Okay, so the official anniversary is not until Monday (last day of the month), but given that this is our final post for September, let’s celebrate and kick off the weekend in great spirits. We’ve been sharing our musings about (mostly) Canadian music now for eight years and thank each of our friends and readers out there for helping us achieve yet another milestone. We remain incredibly grateful that you continue to ride shotgun on this wonderful music journey with us!!!
Before digging into the past twelve months to recall the exciting things that have taken place here at GDW HQ, I must once again hit my own repeat button to state that when launching this website, we never really considered celebrating so many spins around the sun. One or two, perhaps, but eight??? GDW was created to be a personal blog for us – a small corner of cyberspace where a few photos, video clips and occasional reviews of Canadian folk-roots music could be shared – and never envisioned just how much growth and love we would encounter along the way. What started out as paying thanks for an unexpected backstage moment with Blue Rodeo in 2016, here we are fast approaching a decade later still spreading our love for all things music.
Using this forum last year, it was important to reflect on how the 2022-23 period signaled a true return to normalcy for us in the post-pandemic era, and how resuming Canadian travel adventures and attending live music events were accelerating back towards a pace maintained prior to the global reset. Here in this 2023-24 period, the pace slackened a little, comparatively speaking, with a decline in the number of road trips, and a plateau in the number of concert experiences. Of course, there are external factors that contributed to both counts (family emergency overseas / increased work demands / canceled festivals), and we’re optimistic that this is merely a blip on the radar. Hopefully, the next twelve months shall see us back out on the road, attending shows, meeting music-loving friends and our GDW family – and earning the much-appreciated feedback from the artists we support that you see scattered throughout this recap.
Even with the knowledge that our travel and concert tallies did not come close to those from the previous year, we’re still naturally curious to see the ground covered this time around. I always enjoy looking back at our activities, and sharing these statistics compiled between October 1, 2023, and today (previous year in parentheses for comparative purposes):
- Racking up plenty of miles/kilometers traveled, we made the trek from our home in southern PA to Canada on 6 (11) occasions.
- During those 6 excursions, we attended 17 (19) live music events across Ontario and Québec, in places such as Hamilton, Montréal, Ottawa, Huntsville, Joliette, Peterborough, and Drummondville.
- Equally happy to hit to the road to support Canadian artists who ventured into our neck of the woods, we attended 13 (18) shows here in the US too, in PA, MD, DC and VA.
- Oh, and you’ve likely seen us post clips of shows featuring UK and US artists too; we saw a total of 7 (6) established non-Canadian acts in concert over the last twelve months.
We take pride in keeping our content fresh here at GDW, and with a resurgence in concert attendance, announced last year that coverage of our live music adventures would once again take precedence (following the bleak period/coverage during the pandemic). While features spotlighting new albums, singles, and videos, shall always have a home on the site, spreading news of the live music scene was a primary founding principle for GDW (our ‘roots’), and remains the focus we wish to uphold as we head into another year.
Shifting gears back to our own road trips and concert-going adventures, we’ve had some memorable encounters both out on the road and here at home over the last twelve months. Given that we are celebrating eight years, here are eight instances that spring to mind:
- Wearing my Habs hoodie to welcome Beaconsfield, QC artist (and Montréal Canadiens anthem singer) Brittany Kennell to her Jammin’ Java debut in VA. Brittany flashed a huge smile when finding a ‘pal’ in the room, striking up a conversation later about our mutual favorite hockey club.
- Driving on a whim to Joliette, QC (based on hearing just one song) to catch a concert from Le Roy La Rose et le Lou[p], unsure of what to expect, this trio of talented Québecois twentysomethings offered up one of our most memorable concert experiences ever (and lit a fire inside me in the process).
- We enjoyed a January evening with GDW’s Jess Lahr (and spouse) to attend a Jill Barber concert (surprising the artist) here in our neck of the woods. We would randomly bump into Jill again in downtown Montréal later that summer.
- We caught up with GDW’s Matt Wheeler in his Lancaster, PA hometown back in February, and enjoyed a performance as he opened a show for visiting Canadian folk band Great Lake Swimmers (we surprised Tony Dekker too).
- Rounding out a trifecta of reconnecting with the GDW team, a brief visit to London, ON back in March allowed us some time with Steve Murphy, our longest tenured contributor and good friend. Hope you enjoyed the liquid refreshments, Steve…
- With an early spring vacation in Ottawa (and 3 shows in 4 nights), we enjoyed a lunch date with good pal (and former musician) Melanie Brulée. Another friendship made many years ago thanks to our GDW profile.
- With the tragic death of Karl Tremblay last fall, we knew our chances of catching live music by Les Cowboys Fringants was diminished. Enjoying a performance from his surviving spouse Marie-Annick Lépine this past June, an appearance from fellow Cowboy Jean-François Pauzé led to a brief revival – and it was spectacular!
- Huntsville, ON singer-songwriter Briar Summers not only kindly gifted us a vinyl copy of “Resonance,” her third studio album – she also completely surprised us with a nod to GDW in her album credits/liner notes. Thanks Briar, you’re a star!
Moving beyond our dedication to the live music scene, another goal that we proposed was for expanded coverage of music from the Canadian francophone community. As many of you may already know, we share a strong passion for many French language artists and their music (primarily from, but not limited to Québec), and have sought to increase their inclusion here at GDW with more consistency than in previous years – especially given how little coverage this music receives in the wider Anglophone music media. With two of our regular Ontario summer music festivals both being postponed this year, we decided to look a little further afield and found ourselves attending two Francophone events – the first weekend of the Francos de Montréal back in June, and our first Festival de la Poutine in Drummondville just last month. What a great way to scratch many must-see artists from our bucket list of names! Even better was discovering many new ones in the process, thanks to the diverse nature of festival lineup scheduling. Francophone content shall remain a regular part of our coverage here at GDW.
If you’ve made it this far, I thank you for staying the course here with my ramblings. As you can see, these last twelve months have been monumental once again for Team GDW. But, of course, we could not keep ticking along without you – our readers and our contributors – and the support and encouragement you continually provide. To our featured authors – Steve, Douglas, Jess, Richard, and Matt – we truly appreciate you! Having shamelessly plugged away here with each anniversary piece to recruit music fans who fancy dabbling with a little writing, we formally welcomed NB-based writer/musician Ollie LeBlanc into the GDW fold earlier this year (thanks to a mutual friend for connecting us – you know who you are). Ollie submitted a few guest features before taking the leap and joining us as a regular contributor – and has provided plenty of content in a relatively short time (we love Ollie’s infectious energy). So come on, don’t be shy, if you have a passion for all things music, but are a little apprehensive about reaching out, rest assured that the GDW team would love to hear from you, and learn of your musical tastes as we welcome you in as part of our extended family.
Eight years of GDW will officially be recognized as the month draws to a close. Let’s keep on spreading the word about great music and the fabulous live music adventures yet to come. Thanks again for taking this ride with us! Who knows what our ninth season will bring, but we look forward to the journey, no matter where it leads. Cheers, Salut, and Merci.
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
