Music News Digest, July 16, 2018

By Kerry Doole

Toronto hip-hop artist Jazz Cartier has announced July 27 as the official release date for his full-length (16 track) album Fleurever via UMC. It will include earlier singles "Which One," "Right Now," and "Godflower," and is the follow-up to 2016's full-length, Hotel Paranoia. That recording won the 2017 Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year, and Cartier created a stir after the awards show by declaring that "Canadian radio is gonna have to stop bullshitting and start playing our own on our radio so these kids don't feel the need to leave to the states in order to make it or get heard." His collaborators on Fleurever include KTOE, WondaGurl, Cuebeatz, Lantz, DZL, and Krinny.

– Veteran blues-rocker Colin James releases his 19th album, Miles To Go on Sept. 21, on Stony Plain Records in the US and True North Records ROW. It is described as a sequel to the well-received Blue Highways, featuring James' covers of material from some of the blues greats (including Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Robert Johnson), plus two originals, including "40 Light Years" (below). He played fest dates in Windsor and Ottawa on the weekend, and has more Canadian fest shows in August.

– This fall, the estate-approved Roy Orbison hologram tour will trek across North America for the first time. It teams a hologram of the late great with live orchestration and “newly recorded, never-before-heard, digitally remastered arrangements of his classics.” The tour includes two Canadian shows, Edmonton's Northern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium on Oct. 9 and Calgary's Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium, Oct. 10. Source: Rolling Stone

–  Music BC is showcasing four BC acts to the Toronto music industry with an Adelaide Hall showcase on Oct. 18. Those chosen also receive mentorship with the Canada’s Music Incubator team. Deadline for applications is July 27.

– Soulful Toronto rockers The Julian Taylor Band have released a new single, "Sweeter," and are back on the road. They played Quebec City's Festival d’ete and Ottawa's Bluesfest on the weekend, and upcoming dates include Drinks Fest in Paris, ON (Aug. 18), CNE Bandshell in Toronto (Aug. 19), and Skookum Festival in Vancouver (Sept. 7).

– July 22 is the application deadline for The Magna Hoedown Showdown, a country music talent competition for aspiring singers from Ontario. The grand prize has a $25K value.

– Cancountry star Gord Bamford has just put out a video for “Dive Bar, ” the fourth single from his hit album Neon Smoke. Bamford had a gig in France on Saturday, and has four BC shows set later this month, prior to hosting the 11th Annual Gord Bamford Charity Golf Classic, Red Deer, AB on Aug. 15. Last week he was nominated for three CCMA Awards.

– The Equinor MusicNL NewFound Talent Contest takes place at the 42nd Annual Newfoundland & Labrador Folk Festival in Bannerman Park for the fifth consecutive year. The contest offers professional development prizes valued at over $6K  for young performers. The winner gets to perform on the festival’s Main Stage with some of the world’s finest performers in front of a large audience. Apply here by July 20.

–  The TD Niagara Jazz Festival is broadening its stylistic range with the first annual World Music on the Beachconcert, set for July 22 at Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie, ON. The strong bill features Juno nominee Alysha Brilla, Zeynep Ozbilien, Sina Bathaie, Nu Klezmer Orchestra, Caribbean Club Trio, PK Hummingbird Steel Drum Band, hisaka, Marutyri, C.O.M. Reggae Band, and more. A free event.

– Saskatchewan country singer/songwriter Colter Wall has released a new single “­Calgary Round Up," a Western swing-styled cover of a Wilf Carter song. Wall fittingly played it during his recent Calgary Stampede show, and it will appear on his upcoming third album (release date TBA). The singer has earned friends in high places, with Steve Earle calling him "bar-none the best young singer-songwriter I’ve seen in twenty years,” and Rick Rubin signing him to his American Songs publishing company.

– Long a fixture on the Toronto scene, Fergus Hambleton remains best known as leader of Juno-winning pop/reggae faves The Sattalites, but is still active as a solo artist. He has just released a new single and video, "Slow Fade Into Black," one he calls "a tribute to my close friend and bandmate Bruce 'Preacher' Robinson."

– Led by much-praised singer/songwriter Colleen Brown, Major Love also features members of Scenic Route To Alaska and Jesse And The Dandelions, Elijah Abrams, and Aaron Goldstein. The group's eponymous debut comes out on Latent Recordings on Aug. 24. Major Love plays cross-country dates over the summer, starting with a July 18 show at Fernie BC's The Arts Station.

RIP

Ponty Bone, (born Harry DePonta Bone), one of Texas’ best-known accordion players, died July 13 after an extended struggle with a rare neurodegenerative disease. He was 78.

He first made a mark with The Joe Ely Band in the mid-'70s, playing on Ely’s first four solo records and touring the world with him until 1983. Bone debuted his own outfit, Ponty Bone & the Squeezetones, in 1982. That group released a handful of albums, played Austin clubs regularly, and toured both regionally and internationally.

Bone continued to perform and record with countless Texas artists over the next couple of decades. Source: Austin360.com