After two years of planning and working through the COVID pandemic, two Edmonton promoters have joined forces to present a new music festival in Edmonton, Dead Ends Live.

On the weekend of March 18 and 19, 2022, Edmontonians will be able to enjoy the first hotel-based indoor festival as Dead Ends Live presents a weekend based on music inspired by The Grateful Dead and the spirit of the Jam Band Scene.

Utilizing the Chateau Lacombe Hotel Ballroom and the historic MacDougall United Church, which stand side by side in the heart of Edmonton’s downtown, fans of all kinds of roots music will be treated to multiple performances from some of Edmonton’s hometown heroes and a number of remarkable musicians from San Francisco and Vancouver.

“This is a live version of where my old CKUA radio show Dead Ends and Detours left off,” says festival co-producer Peter North.

The line-up includes The McDades presenting an album release concert for their new critically acclaimed disc The Empress on Friday March 18th in MacDougall United Church, while the brilliant Harry Manx will be closing the church line-up on Saturday night.

“Variety is the key to what we are presenting just like the Dead Ends and Detours radio show. There will be a lot of collaboration going on. Music that comes right out of the Grateful Dead songbook and music that reflects the genres that members of the Dead championed, whether it is world music that the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart turned so many people onto or blues that the Grateful Dead and some of the offshoot groups immersed themselves in,” says North who recently finished an eight year run as Artistic Director of the Salmon Arm Roots and Blues Festival.

Joe Craven, the ridiculously talented multi-instrumentalist, was with the Jerry Garcia/David Grisman group for the entire run of that outfit. His resume also includes years in Grisman’s quintet where he played violin and percussion and his solo output includes his heralded Garcia Songbook release of 2020 which David Gans calls “the best Grateful Dead cover album made to date.”

Gans is coming to Dead Ends Live with a strong songbook that includes a number of originals. Gans, who has hosted the Grateful Dead Radio Hour for years, has a number of fine album releases to his credit and he has written with the likes of Peter Rowan and Robert Hunter.

Another Bay Area artist heading to Dead Ends Live is guitarist/singer Gary Vogensen who spent a decade in the acoustic line-up of the New Riders of the Purple Sage. Mentored as a young musician by the late, great Michael Bloomfield, Vogensen is Angela Strehli’s long-time guitarist and he’s also toured and/or recorded with Boz Scaggs, Commander Cody, The Elvin Bishop Band, Maria Muldaur, and many other top-drawer artists.

Vogensen and Berkeley-based harmonica ace Mark Hummel will be whipping things up in the Chateau Lacombe Ballroom, presenting a show called “A Night At The Fillmore” on Friday, March 18. The show will find the two fronting a quintet that will draw on blues-based material that artists like Bloomfield, Albert King, Janis Joplin, Hot Tuna, and The Dead played at the legendary San Francisco auditorium.

“We’re also pleased that at least three generations of musicians will be performing and that the Edmonton scene will be well represented at Dead Ends Live. The Mbira Renaissance Band, Farhad Khosravi & Daniel Stadnicki, Maddie Storvold, Up On Cripple Creek and of course The McDades, who are going to transform into The McDeads on Saturday night, speaks to that,” says North.

Plus, there will be guest appearances over the weekend by Kat Danser, sax ace David Babcock and members of Edmonton's pioneering jamband, Tacoy Ryde.

Co-producer Jayne Bawden feels the time is right for this type of festival in Edmonton.

"After attending hotel-based music events in other centres, I was convinced that Edmonton was ready for this concept. We are called Festival City and our winters are long, so a staycation in March is just what Albertan's need," says Bawden of the event which is sponsored by Edmonton's amazing new film and sound studio Dept. 9.

Dept.9 Studios develops and produces film, television and web series as well as games and apps. Dept.9 Studios includes Dept.9 Entertainment (Television, Film, Web), Dept.9 Digital (Gaming & Apps) and Dept.9 Music (Publishing and Sound Recordings).

The company is based in Edmonton in a new state-of-the-art 26,000 square foot facility with two soundstages, audio post-production (Dolby Atmos surround sound mixing), video editing suites, digital media lab, set shop, wardrobe and props.

For complete info and schedule for Dead Ends Live go to deadendslive.com or Facebook group. Tickets available at EventBrite.

