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Sue Foley Debuts Immersive Masterclass “Guitar Trail Blazers” Celebrating Female Pioneers of Guitar

Eric Alper
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Sue Foley Debuts Immersive Masterclass “Guitar Trail Blazers” Celebrating Female Pioneers of Guitar

Leveraging TrueFire Studios’ patented music learning technologies, Sue Foley’s masterclass “Guitar Trail Blazers” unveils the seminal contributions to our musical heritage from six trailblazing female guitar pioneers: Elizabeth Cotten, Memphis Minnie, Ida Presti, Charo, Maybelle Carter, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. Award-winning singer, songwriter, and guitar virtuoso Sue Foley guides guitar students through a highly enlightening, immersive learning experience. Watch the trailer HERE. Order “Guitar Trail Blazers” NOW.

”I am deeply inspired by the female guitar pioneers who made timeless contributions to American music and its history. These trailblazing women weren’t just playing the guitar; they were living it, pouring their souls into every note. Their stories are not just about music but about overcoming barriers, setting new standards, and inspiring generations of players.

I’ll share some of the musical qualities that inspired me about each: their technique, energy, and style — and then I’ll play a performance study to illustrate those qualities in a musical context.”

TrueFire’s multi-angle video lessons, interactive video teaching methodologies, and intuitive learning tools have powered immersive learning experiences for millions of music learners worldwide. “Guitar Trail Blazers” performances and examples are tabbed, notated, and synced to the video lessons with looping, slow motion, and fretboard animation. Other learning tools enable students to personalize their learning experience and learn at their own pace.

TrueFire founder Brad Wendkos expressed his excitement about the collaboration, stating, “Sue Foley is an exceptional multi-talented artist, brilliant singer-songwriter, master guitarist, and passionate educator. Sue personifies those qualities, as evident in ‘Guitar Trail Blazers.’ We’re proud to have worked on such an important project with Sue!”

“Guitar Trail Blazers.” is available now and can be downloaded to any desktop or mobile device, and streamed from any browser or on Apple TV and Roku. Purchase on SueFoley.com or TrueFire.com.

Texas-based singer, songwriter, and master blues guitarist Sue Foley cut her teeth amongst Texas guitar slingers like Albert Collins, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and The Vaughan Brothers. Today, Foley performs and records her brand of Texas Blues with 17 albums and multiple awards to her credit, including the coveted 2024 Lifetime Achievement Maple Blues Award, Traditional Blues Female Artist in 2023, 2022 and 2020; Guitarist of the Year and Blues Act of the Year at the 2023 Austin Music Award; Guitarist of the Year at the 2023 Maple Blues Awards; and Best Traditional Blues Album at the 2022 Blues Music Awards for Pinky’s Blues. Foley is also passionate about music history, education, and passing the torch to the next generation of blues guitarists.

Driving Ambition: Rapper Pimpton Raises The “Moonroof” On Highly Motor-Vated New Single

Eric Alper
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Driving Ambition: Rapper Pimpton Raises The “Moonroof” On Highly Motor-Vated New Single

At first listen, Canadian rapper Pimpton’s latest single, “Moonroof,” sounds like nothing more than a seductive invitation to a cozy nighttime drive. I mean, check out that slick come-on of a chorus:

Open up the moon roof
Let ya hair down baby, we gon’ fade away
We connect like a Bluetooth
Live from the belly of the beast, but in God we pray

Pretty romantic imagery, right? But it’s just the shared victory lap for verses in which Pimpton boasts eloquently about the perseverance that put him in that car in the first place. Dropping rapid-fire references to everything from Givenchy to The Fantastic Four’s Mr. Fantastic, he motormouths a toast to his own greatness that’s the perfect counterpoint to the lulling cruise control of the music. Long, held chords of orchestration are integrated so effectively into the mix that you barely notice when they momentarily drop out to be replaced by a collage of hushed background vocals.

