Today, the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA), in partnership with BuzzAngle Music, launched Canadian independent-only music charts, the CIMA 20 and CIMA 40. The two charts available every Tuesday represent the market success of independent artists in Canada, by ranking their current album packages encompassing music sales, downloads and streams. This week Mario Pelchat’s Agnus Dei (MP3 Disques) topped the CIMA 20 and CIMA 40 charts.
“CIMA is thrilled to partner with BuzzAngle Music to deliver the CIMA 20 and CIMA 40 weekly charts for the independent music community,” says Stuart Johnston, President of CIMA. “Last year, CIMA created the Road Gold Certifications program to recognize the success of Canada’s hard working touring artists. Now, the CIMA 20 Chart demonstrates how well the music of our Canadian independent artists are doing in this market, and is yet another way that CIMA is shining a light on the success of our very talented independent artists. The CIMA 40 take it a step further by charting the album success of the global independent community here in Canada as well. We believe these weekly charts will serve to graphically illustrate the deep pool of talent we have here in Canada.”
The CIMA 20 chart is the top 20 Canadian independent artists’ album packages which includes sales, downloads and streams within the Canadian market. The CIMA 40 chart is the top 40 Canadian and International independent artists’ album packages which includes sales, downloads and streams in the Canadian market. Using BuzzAngle Music’s comprehensive consumption analytics these new charts will offer data at a more granular level, in a much more timely manner than the most commonly used measurement of sales and streaming available up until this point.
“There’s an endless amount of data to analyze in BuzzAngle Music’s daily charts, whether you’re an independent artist, label executive, journalist, record store clerk, or just a music fanatic,” said Jim Lidestri, Founder and CEO of Border City Media. “CIMA has been a tremendous organization and everyone involved deserves the timeliest, most specific and most accurate data available to them. BuzzAngle Music is proud to make that happen. We’re thrilled to partner with CIMA to create two new charts. For the first time ever, The 20 – specifically placing a well deserved weekly spotlight on the top Canadian Independent Artist’s albums, and The 40 – highlighting the top overall Independent albums in Canada.”
The complete CIMA 20 and CIMA 40 charts can found here and here.
The rich musical legacy of Ian and Sylvia continues to entertain millions of fans across the globe, and today singer songwriter, painter, and essayist Tom Russell announced a project honouring their music with new interpretations of classic songs with his May 19th release of “Play One More: The Songs Of Ian And Sylvia.” You can buy it as a iTunes Preorder, Amazon Preorder and True North Preorder.
Russell has recorded 35 highly acclaimed records, & published five books – including a book on his art and a book of his songs. Russell and Ian and Sylvia share similar values and cultural traditions – both deeply rooted in the depth of the song and story. Russell says, “The music of Ian and Sylvia has stood up over a half of a century and is still recognized as deeply Canadian, it was an honour to pay tribute to them.”
In 1992, Ian and Sylvia were inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame during the Juno Awards ceremony. In 1994 they were both made Members of the Order of Canada.
In 2005 an extensive CBC poll determined Ian Tyson’s song, recorded by Ian and Sylvia, “Four Strong Winds,” to be the “most essential” piece of Canadian music, and is no doubt the most popular Canadian song ever written. But don’t look for it on “Play One More: The Songs of Ian and Sylvia.” Russell says, “I wanted to mine the deep, neglected, album tracks that I’ve listened to for over forty years. Works that I could never get out of my mind. Classic songwriting.”
Russell’s songs have been recorded by Johnny Cash, Doug Sahm, Nanci Griffith, K.D. Lang, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Ian Tyson, Iris Dement, Joe Ely, and a hundred others.
Tom Russell graduated from The University of California with a Master’s Degree in Criminology. He was recently awarded the 2015 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for excellence in music journalism, and his new book of essays: “Ceremonies of the Horsemen” has received nothing but five star reviews on Amazon.
In 2015 Russell released a 52 track “folk opera” on the West, The Rose of Roscrae, which was hailed as “Maybe the most important Americana record of all time” by UK Folk, and “The top Folk album of 2105,” by Mojo Magazine. It was included in top ten lists in three dozen publications, including The Los Angeles Times.
Track by Track Notes: Play One More: The Songs of Ian and Sylvia
by Tom Russell
1. Wild Geese (Ian Tyson) – It took me years to figure out that one of Ian’s lines was not “down by the stream, fresh heart attacks in the snow…” Made no sense. It’s: “fresh otter tracks in the snow.” That took poetic guts. There is deep poetry within the landscapes they created in song. Another great line: “with the frost boiling out of the ground.” Fine imagery. And what a melody. Cindy Church’s harmony singing is spot-on.
Thrown to the Wolves (Sylvia Tyson/Tom Russell) – I’ve never recorded this co-write with Sylvia. I co-produced one of her records titled “Gypsy Cadillac,” and she sang this one on it. This collection provided me with a good excuse to record it for the first time.
