Fly with your Shadow

Evangeline Gentle's 2023 album, Where the Diamonds Are, is a masterpiece sonically and lyrically. It’s melodic and interesting, propelled and shaped by producer and master musician Jim Bryson. He encouraged Evangeline to make a first professional album and has been a mentor, collaborator, and supporter ever since.

But even with guidance, talent, an interesting perspective, and a solid grounding, the rampant difficulties put in plac...

This episode is a cautionary tale about how an artist can work hard, have talent and something to say, then just when their career is starting to take off, through no fault of their own, the rug can get pulled out from underneath and they’re back at the beginning, if not questioning whether music is even the right direction.

Mike June has a wealth of music industry experience behind the scenes and on stage. He's toured extensively ...

Colleen Brown (colleenbrownmusic.com) is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter on a mission - looking for beauty in the darker corners of human existence. With versatile songwriting and a vulnerable authenticity, she weaves elements of folk, roots, Americana, and pop into a sublime, striking blend. She collaborates with Scenic Route to Alaska in rock/pop supergroup Major Love, sometimes tours as a part of Great Lake Swimmers, a...

I first got to know Jory Nash over 20 years ago. His albums, songs, and shows, have always been impressive. He’s toured extensively throughout North America, being featured at festivals and concert halls all over Canada and the U.S. In 2009, his album New Blue Day topped the prestigious Penguin Eggs Magazine poll of music critics, artists, and presenters.

He was also the co-founder and for nearly 20 years, the director of a multi-a...

Fly with your Shadow is back after an unexpectedly long absence with a bit of a broader focus to allow for some new guests and different types of conversations!

Channelling pain into beauty, Ken Yates’ fourth album is a breathtaking triumph of the human spirit. The cool-hued Cerulean captures the artist’s intimate reckoning as he grieved his dying mother, giving listeners a vivid window into the rollercoaster of intense thoughts an...

Melanie Brulée is a bilingual singer/songwriter originally from Cornwall, Ontario. She spent much of her 20s living in Australia, where she first picked up a guitar and developed an interest in singing and songwriting.

She came back to Canada and quickly established herself on stages and at festivals across Canada and in the United States. She’s got two full-length albums out, a French-language album called Débridée, which came out...

Today’s show features a story of trauma that is really difficult to hear. This might be the most intensely emotional episode of this show so far, and it’s one that many listeners might find difficult and disturbing. It is a story about a young boy who was sexually abused by a Catholic priest and the devastating effects that it had on the boy and his family. If these topics might be difficult for you, or you have a strong attachment...

Mike Plume is one of the most glaring examples of the unfair nature of the music industry. You’d like to think that if you have immense talent and appeal and work really, really hard, you’d become a major star. But it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes, an artist just grinds away, developing a rabid following outside of the mainstream.

Don’t get me wrong, Mike has been successful and is known and loved by many. But for my mone...

John Wort Hannam hails from Alberta, where he started out writing narrative story songs and character sketches and carved out a name for himself singing those songs and telling those stories all across Canada and beyond.

He made a couple of albums independently, then a couple with the help and backing of influential and successful producer Steve Dawson, which were released on Steve’s Black Hen Music.

In 2011, John and his wife Jenn...

Meaghan Smith (meaghansmith.com) is a successful, award-winning, former major label recording artist, a talented painter and greeting card designer (meaghansmithart.com), a loving mother, adoring wife, and more. She and her husBand, Jason Mingo, run a custom-song business called "Our Song" (oursongmusic.com). She's also been very honest and open about her struggle with anxiety.  More information and music credits: https://flywithy...

It only took one listen at his producer’s house in 2003 to convince me that JP Hoe had something special. He’s got a big, powerful, one-of-a-kind voice, and knows how to craft a memorable melody. I knew he was headed for great things and couldn’t wait to share his music with people.

And I’ve been doing it steadily for 18 years now. In that time, he’s put out an early EP, 4 full-length albums, kick-started the creation of one of my ...

Jim White (jimwhitemusic.net) is a fascinating character who has lived an almost unbelievable life up to this point. It’s his music that got my attention and has brought him the most renown and acclaim, but he didn’t come seriously to music until later in life. Before a rather serendipitous start to that career, he was a professional model, professional surfer, New York University film student, and a New York City taxi driver.

Duri...

Music credits and more information can be found here: https://wp.me/pdcjXL-6b

Shawna Caspi's biography describes her as, “a singer, a poet, a painter, a fingerstyle guitar player,” and explains:

After touring her last album relentlessly, Shawna took a break to rest, reflect, and focus on songwriting. It was in those moments of stillness and solitude that she confronted her own experience of burnout, an...

On this episode, a conversation I had with one of the most respected and acclaimed contemporary Canadian songwriters. He’s able to write songs that convey simple thoughts and ideas in beautiful, poetic ways. He’s written about love and sorrow and joy powerfully and perfectly.

David Francey (www.davidfrancey.com) was born in Scotland, but his family moved to Canada when he was 12. The value and importance of hard work was instilled ...

Paul MacLeod was a super talented singer/songwriter from Kitchener, Ontario. He built his reputation locally and regionally as a captivating solo performer who mixed great original songs alongside a vast and diverse repertoire of covers.

He was first introduced to many of us nationally and internationally when he joined legendary, long-standing roots-rock band Skydiggers in the mid-90s. He had the difficult task of replacing foundi...

Suzie Ungerleider (suzieungerleider.com) is best known as Oh Susanna, a moniker that she chose to take on when she started performing her own songs in the mid-1990s. In the beginning, she was writing and performing songs that were often dark and sad, with murder ballads and difficult tales being a common theme.

Her songs and subject matter expanded over the course of 5 albums made with a few different record labels. When it came ti...

Sean Burns (seanburns.ca) came into music naturally, he’s the son of a professional, hard-working musician. Between 2009 and 2014, Sean released four albums, each one more distinct and impressive than the last, and made a name for himself on the road.

Sometime after the fourth one, he fell in love and found his way to Winnipeg, where he quickly inserted himself into one of Winnipeg’s main hubs and training grounds for roots-based l...

I think that Edmonton-based singer/songwriter Joe Nolan is one of those true “old soul” songwriters. He’s been writing songs that are deeper and wiser than his years for over a decade. He first came to my attention when Six Shooter Records put out the album Tornado in 2014 and set him off on the road to promote it. His name was unknown to me, but the label was well known, and the list of people who helped make that record was impre...

Stephanie Lambring’s songs are largely about difficult topics, and the stories they contain are often dark and sad. Her official biography sums her debut album up really well: “Autonomy centers around what it is to have the ability to make your own decisions—to truly own the course your life takes. Lambring examines topics that sound familiar, like things you’ve thought about before, from childhood embarrassments that still pop up ...