This stealthily jam-packed jam is the spotlight single from Pimpton’s new album, P.T. & Kholebeatz—which just happens to be his closest collaboration yet with his musical “pen pal” of the last 13 years, the Oslo-based Kholebeatz. As album projects go, it’s one of those rare cases in which a contract dispute was actually good for music. Last year, Pimpton had been hard at work on what was to be his next release, KCMKV3, when some of the guest artists he had planned to feature on the record got signed to a major label, necessitating a renegotiation of their publishing credits. While that protracted process was working itself out, Pimpton reached out to Kholebeatz and proposed a stopgap: a collaboration on which Kholebeatz would produce every song, while Pimpton wrote, arranged, recorded and mixed.

Kholebeatz conscripted some of his own trusted collaborators to take part, Pimpton enlisted everyone from childhood friends to his touring DJ, and voilà! Eight new tracks dripping with self-belief directed both inward and outward.

“Ultimately, the album speaks to the Sisyphean journey all artists must endure on the rise to prominence,” Pimpton says—and he’s absolutely including the experience of making this particular record as well. The message to himself and others? “Keep going.”

It’s a philosophy that’s been good to the Saskatchewan-based rapper since he arrived from Trinidad & Tobago and set about combining his Caribbean culture with the contemporary hip-hop stylings of his adopted country. He’s since sold more than 20,000 copies of his previous six independently released studio albums. And just under four years ago, he wrote and directed TUNNELZ, the first visual album created and released by a Saskatchewan artist, which earned him a nomination for Video Director of the Year at the 2021 Western Canadian Music Awards.

Over the course of his career, Pimpton has performed over 500 shows across North America, including appearances at major festivals like SXSW, JunoFEST, BreakOut West, the Aftershock Festival, the Cannabis Cup and Canadian Music Week. He’s shared the stage with a host of internationally recognized acts, including the Wu-Tang Clan, Young Jeezy, Bone Thugz N Harmony, Xzibit and Warren G. In September 2019, he was the direct support act for Dizzy Wright & Madchild on a 25-date cross-Canada tour.

And since this is Pimpton’s first trip to Europe, he’s also booking a show in Oslo, so he can finally meet Kholebeatz face to face. For all they’ve shared and worked on, they’ve never been in the same room. Just shows you what believing in yourself can do.

This May, Pimpton will be heading to Rotterdam to showcase at New Skool Rules, the largest urban-music conference and festival in Europe. In preparation, he’s playing a handful of other dates in his native Canada and on the European continent:

Thursday, April 18 – Bulldog Event Center, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Saturday, April 20 – The Exchange, Regina, Saskatchewan
Sunday, April 21 – Penrose YXE, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Wednesday, May 15 – Milan, Italy (Barrios’s Live)
Friday, May 17- Catania, Sicily (Palestra Lupo)
Saturday, May 18- Siracusa, Sicily (Medusa)
Sunday, May 19- Santa Teresa, Sicily (Theme De Yo-Yo)
Monday, May 20- Bologna, Italy (IL Pallone)
Wednesday, May 22- Cologne, Germany (Veedel Club)
Thursday, May 23- Vienna, Austria (Na Nang Club)
Saturday, May 25- Freiburg, Germany (TBA)
Friday, May 31 to Sunday, June 2- Rotterdam, the Netherlands (New Skool Rules – De Doelen)
Friday, June 7- Oslo, Norway (Storgata 26)

Folk-Rock Group BROTHER BICKER BAND Releases New Single “Nothing At All” From ‘Another Kind of Train’ Album

Eric Alper
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Folk-Rock Group BROTHER BICKER BAND Releases New Single “Nothing At All” From ‘Another Kind of Train’ Album

Brother Bicker Band, the renowned Calgary-based folk-rock ensemble, releases their latest single “Nothing At All” that promises to captivate listeners with its powerful narrative and dynamic song writing.

Crafted from a riff born during band practice, “Nothing At All” shows the band’s collaborative energy and dedication. Evolving over years of live performances, the song analyzes the stages of grief and rejection, while exploring themes of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. It reflects on the pain and regret of lost love, evolving into the realization that every relationship, regardless of its outcome, shapes who we are as people.

The single starts as a Memphis Blues slow jam, reminiscent of iconic acts like the Black Crowes and the Black Keys, before building into a chaotic crescendo featuring duelling vocals and soaring instrumentation. Recorded at Broken Tap Studios in Calgary, the track showcases the talents of Darryl Swart on drums, Jeremy Hrdlicka on vocals, Tom Mogan on guitars, Ben Ellard on keys, and Jim Duncan on bass.

