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How You Can Support the JUNO Awards and Your Music This Weekend, Even If You’re Not Nominated

Eric Alper
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How You Can Support the JUNO Awards and Your Music This Weekend, Even If You’re Not Nominated

The JUNO Awards are back, and the spotlight is on nominees like Justin Bieber, Tate McRae, and The Weeknd. The weekend also brings the entire Canadian music community together, with artists across the country contributing to the energy, conversation, and celebration.

Start by being active online. Share your favourite Canadian songs, highlight artists in your scene, and celebrate the wins as they happen. Post clips, reactions, and recommendations. When audiences are tuned in, your voice helps shape what they discover.

Support your peers in a meaningful way. Repost nominations, send messages of encouragement, and spotlight artists whose work you respect. Community builds through consistency, and moments like this amplify that connection across the industry.

Use the attention around the weekend to share your own work. Release a live clip, post a performance, or talk about what you are creating right now. Increased visibility across Canadian music brings more listeners, and sharing your story helps them find you.

Take part in events happening around the awards. Showcases, industry gatherings, and local performances create opportunities to connect, collaborate, and build relationships. These spaces often lead to the conversations that shape future projects.

Celebrate both legacy and emerging artists. Honours for artists like Joni Mitchell and Nelly Furtado reflect decades of influence, while new nominees step into national recognition. Supporting both strengthens the full spectrum of Canadian music.

Tune in and stay engaged. Watch the broadcast, share your reactions, and keep the conversation going throughout the weekend. Collective attention helps elevate the entire scene and extends the reach of every artist involved.

The JUNOs highlight where Canadian music stands today and where it is heading next. Every artist contributes to that story, and this weekend is a chance to be part of it in real time.

Official JUNO Awards website:  junoawards.ca 

CBC Music: www.cbcmusic.ca/junos

JUNO TV: junotv.ca 

SOCIAL MEDIA

X: @TheJUNOAwards Instagram: @TheJUNOAwards TikTok: @TheJUNOAwards

Facebook: TheJUNOAwards  // @CanadianMusicHallofFame  YouTube: @TheJUNOAwards  #JUNOS

Ska-Punk Veterans Big D And The Kids Table Unleash “Whiplash” From Upcoming 12th Album

Eric Alper
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Ska-Punk Veterans Big D And The Kids Table Unleash “Whiplash” From Upcoming 12th Album

Five years is a long time to wait for new Big D And The Kids Table music, and “Whiplash” makes clear the Boston ska-punk institution used that time well. The new single arrives with an official video today and serves as the first taste of ‘The Good Ole American Saturday Night,’ their 12th full-length album, due June 12 via SideOneDummy Records. Produced by Joe Gittleman of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Matt Appleton of Reel Big Fish, the record reunites the band with two of their most trusted collaborators, Gittleman previously helmed the fan-favorite ‘Strictly Rude,’ while Appleton engineered and produced 2021’s ‘Do Your Art.’

“Whiplash” is pure BIG D, turning a moment of domestic chaos into a high-energy, sing-along catharsis. Vocalist David McWane keeps the setup delightfully straightforward: “What would you do if you walked into a room and saw your roommate in bed with your girlfriend? Well, if you want to know the rest of the story, cue up Whiplash.” The broader album carries the same spirit, driven by a simple but forceful message: love more, find joy, build community, and lose yourself completely in a live show.

McWane frames the band’s philosophy with characteristic bluntness: “We like being the incorrigible, rabid Anthrax of the ska scene. We don’t want to be Metallica.” More than 30 years in, that freedom is still the engine.

Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, And SURF GANG Drop “Leadbelly” Ahead Of Double Album ‘POMPEII // UTILITY’

Eric Alper
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Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, And SURF GANG Drop “Leadbelly” Ahead Of Double Album ‘POMPEII // UTILITY’

Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, and SURF GANG have shared “Leadbelly,” the second single from ‘POMPEII // UTILITY,’ their double LP arriving April 3 via 10k/Tan Cressida/SURF GANG Records. Structured as two distinct sides, MIKE on POMPEII and Earl on UTILITY, the album is held together by SURF GANG’s Harrison, evilgiane, Elipropperr, and Flea Diamonds, whose frenetic, distinctly online production gives both rappers new creative ground to move through. Every piece of visual art on the project comes from sculptor and Earl’s childhood friend Sharif Farrag, keeping the whole thing firmly within the community that built it.

