Born in 1940, Sylvia Tyson (Fricker) is an important part of Canadian music history. Best known as part of the folk due Ian and Sylvia, she continues to perform with the folk group Quartette and has since 1993.
During the Canadian Content days of radio, she and her ex-husband Ian Tyson, were staples on Canadian radio. They likely would have been even without the content rules. The were a very good folk duo from 1959 to 1974, when they split up.
In addition to the duo, they also fronted another Canadian institution, the band Great Speckled Bird. Sylvia is a true Canadian icon. She was inducted into the Order Of Canada in 1994, has 7 Juno nominations (Canada’s Grammys) as a solo artist and was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 2003. Additionally, she was included in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame as part of the Ian and Sylvia duo in 1992.
I have included 2 videos, Four Strong Winds, (you may think of this as a Neil Young song, it’s not) recorded during a reunion concert in 1986. This has been noted as one of the most influential Canadian songs of all time. The second is a solo by Sylvia, “You Were On My Mind”.
I recently had the pleasure of sitting down for a chat with The Mighty One’s front man, Tim Steinruck, and a great chat it was.
We started our conversation with a reference to a recent live interview on Kat Power Hits Radio, available at www.thedonpearsestudios.com . In that interview, I noted that I had been intrigued with his musical beginnings in Northern British Columbia. In adding to that I asked whether he had been self taught or did he have a music teacher.
He mentioned that he was totally self taught, except for some piano lessons. He elaborated, saying he basically cheated through his lessons as he was more comfortable learning by ear without wanting to learn the technical side of music. He’d bring his assignments home and have his father play it on the piano. He said he’d watch the keys he played and learned it that way. He always failed the technical exams but passed the performance side of the courses with flying colours.
Moving on, we started talking about how he moved into the world of music. His first band was formed in Fort St. John, B.C.. The band’s name was Black Gold, named after the oil & gas industry that is a major industry in the area. This happened when he was in grade 8. They played songs like The Cars tune “Just What I Needed”. The first song he learned to play on guitar was by Prism, “Take Me To The Captain”.
I then asked a question about something I’d noticed about the band’s name, TheMightyOne. Why no spaces? After a bit of a laugh, he answered with, the name was recently changed to The Mighty One because it was basically unsearchable on Google without the spaces. Good point Tim.
My next question is one I always ask. Who is your favourite musician? This is one I ask for myself (and the reader) as who better to ask that question of than another musician. It can lead you into something you’ve never been into before. He answered with his most influential being Van Halen, citing that he first heard them in school, in his classroom on one of those multiple headphone thingies that were in schools in the past. Eddie blew him away. His favourite musician, Dave Grohl, no argument there. He also mentioned Mammoth WVH, a band formed by Eddie Van Halen’s son, Wolfgang. I’ll be checking them out shortly. One thing I did not know was that it was named after his father’s first band.
We carried on and I found out that the best thing about what he does is that he is living a life of purpose. He went on to emphasize the importance of creating a legacy. Everybody has a skill and asked what the legacy is I wanted to leave behind. Very profound, I stopped for a minute as my brain digested what he was saying. I tried relating what he was saying to what we have accomplished, and it left me with some things to think on. I’m sure we need a follow-up just on this point alone.
We then got into what’s coming up for him and the band. It looks like he will be quite busy over the next while. He is participating in the Rise Up tour on Vancouver Island later this month. There will also be a spring tour in the USA and Mexico.
He is touring Norway with Viking Queen.This will be filmed by Norwegian TV and will become a documentary.Interesting story, he hooked up with them through a radio station in New Zealand. The power of the digital world and the opportunities for collaboration it presents are incredible. The Mighty One has also recorded a Christmas song in partnership with Viking Queen. The video of “Christmas In The North” is available to view below.
And to finish up, we talked about The Mighty One’s latest release, “Torch Of Rock And Roll”. A great album, one that has become an earbud mainstay for me. The title track is great and is an autobiographical tune of Tim’s life in music. The video for this is also available below.