Adding a new dimension to Brother Bicker Band’s sound, vocalists Jennele Coulson and Claire Wilkes made their recording debut on “Nothing At All.” Their contributions elevate the song to new heights infusing it with an electrifying energy and a sense of urgency.

Reflecting on the essence of the band’s music, “Nothing At All” invites listeners to embark on a nostalgic journey. With their unique blend of maple whiskey rock ‘n’ roll, Brother Bicker Band continues to redefine the roots rock genre offering a sound that is both timeless and distinctly Canadian.

Prepare to be swept away by the infectious melodies and poignant lyrics of Brother Bicker Band’s latest release. “Nothing At All” is set to leave an indelible mark on audiences reminding us of all the transformative power of music.

Photo Gallery: Noah Kahan with Jesen McRae at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena

Eric Alper
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Photo Gallery: Noah Kahan with Jesen McRae at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena

All photos by Mini’s Memories. You can contact her through Instagram or X.

Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Noah Kahan
Jensen McRae
Jensen McRae
Jensen McRae
Jensen McRae
Jensen McRae
Noah Kahan

Bend Sinister Whip Up A Two-Fold Dose Of Encouragement With “Big Star” and “Gotta Get Ready”

Eric Alper
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Bend Sinister Whip Up A Two-Fold Dose Of Encouragement With “Big Star” and “Gotta Get Ready”

No matter who you are, you could use a friendly but firm hand every now and then to keep your nose to the grindstone. Enter Vancouver quartet Bend Sinister, who dole out two kinds of motivation on their latest, double-A-sided single — a musical wake-up call for aspiring rockers and anybody else who needs a little bit of a fire lit under them just to take on the day.
The exuberant “Big Star” sets the pace, laying down an in-your-face groove that’s the perfect vessel for sentiments every working musician should heed:

You got to play the game
If you want people to remember your name
It’s hard to write a hit
If you give up and quit
So grab a guitar
It’s time to be a big star

Ironically, the genesis of the tune itself was a significantly less urgent process. “‘Big Star’ started as an impromptu jam session captured on an iPhone voice memo and left to simmer for months, if not years,” the band reveals. But something about it struck them as the appropriate soundtrack for a hymn to diligence: “Calling from the realms of Deep Purple and ’70s organ-rock, the song fit the vibe of either giving it your all or getting off the pot. Rock and roll life is a hard life, so suck it up and pay your dues!”

The Purple comparison is more than apt. The classic timbre of the song’s keyboard line will indeed have you picturing the dearly departed Jon Lord rocking his Hammond furiously back and forth, while the gospel-tinged vocal wouldn’t be out of place on the next Glenn Hughes tour. On the flip side, “Gotta Get Ready” applies more vintage organ squiggles to a slightly different vibe and a self-help sermon that’s a bit broader in scope. The tune is a slower, more sinuous curb creep than “Big Star,” with a repeated ascending riff that nudges the listener to commit to the not-so-simple task of getting up in the morning.

Like a bird hunts for prey
Like a star casts its rays
Its a game to be won
So son,
You gotta get ready now
Are you ready now?
You gotta get ready now
Are you ready now?

Everybody involved was definitely wide awake for the live performance videos the band shot in front of a lucky audience at Vancouver’s Tyrant Studios to promote “Big Star” and “What It Takes.” All three tracks appear on Mostly Great Things, the group’s just-released seventh album and their first full-length release since 2018. Produced by regular collaborator Ben Kaplan (Rare Americans, Five Alarm Funk), it’s the product of an eclectic set of inspirations the double single merely hints at.

“At some point in 2022, we made a giant playlist with a bunch of songs from Styx, the Doobie Brothers, Herbie Hancock, April Wine, Funkadelic … really whatever we were feeling, and just got to work,” the band says. “This record is the result. Nothing too fancy—just some good times, rock and roll and a few guitar solos!”

Creative synthesis has been Bend Sinister’s thing since 1999, when bandleader Dan Moxon (vocals/keys) conscripted three of his high-school friends to start writing and performing music influenced by math, indie, prog and alternative rock. Over the ensuing quarter-century, Moxon and bandmates Joseph Martin (guitar), Matt Rhode (bass) and Nick Petrowich (drums) have cultivated a diverse catalog that careens joyfully from influence to influence—sometimes even within the space of the same song.