Terry Donaghue’s newest release, Shades Of Blue (February 24, 2023) is a collection of 13 original blues and blues influenced songs reflecting a range of styles encompassed in the blues genre.

From his early encounters with the country blues of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Lead Belly and others during the ‘60s folk revival to the electric sounds of Howlin’ Wolf, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Paul Butterfield Blues Band the blues in its many forms has long been a major musical influence. He has gotten to hear and know a variety of contemporary Canadian performers some of whom have contributed to Shades of Blue. The new album features a myriad of guest musicians, including Al Cross, Rick Fines, Paul Reddick, Jenie Thai and others. “I’m particularly proud of this recording from the quality and range of the songwriting to the terrific musical talent that brings the songs to another level", says Donaghue. "I think it’s the best work I’ve done."

Terry began playing music in his teens in the ’60s first playing folk and bluegrass on the banjo in a couple of different groups in his hometown of Sault Ste Marie. Later he took up the guitar and more recently the mandolin. He has been writing songs for the past 20 years or so in a variety of styles: folk, bluegrass, roots rock, rockabilly, blues, R&B influenced and reggae influenced. He currently resides in Toronto; is the founder of the Olde Stone Cottage Songwriters’ Circle and for the past 18 years or so has been playing guitar and mandolin in the band Vintage Debris, adding vocals as well over the past five years.  He has released two previous solo recordings of original material: Songs of Love and Longing in May, 2020 and Northern Reflections in January 2022.

Track List

    Rosa Lee

    The Well

    Unlucky In Love

    Temptation

    Ain’t Got You

    Mr. Blue

    Nobody’s Fault

    Mellow In My Mind

    Don’t Need No Sugar

    Paradise Road

    I Need A Bed

    Asking for Light

    Why Won’t You Be Kind

Born out of a love for the Grateful Dead songbook and the jam band culture, the inaugural Dead Ends Live thrilled fans of this broad musical canvas last spring, just as things were shifting to some sort of normalcy.

Organizers are thrilled to announce that guitarist and singer John Kadlecik, a prominent and critically acclaimed figure in the Grateful Dead extended family will be headlining the event with both solo and band performances at the Chateau Lacombe Hotel and MacDougall United Church which conveniently sit next to each other at the top of Bellamy Hill in downtown Edmonton on 101 street just south of Jasper Avenue.

“John was the founder of Dark Star Orchestra thirty years ago, arguably the finest interpreters of Grateful Dead music on the scene. He was tapped by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh to inject the Garcia vocal and guitar sound into their Further project and John continues to channel his appreciation of Jerry Garcia as a member of the JGB which is led by Garcia’s organ player Melvin Seals. We’re excited John said yes to coming to Canada and Dead Ends Live. This is only the third time John has played Canada and one of those shows was when Further played the Ottawa Bluesfest back in 2010,” says Dead Ends Live AD Peter North.

Returning for round two of Dead Ends Live are the two artists who proved to be galvanizing forces are multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven and singer-songwriter David Gans who has also been the host of the Grateful Dead Radio Hour for close to three decades.

“Joe and David loved playing with our hometown faves The McDades/McDeads last year and sitting in with some of the blues players in the ballroom. Joe left everyone who attended in awe of his abilities,” says North regarding the violinist, mandolinist, percussionist and music educator who spent much of his career playing in the David Grisman Quintet and recording a string of brilliant albums with Grisman and Jerry Garcia.

Gans chimed in with, “I had a great time at the first Dead Ends Live Festival! I met a bunch of great musicians, played two full sets with the amazing Joe Craven, and got to perform in a beautiful church in front of a very enthusiastic house.”

Dead Ends Live is also injecting a couple of new musical components into the 2023 event.

Violinist Shannon Johnson of The McDades will be leading The Terrapin String Quartet through a selection of Grateful Dead and Beatles tunes at MacDougall Church on Friday March 17 on a bill with Kadlecik.

Bluegrass is also a component that will surface at Dead Ends Live ’23. Critically acclaimed American guitarist, singer-songwriter Chris Jones will performing with his wife, Canadian bluegrass guitarist and singer Sally Jones, on Saturday March 18.

The duo will appear the Roots of the Grateful Dead session at MacDougall Saturday afternoon with an all-star cast that will touch upon everything from bluegrass to acoustic blues to New Orleans sounds.

