Canada Day 2011 in NYC: The Great Canadian Songbook Concert At Joe's Pub

Joe's Pub will be full of Canadian song tonight for its annual Canada Day shows.

Today is Canada Day, that nation's independence day, and in New York City that means it's the day of the annual "Great Canadian Songbook" concert at Joe's Pub. This show features a number of Canadian singers from different genres performing songs written by many of the famous Canuck songwriters of the last few decades.

There are two shows tonight, at 6:30 pm and 9:00 pm. You can find more information and buy tickets here).

Canada does indeed have a long and deep pool of excellent musicians and songwriters, and it goes well beyond Rush, the Guess Who, and Bachman-Turner Overdrive. At the Great Canadian Songbook concert you might hear songs from such greats as Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn, and many more... including Nelly Furtado, Gino Vanelli, Lighthouse, and Bryan Adams. And yes, probably some Burton Cummings, Guess Who, or BTO tunes.

The performers for tonight's show, from the Joe's Pub website:

Tyley Ross (East Village Opera Company, The Who's "Tommy"), Greg Naughton (The Sweet Remains), singer-songwriters Jamie Leonhart, Joe Hurley, Anthony da Costa, and Kate Schutt, cabaret spitfire Shelley McPherson, Tony Salvatore (BETTY, Pleasuredog), Shannon Connolly (Lez Zeppelin), and chanteuses Lezlie Harrison, Melissa Stylianou, and Victoria Cave (Brooklyn Rundfunk Orkestrata, Cabaret, Steely Dan), all backed by the all-star "Workin' for the Weekend House Band" led by Music Director Peter Kiesewalter (Brooklyn Roadfunk Orkestrata, East Village Opera Company).

If you're in New York and want a fun musical way to celebrate Canada Day, check out the Great Canadian Songbook concert at Joe's Pub.

(Unfortunately, the NYC City Parks' SummerStage series no longer holds a Canada Day concert; this was a tradition for a while but there hasn't been one for several years.)

And as always, I want to thank CBC Radio 3, and especially Grant Lawrence's podcast, for keeping us all up to date on the latest in Canadian indie music.

Concerts in NYC Wed., June 23rd: FREE Shows by Brand Nubian, Solas, & the McCoy Tyner Quartet; Sarah Harmer at City Winery

If you're looking to hear some music on Wednesday night in New York, you're in luck: there are some very talented veteran artists in town, representing totally different genres. And three of the shows are free.

Hip-hop pioneers Brand Nubians bring their socially and politically conscious music to a free SummerStage concert in Crotona Park in the Bronx at 7 p.m. More information: info@SummerStage.org or (212) 360-2777. (Directions to Crotona Park)

Over at the SummerStage home base in Central Park, there's a concert that's long on jazz talent, as reflected in the show's name: "George Wein's CareFusion Jazz Festival with The McCoy Tyner Quartet featuring Ravi Coltrane, Esperanza Spalding and Francisco Mela and The Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi." It's a mouthful, but that's a lot of jazz chops assembled in one show. For more info on the McCoy Tyner Quartet free show (which also starts at 7 p.m.), see the SummerStage info above.

Solas, a group that has long been influential in Celtic music, plays this week's free Madison Square Music series concert at Madison Square Park. Their Celtic roots sometimes branch out to incorporate blues, folk, country, and even jazz. Showtime is 7 p.m.

As much as I'd like to see the free Solas show, I'll be elsewhere Wednesday night. One of my favorite singer-songwriters, Canadian Sarah Harmer, came out with a new album, "Oh Little Fire," today, and will be introducing it to NYC with a record release party at the City Winery. While this isn't a free show, tickets are as little as $20 and are still available.

The Wailin' Jennys Craft Beautiful Harmonies in Weehawken

Heather Masse, Nicky Mehta, and Ruth Moody of the Wailin' Jennys




The free annual summer music festival in Weehawken, New Jersey wrapped up for the year not with a bang, but with the lovely harmonies of the Wailin' Jennys. The acclaimed female trio played their brand of folk/pop/traditional tunes with the Manhattan skyline in the background, and showed why they have developed a loyal following in their native Canada and in the U.S., despite a few personnel changes.

The Wailin' Jennys have been together for over six years, with Ruth Moody being one of the original members. The latest addition is Heather Masse, an American now living in Brooklyn. (Moody and the third member, Nicky Mehta, are from Winnipeg, Manitoba.)

The band performed mostly their own compositions, but also did some worthy covers, including "Deeper Well" by Emmylou Harris and fellow Canadian Neil Young's "Old Man." You can hear some of their songs at the Wailin' Jennys MySpace page.

This is at least the second season of the free concerts in Weehawken at Lincoln Harbor, part of the Hudson River Performing Arts Center series. Kudos to Bruce Sherman and all the members of the HRPAC team and the Township of Weekhawken for continuing to put on these great shows in a gorgeous location.

Kathleen Edwards, The Hives Perform at Hockey All-Star Game

Somebody at the National Hockey League has good taste in comtemporary music. It's All-Star Game on Sunday night featured the Canadian national anthem performed by Canadian alt-country/rock singer Kathleen Edwards, who I've liked ever since I heard her first single Six O'Clock News" in 2003.

Kathleen Edwards first became known with her 2003 debut album, "Failer," which featured the hit song "Six O'Clock News." It also contained the songs "Another Song the Radio Won't Like" and "Hockey Skates" ... being a Canadian I guess she likes hockey, so she's a good choice to sing the national anthem before the All-Star Game.

The second Kathleen Edwards album, "Back to Me," came out in 2005, and she's got a new one on the way in 2008 called "Asking for Flowers."

Unfortunately, I couldn't see the performance because I don't have the cable channel that televises the NHL. So not only did I miss Edwards, but I also didn't see the Swedish rock group The Hives, another band I like, doing their song "Tick Tick Boom" before the the start of the game. The good news is that I have tickets to see The Hives in concert in a few weeks, doing their Swedish garage-rock revival. If the show is as fun as their records, that gig should be a blast.

Kudos to the NHL for having such good taste in music. Now if they can only sign a TV contract with a major sports channel...