As they describe it, their music can find “the tender longing of a Billy Joel piano ballad followed by the grimy, fuzzed-out riffing of Queens of the Stone Age, with the dramatic crescendo of a Mozart symphony, culminating in a fist-pumping BTO lumber-rock singalong chorus.” But you need to have plenty of musical arrows in your quiver if you want to convey the emotional peaks and valleys of a lyrical oeuvre that encompasses “love, life on the road, and dogs.” (Come to think of it, maybe there’s a stealthy conceptual motif at work here: As any pet owner will tell you, having a dog will teach you to get up good and early real quick.)

Currently signed to Cordova Bay Records, Bend Sinister have scored two Top 30 rock radio hits, and have racked up more than 5 million cumulative streams while being featured on multiple Spotify playlists. The new single and album are bound to goose those numbers even farther into the stratosphere. And the rapt crowd in those Tyrant Studios performance videos is just a hint of what the band will be seeing from the stage in 2024. Tickets are on sale now for Bend Sinister’s Thursday, June 20, headlining appearance at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver—part of the prestigious venue’s four-day 15th-anniversary celebration. Keep your eyes peeled for further dates as the year unfolds; having your attitude adjusted has never been this much fun.

Philly Electronica Artist Paul G. Marchesani Unveils His Grandiose Vision Under Forest Kids Collective

Eric Alper
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Philly Electronica Artist Paul G. Marchesani Unveils His Grandiose Vision Under Forest Kids Collective

What’s in a name? To Philadelphia electronic/EDM /vaporwave artist Paul G. Marchesani, the answer is apparently “a lot”—which is why he’s had more than 20 of them.

For 10 years, Marchesani has been recording under multiple musical aliases—starting with “Crossing Bridges” and snowballing from there—which he says has been the only way to preserve the distinct character of the more than 1,500 (!) tracks he’s laid down in that time. But every once in a while, he feels the urge to compile standout recordings by his various identities under a common umbrella. Hence “Forest Kids Collective,” whose new album, Galileo Grandiose, collates some of the best of Marchesani’s work into a remarkably smooth and cohesive listen.

A 17-song instrumental suite, the album segues effortlessly from soothing electronic soundscapes to quick stabs of unsettling atmospherics and back again. Spotlight track “Eye in the Sky” is a prime example of the former, laying out a pleasant churn of synths that patter like rain falling on a window while cymbals crash in a way that feels therapeutic rather than intrusive. The acoustic guitar flourishes add just the right melodic emphasis to keep the four-minute fantasia on a path of perpetual motion.

Moments like those repay the debt Marchesani says he’s always felt to “calm and passive music.” Because it’s that style in particular that got him through when his beloved older brother, who had inspired him to take up playing, took his own life. Marchesani’s subsequent depression only subsided when he stumbled across a YouTube animated video with a particularly compelling musical soundtrack. “I still was hurting, but this felt like I was healing,” he remembers.

What proved crucial was that he reserved the right to heal in a number of ways.

“My outlook on life has always been ‘Why do I have to choose?’” Marchesani says. “If given a color choice of something as a kid, I’d want the whole collection, I’d want the whole rainbow of color. So when creating music, it’s the same idea. I can’t stick to a single style or vibe.”

Galileo Grandiose is the clearest proof yet that variety is indeed his friend. The product of five years’ worth of tweaking and tinkering, the wordless album nonetheless flows like a great story, with all the peaks and valleys one would want. And that, Marchesani says, is the true rationale for having one alias that can hold sway over all the others.

“Forest Kids Collective is a full story,” he explains. “Each alias within the collective is a character with a personality and story arc that is reflected within their discographies. When I release a Forest Kids Collective album like Galileo Grandiose, it’s almost like a special event/ movie of all the characters interacting within this fantasy world.”

High-energy peaks and respites of stillness; grooving bangers and experimental mazes to get lost in; it’s all part of the sonic experience that is the Forest Kids Collective. On Galileo Grandiose and “Eye in the Sky” in particular, that experience draws you in like never before. What you call it almost doesn’t matter; what counts is that it calls to you.