The first entry into our top 100 is Honeymoon Suite and their song Love Changes Everything.
Back in the hair band days of the 1980’s, Honeymoon Suite was formed in 1981 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The name and the place share a connection, very witty. They had a string of hits in Canada throughout the 80’s and even had some traction in the USA, highlighted by performing the title track for the movie Lethal Weapon.
Love Changes Everything was released in 1988 and is on their album Racing After Midnight. The song reached number 9 in Canada, 13 on the US Rock and 91 on the US chart, all by Billboard. The band is still recording, it’s latest release was in 2019.
Get ready to rock to a live version of the tune, live is always best.
Today I chatted with Adam Johnson. He is an indie artist out of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, who just recently charted as number 1 on the Canadian Indie Country Countdown. Quite an accomplishment as you will read.Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada who just recently charted as number 1 on the Canadian Indie Country Countdown. Quite an accomplishment as you will read.
The song is “Come On Let’s Go” and is available at all the regular streaming sites. Kat Country Radio will also be playing it, so tune in on Live365 or www.thedonpearsestudios.com
Adam’s music roots stemmed from an interesting combination of a CoVid break from playing, and using it to write some tunes. Although he primarily played in rock bands, once the pandemic hit, he turned to songwriting while awaiting the return of live music. After completing a few tunes, he realized that they sounded country, sending him into that direction. It definitely seems to be working for him based on his first ever single reaching number 1.
While having only released the one single, his intent is to generate more buzz through the release of a series of songs, culminating in an EP package at a future time. This is not new to our industry as streaming has effectively changed everything, especially for new artists or non-chart topping superstars.
I asked who is influences are and he broke them into 2 categories. His music is molded somewhat by Dierks Bentley and Kenny Chesney. These influences are apparent in the single. He also enjoys older country artists such Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. All in all, not a bad group of peers to follow.
He is mainly playing in the Saskatoon area at this time, and only recently started playing with a band again. During the lock-downs, he mainly played well spaced acoustic sets. My normal question on whether there was a gig coming up in the Kootenays was, unfortunately, a no.
Adam has some music in his pedigree. His grandmother sang and an uncle who sang and played guitar. His uncle also had an EP recorded. Adam is considering recording one of those tracks for himself.
As an independent artist, I asked him for some tips, based on his experiences, that he would pass on to others. He responded with, put in the work, polish your song writing, and practice on your instrument. Then save some money before you get in to deep. And he’s right. Recording, even a demo is not cheap.
He finished up with some comments on the CoVid impact on his career. He used the time to buy some recording software, which he used to record a demo. He worked hard at it and it paid off with some recording time with a local producer. This resulted in “Come On Let’s Go”. The period in time was weird as he says. No concerts, no gigs, but time to make contacts and to use alternative methods to build an audience. He used TikTok, Instagram etc. to generate interest and is generally happy with the results.
I see the difficulty in generating some interest without being actually live and in front of audiences. The alternatives work out to some degree, but nothing replaces live music. If you get a chance, check him out. In the meantime, grab his single on your favourite streaming service.
Welcome to the bestowing of the coveted “I won the Music Trivia Question for the Day, I tried to make a speech, to shut me up they gave me this award” Award.
Freddie Mercury: Queen live in Hannover, Germany 1979 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Freddie was born in 1946 as Farrokh (Frederick) Bulsara. He was born in Zanzibar and grew up there and in India until his teens, when he moved to the UK. The rest is history.
Here is vintage Queen from 1973, a live version of “Keep Yourself Alive” taken from their first album.
Keep Yourself Alive
I say bestowing as the answer was given in about 18 seconds to El Guapo
Perchance this was too easy of a question, or perhaps El Guapo is a musical genius. This of course means that A Gripping Life had a short but, interesting reign as the goddess of music trivia. Congratulations El G, you have a chance to consolidate your kingdom on Wednesday.