Rio Grande (Ian Tyson/Amos Garrett) – The only co-write I know of between Ian and the guitar maestro Amos Garrett. Amos played lead guitar in the groundbreaking Ian and Sylvia band (and record) “The Great Speckled Bird.” The were pioneers of “folk-rock.” Ahead of their time. This was on that band record. I always thought this had a great melody and was an “edgy” cowboy song…with the cocaine falling down the mountain. I wrote the liner notes on the re-issue of that record. I’m the eternal fan.
The Night the Chinese Restaurant Burned Down (Sylvia Tyson) – If I had to pick a favorite song on this recording it might be this. It’s written from a woman’s perspective, but what the hell, I wanted to try it. It’s the perfect small-town Canadian song. Two girls, aspiring singers, get up the courage to take a Greyhound bus for the big city (and fame!) the night they watch the local Chinese restaurant burn down. There was probably a Chinese take-out joint in every little small town in Canada in the 50’s. This could be a short story by Faulkner or Eudora Welty.
Play One More (Ian Tyson) – This hits at the heart of the music life. The musician playing the bars…his relationship is going to hell. In the 1970’s I moved to Vancouver and played the same dive, skid row bars, Ian Tyson had played fifteen years before. The one’s he wrote about in “Summer Wages,” where the hookers waited by the doorways. The Ian and Sylvia take of “Play One More” had mariachi horns on it. Grant Siemens and I allude to the horn lines on the outro, bashing our guitars. Couldn’t get the horn guys to fly up from Juarez.
Old Cheyenne (Ian Tyson) – I first heard this on an Ian and Sylvia record, then Ian reprised it for one of his cowboy records in the 1980’s.
One of the great rodeo songs. He captures the theatrical traditions of the rodeo, and then plunges down deep into the life of the narrator, a bull rider who drinks before he rides and may have to get a factory job. Another fine short story.
Short Grass (Words by Ian Tyson, Music by Sylvia Tyson) – Cindy Church captures Sylvia’s tight singing and phrasing on this one…beautifully. Again Ian was writing fine, original, cowboy songs as far back as the early 1960’s, though most folks think the cowboy-song renaissance began in the late 70’s and early 1980’s. This one summons up the landscape of the short grass country – the terrain – where cowboys carry-on the old skills, which came up from Mexico and on back to Spain.
Sam Bonnifield’s Saloon (Ian Tyson) – A short two-verse song with no chorus – a precise little take on a town bar in the Yukon. A haiku. Like something out of a Robert Service poem.
These Friends of Mine (Ian Tyson) – A classic bit of nostalgia concerning the past and old friends. Both Ian Tyson and Bob Dylan had to constantly move on and forward in search of “the muse,” so there were plenty of songs about what was left behind.
Red Velvet (Ian Tyson) – There’s some very moving film on You-Tube of Ian and Gordon Lightfoot singing this at Lightfoot’s house. I have a classic David Gahr photo of the set-list on top of Lightfoot’s guitar back in 1964 at The Newport Folk Festival and he was already singing performing this song.
The Renegade (Ian and Sylvia) – A lone Indian warrior on a mountain, making his final stand. My first songs were about Native Americans and I always loved this one. Ian might be using Chinook Jargon in some of the odd Native words. There is a Chinook word, probably borrowed from the Nuu-Chah-nulth (formerly Nootka) language, “Mah´-witsh” which means deer. I’ve asked Ian, and he only snorted something like – “Russell, I dreamed all of it…”
When the Wolves No Longer Sing (Ian Tyson and Tom Russell) – Ian and I co-wrote this a few years back. It appears on his last album: “”Carnero Vaquero,” and a version appears on my double album “The Rose of Roscrae,” but I wasn’t the singer. This is my first recording of it. It’s a fitting ending to this record, because Ian and are pondering the question of what happened to the great, master songwriters? Will they return one day? Ian and Sylvia are certainly legendary master songwriters.
‘A Ballad of American Skeletons’ was performed by Allen Ginsberg and Paul McCartney for an evening of poetry and performance at The Royal Albert Hall promoted by Goldmark entitled ‘The Return of the Reforgotten’ in 1995.
Glen Campbell’s final studio album, Adiós, will be released June 9 on UMe, capping off an extraordinary career that has spanned more than five decades and 50 million albums sold. The album will be released on CD, vinyl and digitally and is available for pre-order beginning today. Pre-order Adiós here: https://UMe.lnk.to/AdiosPR
Adiós was recorded at Station West in Nashville following Campbell’s “Goodbye Tour” which he launched after revealing he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. The album was announced today via People.com with an exclusive statement from Kim Campbell, Glen’s wife of 34 years. In her touching notes, Kim reveals the genesis of the album, details the recording process and explains why Adiós is finally being released. Kim writes: “A new Glen Campbell album coming out in 2017 might seem a bit odd since he hasn’t performed since 2012, and even more odd – if not absolutely amazing – when you consider that he has Alzheimer’s disease. Glen’s abilities to play, sing and remember songs began to rapidly decline after his diagnosis in 2011. A feeling of urgency grew to get him into the studio one last time to capture what magic was left. It was now or never.” She concludes, “What you’re hearing when listening to Adiós is the beautiful and loving culmination of friends and family doing their very best for the man who inspired, raised, and entertained them for decades – giving him the chance to say one last goodbye to his fans, and put one last amazing collection of songs onto the record store shelves.” Head over to People.com to read Kim Campbell’s full note as well as hear the album’s first track, “Everybody’s Talkin’,” Campbell’s take on the Fred Neil-penned hit made famous by Harry Nilsson in the film “Midnight Cowboy.”