Folk/Popper Sheena Legrand Gives Herself The “Green Light” To Change

Eric Alper
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Folk/Popper Sheena Legrand Gives Herself The “Green Light” To Change

What’s in a name? To indie-folk/pop songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Sheena Legrand, the answer is “Just enough to make you change it when the time has come to hit the gas.” For her return to recording activity after a 10-year hiatus, the former Sheena Grobb has taken on a whole new moniker to better reflect the direction of her life—and the updated musical approach previewed on her new single, the hauntingly beautiful “Green Light.”

In her husky, sultry semi-whisper, Legrand gives voice to the prayers of anyone who’s ever wished that life would stop throwing up roadblocks—only to realize they were the one in the driver’s seat after all.

Give me one green light
Come on let’s go
Turn turn for me
Train left long ago
What if it’s only sight we’ve been looking for
Green brings out your eyes when you realize
It’s time to let go

“When I wrote “Green Light” with Winnipeg producer Jonny Kirouac, I was pleading for some force outside myself to change my situation,” Legrand says. “However, as happens with most of my music, when I look back on what I wrote and what I was dealing with, I understand how the first green light had to come from within me.

“‘Green Light’ gives us permission to let go of old stories so we can be open to a fresh start.”

In Legrand’s case, that meant carving out a new identity to better reflect her standing in an industry that almost requires women to stay eternally youthful. After releasing three albums under the “Sheena Grobb” banner, the Manitoba-born, Winnipeg-based artist had put a pin in her career to raise a family. After a while, she found herself wondering if she still had a place in music at all. But she reached into herself and realized she was under no obligation to conform to anyone else’s stereotypes.

Instead, she set out to reaffirm the talents she had been honing since beginning to sing consistently at age 4, and which had made her a past nominee in the Western Canadian Music Awards. Some professional coaching helped her take the quality of her vocals to a new level, and with the help of producer/co-instrumentalist Kirouac, she upgraded the tenor of her music in toto.

Her forthcoming album, the appropriately named Back to Life, will show how she’s managed to retain the strengths of her earlier work—sweet melodic hooks, intricate keys and delicately layered vocals—while superimposing an electrifying live loop experience that will be sure to get bodies moving when she starts to play shows again.

At the same time, she’s continuing her side work as a public speaker who uses music, storytelling and mindfulness tools to help schoolchildren deal with mental-health struggles, bullying and issues of low self-esteem. She’s also a part-time health coach who specializes in helping patients survive autoimmune disease (which she herself has faced). The treatment regimen she advocates includes diet and lifestyle changes, plus emotional work and spiritual practices that stimulate healing from within.

The “from within” angle is big to Legrand right now: It’s the focus of “Green Light,” certainly, but also of a general attitudinal shift that sprang from bringing something quite special out of herself and into the world.

“I gave birth naturally in our living room, and I’ve never felt more powerful in my life,” she says. “That moment was a portal within my own personal growth. I will never be the same.”
No wonder she’s chosen to re-emerge under the surname of her chosen family:

“Joining my partner and son as a ‘Legrand’ felt right personally, but it also worked for where I was at professionally. I’m feeling the change, and it’s good!”
Now she’s looking forward to taking that attitude back to the stage whenever and wherever possible.

“When it comes to dreaming big, I’d say the sky is the limit. There’s been a shift in my availability, but travelling as a family is something we’re very much open to, so all of a sudden, the possibilities seem endless again. I love the spot I’m in!”

Toronto Rock Upstart DYLAN BRADLEY Unveils Cathartic Anthem “I’m Sorry” from Debut Album ‘No Turning Back’

Eric Alper
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Toronto Rock Upstart DYLAN BRADLEY Unveils Cathartic Anthem “I’m Sorry” from Debut Album ‘No Turning Back’

Life has its sour moments, and it can be hard to move on when it happens with someone you love. Sometimes, hard things come before good things, and you have to work through some pain in order to get to a better place. This is showcased on Toronto based rock singer-songwriter Dylan Bradley’s new single “I’m Sorry” from his debut No Turning Back, which the album is already at over 70,000 streams on Spotify.

