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BILLBOARD CANADA FYI
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Tristan Cusick
Madeline Merlo
FYI
Madeline Merlo Signs With RLive, Gord Bamford Associate Corinne Szepesi Launches New Agency
Managers make moves in Canadian country. Also this week: The National Music Centre opens an exhibit celebrating Nelly Furtado, Guelph's Hillside Festival unveils lineup co-curated by Indigenous songwriter Celeigh Cardinal & more.
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RLive has just announced the signing of Canadian country star Madeline Merlo to its management roster. Given Merlo's status as a gold-selling and award-winning artist, this marks a significant expansion for RLive, a branch of major concert production company Republic Live, producers of the annual multi-day Boots and Hearts country music festivals north of Toronto and in Edmonton. Now Nashville-based, Merlo released her debut album, 2016's Free Soul, on Open Road Recordings and she is currently signed to Stoney Creek. She has won three Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards, including for Rising Star in 2015. Merlo has had multiple charting entries on the Billboard Canada Country Airplay chart.
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Republic Live launched RLive in Jan. 2024. The Nashville-based company also has an office in Toronto. Republic Live is a privately held Canadian company formed by the Dunford family that owns the 585-acre Burl’s Creek Event Grounds, site of Boots and Hearts and a follow-up rock-oriented event, All Your Friends Fest. A Western Canada edition of Boots and Hearts debuts in Edmonton this summer, headlined by Shaboozey.
RLive's first management signing was hit B.C. country singer-songwriter Tyler Joe Miller. The company's director of artist management and development, Casadie Pederson, is based in Nashville, and she works closely with Republic Live's festival booker Brooke Dunford, creative director and company co-founder Eva Dunford (she placed at No. 7 on Billboard Canada's 2025 Power Players List) and director of marketing and brand strategy, Anne Stirk, who made Billboard Canada's 40 Under 40 list last year,
— Launched this week, CC Entertainment & Ventures is a new Canadian boutique booking and artist services agency founded by Corinne Szepesi. She has worked extensively with country star Gord Bamford over the past five years, as his director of operations, while also overseeing the Gord Bamford Foundation as foundation manager.
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Bamford is now the foundational artist for CC Entertainment & Ventures. An Australian-Canadian artist, he has released ten studio albums, won 26 CCMA Awards and earned multiple Juno nominations.
Szepesi explains the new partnership this way: "This is a launch and continuation. Gord and I have spent years working side by side through tours, business operations, and philanthropy. Launching this company simply gives structure to how I’ve always worked, with the artist first, strategic booking, and long-term thinking at the centre of every decision.”
Based in Kelowna, B.C., CC Entertainment & Ventures also represents Dallas Alexander, a Métis-born Alberta artist now based in Nashville and signed to Cache Entertainment Inc., the label founded by Bamford, and Kelowna-based Tragically Hip tribute band The Hip Replacements. More info here.
Industry News
On March 25, The National Music Centre (NMC), in partnership with The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), will unveil a new feature exhibit celebrating 2026 Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Nelly Furtado. Installed at Studio Bell, home of NMC, in Calgary, this is the first of two new exhibits related to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame that visitors can explore in 2026. The Nelly Furtado exhibit is accessible with paid admission to Studio Bell and will run from March 25 until February 2027. More info here.
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Festival News
Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario has announced the lineup for its 43rd edition. It is a musically eclectic list, featuring both international and Canadian artists. Well-established major names include Cowboy Junkies, Stars, Matt Mays, The Darcys, James Keelaghan, Hollerado, Mad Professor, Charlotte Cornfield, Austra and Donovan Woods, alongside emerging new stars like Mae Martin and the currently red-hot Angine de Poitrine. International artists representing 11 other countries include Elida Almeida, Fulu Miziki, Tiken Jah Fakoly and Killabeatmaker.
2026 guest curator at Hillside is Juno-winning Indigenous artist Celeigh Cardinal, and she has selected a group of Indigenous musicians that include Darla Daniels, Electric Religious, Mimi O'Bonsawin, The North Sound and Piqsiq. The festial takes place over multiple stages at Guelph Lake Conservation Area from July 17 to 19. Weekend passes are currently on sale here. Check the full lineup here.
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— Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, Toronto's highly influential independent music festival Wavelength Music Festival & Conference will be held in multiple downtown venues, March 19-21. Emerging Canadian artists will showcase alongside guests from Australia, France, Hong Kong, Ireland, Portugal and the United States. In addition to the 30+ live acts, a likely highlight will be a book launch event (in partnership with the AGO.) for the much talked-about memoir by Canadian alternative rock star Melissa Auf der Maur. (Hole, Smashing Pumpkins). Some of the indie favourites playing include Bibi Club, Bad Waitress, Ribbon Skirt, Fortunato Durutti Marinetti and Sheena Ko. Check out the full schedule here.
Artists News
Acclaimed and Juno-nominated Cree roots-rock singer-songwriter Adrian Sutherland (formerly leader of Midnight Shine) has just begun a southern Ontario tour, accompanied by Chris Gormley (drums) and Matt Gormley (guitar), two brothers from Hamilton, Ontario who also co-write some of Sutherland's material. This is the trio's first tour together, and they have shows in Hamilton, Guelph, Ottawa, Toronto and London, March 17-21. Check itinerary and ticket details here.
Sutherland is also celebrating the recent publication of his debut book, The Work of Our Hands: A Cree Meditation on the Real World, out via Penguin Random House Canada. The book explores Sutherland's life in the remote northern community of Attawapiskat and showcases his skills as an eloquent storyteller.
— It took them 50 years, but first wave Anglo punk band The Boys finally made it to Canada, playing shows in Toronto, Hamilton, London, Ottawa and Montreal over the past week. Given the band's age, it's not too surprising that only one original member, vocalist/guitarist Matt Dangerfield, remains in the lineup that visited (original keyboardist/co-writer Casino Steel didn't make the trip), but the other three members have all been around for a decade, so the group sounded tight at its Hamilton show at The Corktown. Their songs are short, snappy and melodic tunes that have aged well, and the sharing of vocal duties added variety.
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Two Canadian trios in the garage rock meets power pop vein opened the night in fine style. Now Montreal-based, the hardworking Dany Laj and The Looks impressed with their hook-y tunes and Laj's fluent playing. He told us that they're working on a new album, to be released on Eric Warner's label Having Fun in the fall. Next up was Gene Champagne, popular locally as the drummer for The Killjoys and Teenage Head and now active as a singer-songwriter-frontman. Original tunes like "Let's Jet" sounded great, and he brought up his Teenage Head comrade Dave Rave to belt out two Head classics, "Picture My Face" and "Let's Shake." A real fun night, with seemingly half the crowd comprising local musicians.
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