For Campbell’s final recording session, Glen and Kim turned to Glen’s longtime banjo player and family friend Carl Jackson to helm the production, play guitar and help his old friend. In preparation for the recording, Jackson, who joined Campbell’s band in the early ‘70s as an 18-year-old banjo player, laid down some basic tracks and vocals for Campbell to study and practice. Jackson encouraged him every step of the way and although Campbell struggled at times because of his progressing dementia, he was clearly ecstatic about being in the studio.
The 12-track collection features songs that Campbell always loved but never got a chance to record, including several from Jimmy Webb, his longtime collaborator behind some of his biggest hits like “Wichita Lineman” “By The Time I Get To Phoenix,” and “Galveston.” In addition to the bittersweet title track, “Adiós,” first popularized by Linda Ronstadt, Campbell also sings Webb’s longing love song “Just Like Always” and country weeper “It Won’t Bring Her Back.” He revisits “Postcard From Paris” with his sons Cal and Shannon and daughter Ashley singing the line, “I wish you were here,” resulting in a powerful and heartfelt message of a family singing together one last time.
Adiós sees Campbell putting his spin on several classic songs including “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right,” inspired by Jerry Reed’s version of Bob Dylan’s timeless tune and “Everybody’s Talkin’, a banjo-filled take on the song that Campbell never recorded but famously performed on the “Sonny & Cher Show” in 1973 with a 19-year-old Carl Jackson. Campbell’s daughter Ashley plays banjo on the song and joins her dad on several tracks on the album. Other songwriters featured include Roger Miller with “Am I All Alone (Or Is It Only Me),” which begins with a home recording of Miller singing the tune at a guitar pull before going into Campbell’s rendition with Vince Gill on harmonies, Dickey Lee’s honky tonk heartbreaker “She Thinks I Still Care” and Jerry Reed’s Johnny Cash hit “A Thing Called Love.” Willie Nelson joins his old pal for a poignant duet of Nelson’s 1968 “Funny How Time Slips Away” while Jackson tells Campbell’s life story in “Arkansas Farmboy.” “I wrote ‘Arkansas Farmboy’ sometime in the mid- to late-‘70s on a plane bound for one of the many overseas destinations I played with Glen between 1972 and 1984,” reveals Jackson. “The song was inspired by a story that Glen told me about his grandpa teaching him ‘In The Pines’ on a $5 Sears & Roebuck guitar when he was only a boy. That guitar led to worldwide fame and fortune, far beyond what even some in his family could comprehend.”
Adiós was a labor of love and a way for Glen Campbell to have one more chance to do what he loves to do and leave a musical gift for fans. Campbell, who turns 81 on April 22, is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s disease. He lives in Nashville where he is surrounded by his loving family and getting the very best of care.
Leo Moracchioli has a knack of turning a sugary pop tune into a metal classic. Here, he takes on ABBA 1976 disco hit Dancing Queen, still managing to leave the tune and platform boots intact.
Young people are all about social networks, whether that’s Snapchat, Facebook or Instagram.
New research from SCG, an advertising and public relations agency, surveyed 333 US high school and college students, a majority of whom were women.
Some 78% of respondents said they use Snapchat on a daily basis, which was a slightly higher proportion than said they use Instagram (76%) or Facebook (66%) every day.
Of those who use Snapchat on a daily basis, the frequency of usage was high. Roughly seven in 10 said they use it more than six times per day, and over half said they use it more than 11 times a day.
On her 1976 variety show, Dolly Parton sang “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind,” then performed it again as if it was heard on a 78 speed, rather than the normal 45.
If you’re one of the millions of people who’ve heard Nirvana’s cover of the David Bowie classic “The Man Who Sold the World” from their Unplugged album, you already know that Dave Grohl and Pat Smear are devout Bowie fans. But did you know that Smear and his bandmates in the Germs used to stalk Bowie all over 1970s Los Angeles? Join us as Smear and Grohl drive around town (in a custom and, as Grohl says, “totally ‘90s” Ford Bronco) visiting Bowie’s L.A. homes, both personal and creative. Along the way the two bandmates reminisce, nerd out on Bowie trivia and even pick up a legendary passenger. (Also, they call Joan Jett.)