I am going to make a small change to the format. I am thinking that I can create milk 2 posts a week out of this feature. Starting on Thursday (tomorrow, Friday in Australia and Thursday thirty in Newfoundland (that’s a Canadian in joke)) I will post the big question. You will have a couple of days, three if I’m too lazy to post the answer. I will then post the answer and the winner on Saturday morning. Is It Possible To See It All, striving to maximize quality content for you the reader. This leaves me the answer to Monday’s question to tie up the loose end of the old format.
The previous question was:
Q: Sun Records is famous for Sam Phillips discovering and recording Elvis, among others. What was the first song released by Sun, and by who?
The answer is:
In March of 1952 Sun Records released “Drivin Slow’. Johnny was a 16-year-old saxophone player and he sounds real good. It starts a bit slow with some piano, then the sax comes in, and then it takes off. Pretty good tune.
Drivin’ Slow
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We had no winner this time, so Lisa at Gripping Life retains the award, at least until Saturday or Sunday, depending on the hangover.
John Lennon wrote the song and read newspapers to gather some of the snippets in the song. The Daily Mail on January 7, 1967 had an article about the town of Blackburn, Lancashire having a plan to fill 4,000 potholes. The Albert Hall came from his imagination and the connector in the line “Now we know how many holes it takes to FILL the Albert Hall came from his friend Terry Dornan. Up till then he had no idea other than something ____the Albert Hall.
A Day In The Life
AND WE HAVE A WINNER
A Gripping Life answered the question first and correct. And she is the proud recipient of the Rebecca (LadyorNot) designed award, Display it proudly and be ready to defend your title.
A Gripping Life – 1 win
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Today’s question will move off the Beatles and move towards Elvis, well Sun Records anyway.
Q: Sun Records is famous for Sam Phillips discovering and recording Elvis, among others. What was the first song released by Sun, and by who?
The first album to feature the group’s name change from “The Miracles” to “Smokey Robinson & The Miracles” was 1965’s Top 10 album Going To A Go-Go.Clockwise from top left: Pete Moore, Bobby Rogers, Ron White, Smokey Robinson.(not shown: Claudette Robinson, Marv Tarplin) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
“Shop Around” by The Miracles. The song was recorded and released in 1960. This was before they were known as Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. The artist on this classic was credited as The Miracles (featuring Bill “Smokey” Robinson”.
Shop Around
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We had no winner on this one, so Rebecca’s stupendous award has, once again, been forced to wait on it’s introduction to the world.
Today’s question will leave Motown and move on to Blackburn, Lancashire.
Q: In the song “A Day In The Life” by the Beatles, there is a line referring to a particular place. What is Blackburn, Lancashire and why does it have 4,000 holes in it?
Recorded in 1959, Money reached number 2 on the charts. Beatle fans will instantly recognize this song as they did a cover version in 1962 with Peter Best on drums.
Money – The Beatles
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Interestingly, Berry Gordy, Motown’s driving force and owner, wrote this song, which helped turned Motown into the hit factory it was known for in the 1960’s and beyond.
No one guessed the answer, so I am unable to bestow my newly minted award on anyone. Thanks to Rebecca for designing the award.
Today’s question, and we will continue in Motown mode is:
Precious Lord: New Recordings of the Great Songs of Thomas A. Dorsey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Georgia Tom, (Thomas Dorsey) is considered by many to be the father of black gospel music. He was born in Villa Rica, Georgia in 1899, living to the ripe old age of 93, passing away in 1993. His early career was spent with such famous blues men as Tampa Red. Later in his career, he turned to gospel, writing many current standards. These include “Peace In The Valley” (recorded by Mahalia Jackson) and “Precious Lord, Take My Hand“. His songs have been recorded by a veritable who’s who of the music world. think, Elvis Presley, think Aretha Franklin, even Roy Rogers. Now to some music.
First up is a blues number sung by the man himself.
Maybe It’s The Blues
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This next one is a recording of Mahalia Jackson.
Peace In The Valley
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Here is Elvis singing Precious Lord
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As a final treat, we have Thomas Dorsey discussing gospel music and the story behind Precious Lord. Great stuff.
Is It Possible To See It All 