  On tour through Alberta in summer 2023, Doug Paisley stopped by CKUA's Edmonton studios to serenade us with a pair of songs, and to trace his one-of-a-kind creative career. He told us about his musical beginnings with buck-a-Beatles LP buys; the lasting lessons learned in his early onstage experiences, ranging from bluegrass to reggae to performance art; the influence of everyone from outsider folk great Bonnie “Prince” Billy to ‘70s AM country’s “Gentle Giant” Don Williams; the way Afie’s and Bahamas’ support helped unlock the creative breakthrough of Say What You Like; and how writing songs and playing guitar are a great release for the feelings that move you when, as the title track says, “those bygone times come back to visit.”  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer | Sound Engineer: Duke Paetz  This episode of Hidden Track features live performances from Doug Paisley. Music is used with permission from the artist. 

Jose Louis Modabi is the given name of Colgolese-Canadian artist Pierre Kwenders, the exceptionally innovative music-maker behind the Polaris Music Prize-winning album, Jose Louis and the Paradox of Love.  Bridging the gaps between musical worlds, the traditional and the future-leaning, his hometowns of Kinshasa and Montreal, and between the profoundly personal and the universally human, Pierre Kwenders is a one-of-a-kind musical visionary. Drawing on jazz, Congolese rhumba, pop, electronica and disco, and singing or rapping in five languages -- Lingala, Kikikongo, Tshiluba, French, English – he constructs a whole sonic universe on his latest album. There are meditations on love, lust, spirituality, home, family, freedom, culture, and music; all of it deeply centred in his unique, highly personal aesthetic. The expanded Deluxe Edition of Jose Louis and the Paradox of Love released June 30,2023, further deepening the album’s artistic sweep of styles, textures and perspectives with bonus tracks and re-works.  In this episode of the Hidden Track Podcast, Pierre Kwenders tells us about his musical background: from growing up singing in church choirs as a kid in the Congo, to discovering the underground music scene in Montreal, where he moved as a teenager. He discusses the formative influence of Congolese musical heroes like Lokua Kanza and Papa Wemba, the importance of matriarchs on his life and how he takes his artistic moniker from his grandfather’s name. We'll discover more about Pierre Kwenders' birth city of Kinshasa, which “vibrates with music”, plus his personal vision for a globe-spanning, era-mashing Black futurism and his guiding philosophy that “love never dies on the dance floor.”  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer   

They’ve always been musical alchemists -- melding worlds and traditions together, taking on the big questions, and crafting bold musical narratives. On greatly-acclaimed previous albums like Guesthouse and Line of Light, they've created poetic anthems addressing mortality, embracing our shared humanity, and, of course, longing for love. And they've done it while fusing everything from roots-Americana to psychedelic rock to Mexican folk traditions.  And yet somehow, the new album by David Wax Museum sees the band achieving a whole new level of depth and dimension, of scope and scale. Fittingly enough, it's called You Must Change Your Life.  Suz Slezak and David Wax are the creative couple at the heart of Charlottesville, Virginia's David Wax Musuem. Their heartfelt, deeply personal approach to songcraft is matched by a sound that's all their own, and by a wildly inventive, boisterous live show. They've been building a hardcore fanbase over their nine albums and countless miles on the road.  Mid-2023 saw the release of what they call their "magnum opus" -- a Latin term that literally means "great work", and which in the ancient world of alchemy signifies transformation and transcendence. They describe You Must Change Your Life as "an openhearted manifesto -- a collection that embodies, then transcends bedrock elements of the band's 15-year career."  David Wax Museum fans can rejoice that their magnum opus is finally out in the world, just released in spring 2023 via Nine Mile Records. And they can also be glad that David Wax himself is here to savour the moment, too; as he and Suz will tell us, an unexpected and terrifying health concern interceded in the band's journey, just as they were on the verge of this album's triumphant release.  Suz and David joined us for a heartfelt conversation from their barn/studio in Charlottesville, Virginia, to talk about how they became a band, then a couple, and eventually a family; and how their creative journey has led from Harvard University to folk music studies in Mexico, from what seemed like a never-ending tour, to their backyard barn, and eventually to the syncopated truths conveyed on this truly transformative album.   To paraphrase the chorus from the song ‘Luanne’, this new record is a shape shifter and a fate twister; constructing a colourful, multi-layered dream world which speaks to both the most earthly and the most ineffable sides of our human existence. As David sings in ‘Summer Wrapped in Gold’:  "My heart still beats to that syncopated truth.”  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer 

William Prince's rich baritone voice resonates with amazing warmth, light, and wisdom. Along with the poetic songs and stories that it delivers, his voice just seems to have a way of instantly finding a place in people’s hearts. It's no wonder that William's voice and songs have taken him all the way from the small Manitoba community where he grew up, to great acclaim all across Canada.  In a way, William Prince has spent his whole life exploring the ways that music can be a source of connection, communion, and healing. As a kid growing up in Southern Manitoba's Peguis First Nation, he played guitar with his father, who was as singer and songwriter in a gospel/country vein. After that up-close apprenticeship, he embarked upon a career of his own. He hit home almost immediately with his powerful 2015 debut album Earthly Days, which won him a Juno Award right out of the gate, signaling the arrival of a major new figure on the singer-songwriter scene. In the years since, he's garnered increasing international recognition for his work with his sophomore album Reliever, and an homage to his dad and his roots with Gospel First Nation.   Spring 2023 sees the release of Stand in the Joy, a triumphant collection of bittersweet yet hopeful songs. It’s an album that William says, "acknowledges pain but does not give it power. What I hope comes through are feelings of love, peace, and strength."  On tour through Alberta, William Prince stopped by CKUA's Edmonton studios for a visit, bringing his guitar, his brilliant songs and, of course, that incredible voice.  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer 

Vivek Shraya is a constantly churning force for creativity. She's an author, playwright, filmmaker, a professor of English Literature, a poet, an active champion of BIPOC, women- and femme-identifying artists though initiatives she's launched, and she's an absolute joy on social media.  Vivek’s new album is Baby, You're Projecting, out now via Mint Records. Her debut label release offers a brilliantly crafted, heart-on-sleeve glimpse into her own personal experiences and perspectives. It traces deeply felt, masterfully created musical stories that ring so true, we can probably all see ourselves in them somewhere; they feel like they have something important to say to all of us.   Vivek's been writing songs since age 13 and crafting albums for a good 20 years now. Always at the core of her art is personal experience, offering a wide range of often very frank, unflinching perspectives. Being an Albertan of South Asian heritage, growing up queer, being trans, making pop music into her 40s - all are experiences which have in some way inspired or informed her creativity over the years.   Some songs on her latest album are responses to societal issues like pervasive toxic masculinity and sexism, ongoing colonial attitudes, and the takedown culture fostered by of our extremely online current moment. Other songs on the record are simply about friends, family, and heartbreak.   While some moments do feel heartbreaking, others are powerfully affirming, even anthemic! She and longtime collaborator/producer James Bunton have hit a whole new level of sophistication in crafting this album, and Vivek is digging deeper than ever. The album is also accompanied by a companion short film that weaves some of these musical stories into a larger, visually spectacular arc.  This is Vivek Shraya | Singing Free and Loud!  Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Host: Grant Stovel | Graphics: Shaun Friesen | Music: Doug Hoyer