The song opens with some energetic guitar riffs reminiscent of pop-punk bands like Good Charlotte and Blink-182. Buffering this is Bradley’s passionate vocals as he sings of how a lover made false apologies after damaging his stuff and how he blames himself for not being the best person he could be.

When the song continues into the chorus, Bradley refuses to be guilt ridden any longer. He apologies for not being who his lover wanted him to be, but he also decides to be who he wants to be.

The song continues discussing the back and forth between Bradley and his lover as the guitar riffs have a little added flourish before the chorus comes in again. Afterwards, there is a bridge that almost feels like an apology for the song’s frivolous tone.

“I know I know I know
I’m not what you want, oh
I know I know I know
I’m insecure sometimes, oh
I know I know I know, I know”

Bradley acknowledges this tone by stating, “I’m Sorry is a song about living the way that you want to live, regardless of what other people think. It’s a sort of tongue in cheek apology to those who disagree with the way you choose to live your life. However, the lyric “one of these days I’ll get this right” brings a deeper meaning of feeling like you’re not quite who you want to be yet.”

The newfound freedom of “I’m Sorry” is captured in the song’s music video. It features Bradley happily performing the song alone under a graffiti-covered underpass and occasionally riding a skateboard. The latter demonstrates the influence of 00’s pop-punk songs like Avril Lavinge’s “Skater Boi”.

Dylan Bradley is breaking into the rock music scene with brand new singles and debut album No Turning Back. Heavily influenced by 90s and early 2000s rock music, Dylan Bradley brings an authentic and fresh sound for listeners worldwide. Dylan Bradley’s music covers genres including but not limited to soft rock, hard rock, and alternative rock.

His first single, “All Your Lies” was released in September, 2023, with the follow-up single “October” released in October of that year.

The Desperate Hours: Twin Singles By WOLFGANG WEBB Promise No Rest For The Wretched

Eric Alper
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The Desperate Hours: Twin Singles By WOLFGANG WEBB Promise No Rest For The Wretched

Titling his debut album The Insomniacs’ Lullaby was the first clue that Wolfgang Webb wanted to take us on a trip through the long, dark nights of the soul. But just how long and how dark those nights can be doesn’t really hit home until you’ve heard two of its spotlight tracks, songs steeped in a melancholia that only the anguish of personal experience can convey.

Take “Before You Sleep (The Pills),” which weds some truly harrowing imagery to an uncompromising dirge with the compellingly funereal quality of Leonard Cohen—and a mournful lead vocal that has more than a tad of Tom Waits-style grit.

If you wake up before me, will you hold me?
Will you show me?
And if I can’t wait until morning, will you tell me it’ll be alright?
Hold me, hold me, my friend
The pills stopped working again

The first song written for the album, “Before You Sleep” ended up setting the pace for the entire project, not just in terms of mood but also methodology.
“[All of the writing] was done in my bedroom between 2 and 6 in the morning,” Webb reveals. “I was in a manic-depressive, insomniac state where I wasn’t sleeping, and everything was very fluid. That’s just the way it was. It was really cathartic.”

Meanwhile, “Lonely Heart” has slightly more of a spring in its step rhythmically, but its lyrical sentiments won’t get it confused with a party anthem either. Acoustic- guitar chords fall dourly as Webb declares his longing for something better, with the chilling implication that the peace he’s searching for might not be on this side of the veil.

I got feelings deep
A soul that needs
Transparency all the time
I know a place where the soul won’t break
Do you know what I mean?
I know a place where it’s not all take
Do you know what I mean?

The subject matter might be bleak, but Webb’s overdue debut as a solo artist was delayed a couple of decades not because of depression or fatigue, but because he was simply too busy in his previous career as a sound designer and soundtrack composer for films and TV. Lucrative as that hustle may have been, though, it wasn’t always the best outlet for his own tastes and emotional needs.

The lyric sheet is fraught with references to heartbreak, depression, suicide, and the ghosts of sexual abuse, but at the same time The Insomniacs’ Lullaby is not a wallow. It stares into the darkness with grace and poise and finds the transformative beauty in that darkness. Because that’s how you stop the darkness from getting the better of you.

