Music News Digest: Teenage Head Plays 'Final Spin' Series at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre, Leif Vollebekk Announces Tour
Also under our watch this week: An upcoming Awards show in our nation's capital, The Washboard Union hit the small screen and Odds and London, Ontario's VENUExVENUE festival gets a new songwriting showcase.
Leif Vollebekk
Awards News
The 6th annual Capital Music Awards will take place at the National Arts Centre's Southam Hall in Ottawa on May 22, 2025. Nominations are now open across 13 categories until November 11. For more information on eligibility and how to nominate, visit ottawamic.com/cma/2025.
Festivals news
– The upcoming VENUExVENUE music fest in London, Ontario, is getting ready to roll out, Nov. 14-16, and a new special fest event has just been announced. SONGxSONG is an intimate concert that will feature stories and songs from a couple of veteran Canadian rock singer-songwriters, Moe Berg (The Pursuit of Happiness) and Dave Bidini (Rheostatics). They'll be joined by Housewife and Chris Koster (ex-Glorious Sons) at the Nov. 15 show, at Wolf Performance Hall. Tickets here. The full festival features over 60 artists performing at seven venues over three nights. More info here.
– Jazz at the Bolt, now in its fifth year, has made a real mark in Burnaby, B.C. It next takes place Feb. 14-16, with multiple stages running across two days at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts. The fest is presented by the Cellar Music Group, the highly-respected independent jazz label headed by fest founder Cory Weeds. He has now partnered with Tim Reinert of Infidels Jazz to increase the programme's diversity. Headliners announced sofar include Bria Skonberg, the Seamus Blake Organ Trio, Jamile with Miki Yamanaka, the Geoff Claridge 3 and Feven Kidane. More names to follow. Info here.
– The 2025 Folk Alliance International conference is set for Montreal, running Feb. 19-23. Portugal has just been announced as the Country Focus at the event, the largest international gathering of the folk music industry. Portuguese artists will be well-represented among the 175+ performers from 38 countries of origin to showcase at FAI. More information here.
Industry news
– Good Night Out Vancouver, a B.C. nonprofit focused on preventing sexual violence in nightlife and event spaces, will present its Foundations of Protective Spaces workshop at the Canadian Event Safety Alliance Conference on October 24. The half-day session is in partnership with the Canadian Live Music Association and supported by FACTOR, the Government of Canada and Canada’s private radio broadcasters. Registration and more info here.
– Nova Scotia Music Week 2024 is rapidly approaching, set to take place Nov. 7-10. Many additional conference sessions have been added to the Nova Scotia Music Week 2024 schedule, and you can see the updated sked here. Conference programming is open to all artist and delegate passholders to attend. Delegate passes are on sale now here.
Artists news
– Highly-regarded Canadian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Leif Vollebekk has just announced concerts in his home country as part of the Revelation tour. The Canadian leg of the tour will kick off in Vancouver on February 14, 2025 and includes stops in Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, and many more. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10AM local time. This Canadian tour serves as a continuation of his European, U.K. and U.S. tour dates. See the complete list of dates here. Since coming out on Sept. 27, Vollebekk's new album has quickly elicited rave reviews from media at home and abroad.
– Juno and 9x CCMA Award-winning, chart-topping country band The Washboard Union can be seen soon on an episode of the CBS hit TV drama Tracker, starring Justin Hartley. Airing on Oct. 27, the episode will also feature two songs from The Washboard Union’s WESTERLY album, “New Paint” and “Neon Needs The Night”.
The group kicks off their Grab The Wheel and Go” Canadian fall tour on October 24th in Lac La Biche. 18 other stops include shows in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Tony Stevens supports on all BC dates, The Red Hill Valleys opens all Ontario dates, CCMA Award-winning Kalsey Kulyk appears in Calgary, and additional dates feature The Prairie States. Tour dates here.
–"Holiday Soul" is the name of an upcoming seasonal show headed by Sean Jones and The Righteous Echo, one that will feature acclaimed soul/R&B vocalist/songwriter Jones delivering soul-infused renditions of holiday classics. It takes place in Hamilton at The Music Hall (situated in the New Vision United Church downtown) on Sat. Nov. 30. Notable special guests are Juno Award-winner Divine Brown and Jackie Richardson, a Gemini and Dora Award-winning singer, actor, and Order of Canada recipient, accompanied by the Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. Attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to support Hamilton Food Share.Tickets are on sale here. This will be Jones' biggest hometown concert, but he is well-known on the Toronto scene for a series at Casa Loma, and shows at Harbourfront, the El Mocambo and other venues.
– To celebrate the 30th anniversary of their most popular album, Good Weird Feeling, Vancouver rockers Odds have announced a hometown show at Commodore Ballroom on Friday, February 21. Opening the show is another popular veteran CanRock band, Limblifter. Ticket info here. Here's a track from that hit Odds album.
– The world film premiere of Sultans of String’s visual album, Walking Through The Fire, will be at Toronto’s Cecil Community Centre on Friday, Nov. 1. An award-winning and internationally acclaimed world music group, SoS collaborated extensively with noted First Nations, Métis, and Inuit artists from across Turtle Island/Canada on this project. 100% of the ticket price will be donated to the Native Women’s Resource Centre. Tickets here. This production comes on the heels of Sultans of String's Cannes World Film Festival winning visual album/documentary, The Refuge Project.
– Singer-songwriter Laurence-Anne has released a Spanish-sung single, "Melancolía," her first new song since last year's much-heralded third album. This release will be followed a Mexico tour, and an opening slot for Peter Peter at Club Soda in Montreal on November 23rd. See other upcoming tour dates here.
– Much-loved Toronto masked garage/surf rockers Tijuana Bibles are reuniting for three 25th anniversary shows in Ontario. They play Toronto's Baby G on Oct. 31, Vertagogo in Hamilton on Nov. 1, and Palasad Socialbowl in London, on Nov. 2. They have just released a 'Greatest Hits' album entitled Undefeated.
– Hamilton punk/garage rock heroes Teenage Head close out their 50th anniversary celebrations with a Nov. 1 show at The Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto, with Carl Dixon opening. It is part of The Phoenix's Final Spin Series for the famed venue will be closing next year. Teenage Head recently lost founding guitarist Gord Lewis and previously also lost lead singer Frankie Venom. The current lineup includes longtime members Dave Rave, Stephen Marshall Mahon and Gene Champagne, with Trent Carr of Headstones stepping in on guitar. Tickets are available here.
Renowned world music label Putumayo Records releases a new compilation, Latin Cafe, on Oct 25. Of note: The 10 artists featured include two Canadians, acclaimed Toronto singer/songwriter Amanda Martinez and Montreal-based Mexican singer-songwriter NUNNE. Check it out on Bandcamp