The friendship between MIKE and Earl stretches back to 2016, producing collaborations on MIKE’s ‘weight of the world’ and Earl and The Alchemist’s ‘VOIR DIRE’ before this full collaborative project finally took shape with SURF GANG as the connective tissue. The album draws on African and diasporic traditions of collective, iterative storytelling, and both artists are clear about what that means. Earl said it directly: “I feel obligated to put a lot into it because of the gift of getting to do this.” MIKE framed it as shared responsibility: “We all have ownership in a sense. It’s like there’s a pot, and we’re responsible for putting things back into that pot.”

Secret shows in Los Angeles, New York, and London have been announced via their website. The ‘Home on the Range’ tour follows, launching June 9 in Riverside with 26 U.S. stops and support from the album’s guests, before heading to Europe. Australian and New Zealand dates in May include a performance at Sydney Opera House as part of Vivid LIVE Festival.

Trashcan Sinatras Return With “Bad Husband” Featuring Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell

Eric Alper
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Trashcan Sinatras Return With “Bad Husband” Featuring Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell

Ten years between albums is a long time, but Trashcan Sinatras sound like they never left. The legendary Scottish five-piece have announced their seventh album ‘Ever The Optimist,’ due July 31, and launched it with “Bad Husband,” a duet featuring Tracyanne Campbell of Camera Obscura. Produced by Paul Savage, drummer of The Delgados and a trusted collaborator with Mogwai, Teenage Fanclub, and Arab Strap, the album also features a collaboration with Green Gartside of Scritti Politti, leaning into gentle experimentation while staying rooted in the melodic, lyrically driven guitar pop the band has always championed.

“Bad Husband” is an upbeat, primary-colored hop that cheerfully contradicts its subject matter, with Campbell’s voice wrapping around Francis Reader’s lead as both protagonists admit their failures with surprising joy. Reader sums it up perfectly: “Never has separation sounded quite so celebratory.” The accompanying video, directed by Chris Dooley and shot in Los Angeles, stars real-life married actors Paul F. Tompkins and Janie Haddad Tompkins, whose improvised exchanges blur the line between performance and documentary reality. ‘Ever The Optimist’ arrives July 31 on vinyl, collectors’ edition vinyl, CD, and digital.

‘Ever The Optimist’ Track List:

Ever The Optimist

Games For The ZX Spectrum

Bad Husband (ft. Tracyanne Campbell)

The Bitter End

A View From Nowhere

Hold On To Today (ft. Green Gartside)

The Associated Funk

Rome

Melodramatic

Birds I Couldn’t Identify

Learning To Love Your Ghost

Jenevieve And Jordan Ward Connect On New Single “Waiting Room” With Asia Tour Dates Ahead

Eric Alper
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Jenevieve And Jordan Ward Connect On New Single “Waiting Room” With Asia Tour Dates Ahead

Jenevieve is moving fast. The Los Angeles-based artist returns with “Waiting Room,” a new single featuring Jordan Ward, out now alongside an official visual directed by Yanchi. The track builds naturally on the sonic world of ‘CRYSALIS,’ pairing Jenevieve’s signature breezy delivery with Ward’s fluid, genre-blurring style, continuing her exploration of intimacy and self-reflection. The visual draws from the reverse-shot technique made iconic by The Pharcyde’s “Drop” video, and echoes themes from Jordan Ward’s recent album ‘BACKWARDS.’

The release lands one day after Jenevieve completed the sold-out European leg of ‘The CRYSALIS Tour – Worldwide,’ which included stops in Paris, London, and Amsterdam. The tour resumes in May with dates across Asia, including Shanghai, Seoul, Tokyo, and a return to Manila, where she previously filmed the visual for “Haiku.” The ‘CRYSALIS’ era has been a genuine breakthrough, with the album earning praise from NPR, Billboard, VIBE, and The FADER, “Head Over Heels” hitting number one at R&B radio, and “Baby Powder” surpassing 175 million global streams.