Chris Jones is also a host on the popular Sirius XM show Bluegrass Junction.

“We are looking forward to sharing music that was an important part of the bluegrass and folk roots of the Grateful Dead. From songs like “Dark Hollow” to “Deep Elem Blues”, which draw connections between the Dead and musicians like Bill Monroe and Red Allen, we’ll honour the artists and sounds that both influenced us and captivated the imagination of Jerry Garcia in the 1960s and 70s,” says Jones who has won a number of International Bluegrass Association Awards including Song of the Year for his co-write of Fork In The Road as recorded by the Infamous Stringdusters. He and Sally will also be on the Saturday night bill at McDougall church before Craven & Gans.

Dead Ends Live will also present additional Saturday afternoon sessions in the Chateau Lacombe Ballroom and the best of our homegrown talent, which was a central to the 2022 event.

The McGowans, Edmonton’s best proponents of the Dead and classic jam band sounds are on board as are singer-songwriter John Hewitt, cellist Christine Hanson, drummer Sandro Dominelli, sax ace Dave Babcock and his bandmates, pianist Rooster Davis and the bass playing Harry Gregg.

“The Mbira Renaissance Band is also returning with a ballroom show featuring a number of special guests. This is a band with a big rhythmic heartbeat, that our Grateful Dead fans loved dancing to. Since they played the inaugural Dead Ends, Mbira knocked out crowds at the Newfoundland Folk Fest last summer,” added North.

Other artists playing Dead Ends Live are Tony D of MonkeyJunk, while Daniel Gervais and the incredible Calvin Vollrath will be part of a Fiddle Summit the afternoon of March 18. Percussionist Dwayne Hrynkiw, and spectacular African dancer Okama will also be putting in guest appearances at workshops and alongside Mbira.

The full Dead Ends Live schedule is available at deadendslive.com

Tickets are available through both EventBrite and Tix On The Square as well as Blackbyrd Myoozik.

Born out of a love for the Grateful Dead songbook and the jam band culture, the inaugural Dead Ends Live thrilled fans of this broad musical canvas last spring, just as things were shifting to some sort of normalcy.

Organizers are thrilled to announce that guitarist and singer John Kadlecik, a prominent and critically acclaimed figure in the Grateful Dead extended family will be headlining the event with both solo and band performances at the Chateau Lacombe Hotel and MacDougall United Church which conveniently sit next to each other at the top of Bellamy Hill in downtown Edmonton on 101 street just south of Jasper Avenue.

“John was the founder of Dark Star Orchestra thirty years ago, arguably the finest interpreters of Grateful Dead music on the scene. He was tapped by Bob Weir and Phil Lesh to inject the Garcia vocal and guitar sound into their Further project and John continues to channel his appreciation of Jerry Garcia as a member of the JGB which is led by Garcia’s organ player Melvin Seals. We’re excited John said yes to coming to Canada and Dead Ends Live. This is only the third time John has played Canada and one of those shows was when Further played the Ottawa Bluesfest back in 2010,” says Dead Ends Live AD Peter North.

Returning for round two of Dead Ends Live are the two artists who proved to be galvanizing forces are multi-instrumentalist Joe Craven and singer-songwriter David Gans who has also been the host of the Grateful Dead Radio Hour for close to three decades.

“Joe and David loved playing with our hometown faves The McDades/McDeads last year and sitting in with some of the blues players in the ballroom. Joe left everyone who attended in awe of his abilities,” says North regarding the violinist, mandolinist, percussionist and music educator who spent much of his career playing in the David Grisman Quintet and recording a string of brilliant albums with Grisman and Jerry Garcia.

Gans chimed in with, “I had a great time at the first Dead Ends Live Festival! I met a bunch of great musicians, played two full sets with the amazing Joe Craven, and got to perform in a beautiful church in front of a very enthusiastic house.”

Dead Ends Live is also injecting a couple of new musical components into the 2023 event.

Violinist Shannon Johnson of The McDades will be leading The Terrapin String Quartet through a selection of Grateful Dead and Beatles tunes at MacDougall Church on Friday March 17 on a bill with Kadlecik.

Bluegrass is also a component that will surface at Dead Ends Live ’23. Critically acclaimed American guitarist, singer-songwriter Chris Jones will performing with his wife, Canadian bluegrass guitarist and singer Sally Jones, on Saturday March 18.