Recorded everywhere from France to Los Angeles to Nashville Webb’s home base of Toronto, The Insomniacs’ Lullaby finds this emergent singing-songwriting talent backed by studio pros who are veterans of sessions with Johnny Cash, the Pretenders, Lucinda Williams, and others. The overall effect is as accomplished as you’d expect from that collective pedigree, and picturesque to a degree that fully befits Webb’s own CV. The songs on the album are so evocative and atmospheric, in fact, that you can easily envision them turning up in somebody else’s series or feature—perhaps as the music bed to a montage of desperate characters pacing worriedly through dimly lit rooms, with judicious jump cuts symbolizing their unraveling psyches. Maybe he could give pointers.

Whatever happens, Webb says he’s been so energized by the experience of making his own record that he now plans to release three albums in as many years. Somebody better put the coffee on, because it sounds like he’s in for a lot more all-nighters.

“New World” Man: Indigenous Folk Rocker MIKE BERN Shares A Moving Missive From The Other Side

Eric Alper
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“New World” Man: Indigenous Folk Rocker MIKE BERN Shares A Moving Missive From The Other Side

When a child and a parent lose each other, the lines of communication are severed tragically and forever. Or are they? Indigenous folk-rocker Mike Bern volunteers his services as a spiritual middleman on his latest single, “New World,” an imagined declaration of anguish and devotion from a mother who was taken too soon.

Left my daughter behind
Now I’m drowning the sky
There’s one thing I do know
I got no place to go

Carry the love into our lives
Carry her heart
Greet her with my eyes closed
I can’t hold you no more
I love you more than you know
Kind words from above

Bern’s raspy but gentle voice carries the otherworldly communiqué with the utmost grace, his ghostly verse lines answered by reverb-heavy guitar phrases that drip like falling tears. And all of it plays out over a slow, stately beat that feels like the inexorable forward march of fate.

The song is dedicated to Bern’s adopted daughter, whose biological mother passed away in a car crash.

“There are times when my daughter says she sees her mom,” he says. “For instance, while in Montreal, she said she had seen her mom in the clouds waving to her. They both live in new worlds, but somehow, they still see each other and communicate.”

The first-person address of the lyrics reflects Bern’s deep belief that the woman he was writing about had an active hand in them: “She helped me write the song, not just for her daughter, but for her other children and ones that mourn her still.”

You’d expect no lesser level of spirituality from an artist whose roots lie deep in New Brunswick’s Tobique First Nation—situated along the Tobique and Wolastoq rivers, where the Wolastoqiyik people are known as the “people of the beautiful river.” Throughout his musical journey, Bern has maintained a strong connection to his heritage and its belief in the healing power of nature. His last album, released two years ago, was even titled Ancestors, and the single he followed it up with in 2023, “Reverberation,” was a paean to the sweat-lodge experience.

The musical vessel he’s chosen to convey those traditions is a unique brand of folk rock that melds his own background with the vocal stylings of Southern Gospel. Influences like Chris Otepka, Frankie Miller and Ben Schneider have been his North Star as he digs deep into the purity and pain only genuine songwriting can unlock.

A self-taught guitarist since he chose to follow the example of a highly musical uncle 30 years ago, Bern made the crucial step up to creating original material thanks to a rehab counselor, who read some of his writings and declared that they had a distinctly song-like cast. Over the course of Bern’s ensuing career, he’s led the outfits Kickin’ Krotch and District Avenue, the latter of whom won two awards for their “Revival” music video in 2017 and went on to hear the song featured at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics a year later.

Bern’s time as a solo artist has been marked by successes like 2021’s “First Mother,” which reached the top spot on the Indigenous Music Countdown. As an in-demand live act, he’s opened for the likes of Seaway, The Trews, One Bad Son and The Motorleague.

In the year ahead, he’ll be deepening his commitment to heartfelt originals like “New World” while dropping the occasional cover on his socials. (The first few months of 2024 have brought solo acoustic renditions of “Learn to Fly” by the Foo Fighters, “Long as I Can See the Light” by Creedence Clearwater Revival and “She’s Electric” by Oasis.). But whatever he puts his mind and voice to, be prepared to be haunted—in all the right ways.

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That Eric Alper

Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

Contact me: eric@thatericalper.com

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