Dublin Alternative-Rock Duo Alpine Skies Drop “A Long Way” Ahead Of Debut Album ‘Inspired Conflicts’

Eric Alper
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Dublin Alternative-Rock Duo Alpine Skies Drop “A Long Way” Ahead Of Debut Album ‘Inspired Conflicts’

Alpine Skies have released “A Long Way,” the lead single from their debut album ‘Inspired Conflicts,’ arriving April 16. The Dublin alternative-rock duo of Kevin Homan and Darren Farrell have been building steadily, drawing praise from Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran and support from Hot Press, Pure M Magazine, and Sirius XM, and “A Long Way” is their most focused statement yet. The track sits at the midpoint of the album and centers on the quiet resilience of people fighting through internal crises they never put on display. The band frames it plainly: “What really underpins the message is the return of self. The regaining of confidence and self worth from within.”

‘Inspired Conflicts’ was self-produced and recorded with Sean Hurley at Little Bear Studios in Dublin, mastered by Gabe Wolf in Los Angeles, and features contributions from Lee Tomkins of Aslan, Gavin Fox of Turn and Idlewild, and Paul “Binzer” Brennan of The Frames, The Waterboys, and Bellx1. The album launches live on April 30 at Whelan’s in Dublin, with special guests to be announced. Tickets are on sale now at whelanslive.com.

Upcoming Shows:

April 30 – Dublin – Whelan’s (upstairs) – Album Launch

North London Indie-Pop Songwriter Natalie Shay Gets Honest On New Single “sorry for u”

Eric Alper
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North London Indie-Pop Songwriter Natalie Shay Gets Honest On New Single “sorry for u”

Natalie Shay writes indie-pop for people who feel things deeply, and “sorry for u” makes that abundantly clear. The North London singer-songwriter’s new single is out now, a defiant, bright-edged track about being let down by someone who had her full trust and responded by rewriting the story. Crafted with RNDMBEATS and Call Me Loop, it’s the latest preview of her upcoming EP ‘ATMOSPHERE,’ a sonic diary tracing the electric pull of new love, trauma bonds, and the complicated emotional terrain of life in your mid-twenties. Shay has built her reputation honestly, with 20 million-plus streams, BBC Radio 1 and 6 Music support, coverage in Rolling Stone and Billboard, sold-out shows at Omeara, a support slot for Shania Twain at BST Hyde Park, and festival appearances at SXSW, Reading, and Isle of Wight. In April she plays her biggest headline show to date at Oslo in London, plus her first-ever regional headline at Manchester’s Deaf Institute Lodge.

Upcoming Tour Dates:

April 17 – Manchester – Deaf Institute Lodge

April 23 – London – Oslo

Smalltown Gathering Returns To Salida For Three Days With The California Honeydrops, Fruition, And Moontricks

Eric Alper
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Smalltown Gathering Returns To Salida For Three Days With The California Honeydrops, Fruition, And Moontricks

Smalltown Gathering returns to Riverside Park in downtown Salida, Colorado for its second annual edition, and it’s growing. The festival expands from two days to three this year, running through Sunday with gospel yoga and live music continuing until 3 p.m. on the final day. Tickets go on sale today at smalltowngathering.com. Headliners are The California Honeydrops, Fruition, and Moontricks, with a full supporting lineup that includes Lindsay Lou, Yasmin Williams, Lowdown Brass Band, and Silas Herman & The Tone Unit, among others. After the main stage closes each night, late-night shows continue at venues around town. The festival also features a full yoga and workshop schedule led by Gina Caputo, Mary Beth Larue, and Steph Winsor, a Kids Zone with arts, crafts, and interactive acoustic music workshops through the Coletrain Music Academy, and limited camping available at Marvin Park less than a mile from the main venue. Smalltown Gathering grew out of Campout For The Cause, the grassroots Colorado festival founded by Scotty Stoughton in 2009 that has featured past performers including Billy Strings, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Elephant Revival.

2026 Smalltown Gathering Lineup:

The California Honeydrops

Fruition

Moontricks

Lindsay Lou

Magoo

Daniel Rodriguez

Yasmin Williams

Slap Dragon

Lowdown Brass Band

Pickin’ On The Dead

LVDY

Bonfire Dub

Silas Herman & The Tone Unit

Ramona

Megan Letts

DJ Sleepy

Floodgate Operators

Bob Dylan Adds New Dates To The ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ Tour Through July

Eric Alper
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Bob Dylan Adds New Dates To The ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ Tour Through July

Bob Dylan keeps adding to the calendar. The ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ tour, named for his June 2020 studio album that made him the first musical artist with a Top 40 album in every decade since the 1960s, continues with a fresh round of dates now confirmed through July. The current run covers the Midwest and South through May 1, with a second wave of Pacific Northwest and West Coast dates opening June 4 at McMenamins Edgefield in Troutdale, Oregon. That stretch includes two nights at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, the Santa Barbara Bowl, and the Rady Shell at Jacobs Park in San Diego, before closing out with two nights at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia on July 24 and 25.

Dylan’s live schedule has been relentless and deliberately intimate by arena standards, favoring theaters, auditoriums, and historic rooms that suit the deep catalog he draws from each night. The West Coast dates in June and the Wolf Trap closing stretch are the newly added shows, expanding a 2026 run that already covered considerable ground across the heartland and the South.

Bob Dylan ‘Rough and Rowdy Ways’ Tour Dates:

March 27 – La Crosse, WI – La Crosse Center

March 28 – Rockford, IL – Coronado Theatre

March 30 – Waukegan, IL – Genesee Theatre

March 31 – Muncie, IN – Emens Auditorium

April 2 – Grand Rapids, MI – DeVos Performance Hall

April 3 – Saginaw, MI – The Theater

April 4 – Detroit, MI – Masonic Temple Theatre

April 6 – Louisville, KY – The Louisville Palace

April 9 – Columbus, OH – Palace Theatre

April 10 – Cleveland, OH – KeyBank State Theatre

April 12 – Dayton, OH – Winsupply Theatre

April 14 – Knoxville, TN – Knoxville Civic Auditorium

April 16 – Bowling Green, KY – SKyPAC

April 17 – Chattanooga, TN – Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium

April 19 – Asheville, NC – Thomas Wolfe Auditorium

April 20 – Spartanburg, SC – Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium

April 22 – Macon, GA – Macon City Auditorium

April 23 – Dothan, AL – Dothan Civic Center

April 25 – Jackson, MS – Thalia Mara Hall

April 27 – Baton Rouge, LA – Raising Cane’s River Center

April 28 – Shreveport, LA – Shreveport Municipal Auditorium

April 29 – Tyler, TX – Cowan Center

May 1 – Abilene, TX – Abilene Auditorium

June 4 – Troutdale, OR – McMenamins Edgefield

June 6 – Woodinville, WA – Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery

June 7 – Woodinville, WA – Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery

June 9 – Eugene, OR – Cuthbert Amphitheater

June 12 – Lincoln, CA – The Venue at Thunder Valley

June 13 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre

June 14 – Berkeley, CA – Greek Theatre

June 17 – Santa Barbara, CA – Santa Barbara Bowl

June 18 – Highland, CA – Yaamava’ Theater

June 20 – Palm Desert, CA – Acrisure Arena

June 21 – San Diego, CA – The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park

June 23 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Financial Theatre

July 2 – Thackerville, OK – WinStar World Casino and Resort

July 24 – Vienna, VA – Filene Center at Wolf Trap

July 25 – Vienna, VA – Filene Center at Wolf Trap

I Preview The Juno Awards Returning To Hamilton For The First Time Since 2015 On CHTV

Eric Alper
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I Preview The Juno Awards Returning To Hamilton For The First Time Since 2015 On CHTV

Hamilton is hosting the Juno Awards for the first time since 2015, and I joined CHCH Newsmakers host Rick Zamperin to break down what to expect from this year’s show at TD Coliseum and what the city has meant to Canadian music. I get to preview the ceremony, the significance of the Hamilton homecoming, and the broader cultural impact the city has had on the country’s music landscape.

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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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