The duo will appear the Roots of the Grateful Dead session at MacDougall Saturday afternoon with an all-star cast that will touch upon everything from bluegrass to acoustic blues to New Orleans sounds.

Chris Jones is also a host on the popular Sirius XM show Bluegrass Junction.

“We are looking forward to sharing music that was an important part of the bluegrass and folk roots of the Grateful Dead. From songs like “Dark Hollow” to “Deep Elem Blues”, which draw connections between the Dead and musicians like Bill Monroe and Red Allen, we’ll honour the artists and sounds that both influenced us and captivated the imagination of Jerry Garcia in the 1960s and 70s,” says Jones who has won a number of International Bluegrass Association Awards including Song of the Year for his co-write of Fork In The Road as recorded by the Infamous Stringdusters. He and Sally will also be on the Saturday night bill at McDougall church before Craven & Gans.

Dead Ends Live will also present additional Saturday afternoon sessions in the Chateau Lacombe Ballroom and the best of our homegrown talent, which was a central to the 2022 event.

The McGowans, Edmonton’s best proponents of the Dead and classic jam band sounds are on board as are singer-songwriter John Hewitt, cellist Christine Hanson, drummer Sandro Dominelli, sax ace Dave Babcock and his bandmates, pianist Rooster Davis and the bass playing Harry Gregg.

“The Mbira Renaissance Band is also returning with a ballroom show featuring a number of special guests. This is a band with a big rhythmic heartbeat, that our Grateful Dead fans loved dancing to. Since they played the inaugural Dead Ends, Mbira knocked out crowds at the Newfoundland Folk Fest last summer,” added North.

Other artists playing Dead Ends Live are Tony D of MonkeyJunk, while Daniel Gervais and the incredible Calvin Vollrath will be part of a Fiddle Summit the afternoon of March 18. Percussionist Dwayne Hrynkiw, and spectacular African dancer Okama will also be putting in guest appearances at workshops and alongside Mbira.

The full Dead Ends Live schedule is available at deadendslive.com

Tickets are available through both EventBrite and Tix On The Square as well as Blackbyrd Myoozik.

Follow Dead Ends Live on Facebook

Steeltown has long been a flourishing and legendary music city, and that tradition continues with the city’s latest live music event, Smokestack Festival & Concert Series. Taking place May 26 & 27, 2023 at Bridgeworks (200 Caroline St. N.), the new event property, a stellar line-up of some of the best and brightest on the Canadian blues scene, is the result of a collaboration between local label and events producers Sonic Unyon and award-winning Hamilton bluesman Steve Strongman.

Speaking about the new event, Sonic Unyon’s Tim Potocic is enthusiastic. “We always look forward to working with Steve and are excited to be doing so again on Smokestack. This also takes us full circle, in a way. We produced the Hamilton Blues & Roots festival and concert series 2013-2015, have staged countless concerts with JUNO-calibre roots and blues artists, and have been featuring an all-star blues revue as the capstone of the annual Supercrawl festival since 2017. Smokestack is the next chapter in that decade-long story.”

Steve Strongman, who headlines the series’ opening night, is similarly stoked. “I’m thrilled to be a part of bringing a blues- and roots-based music festival to Hamilton,” says Strongman. “There is a hugely supportive music community here and they deserve to have the world-class entertainment that Smokestack will bring.”

Supporting Strongman are artists synonymous with Canadian blues music: Ottawa’s swampy blues-rock trio MonkeyJunk (winner of 23 Maple Blues Awards, two Indy Awards, a USA Blues Music Award, and a pair of JUNOs) and Toronto’s Hogtown Allstars, headed by Downchild Blues Band alumni Chuck Jackson, Pat Carey, Gary Kendall, Jim Casson and Tyler Yarema with Maple Blues Band alumni Teddy Leonard and Howard Moore (who can collectively lay claim to more than 20 Maple Blues Awards, five JUNOs and numerous international blues and jazz music awards).

Performing on night two of the festival are three artists synonymous with “Northern Americana” music. JUNO-winning headliners Whitehorse (two-time Polaris Music-prize nominees and seven-time Canadian Folk Music Awards nominees) close Smokestack as part of their tour for  I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying, which finds the award-winning pair venturing deeper into classic country touchstones than ever before, a move that is both a homecoming and an evolution of their sound. Opening the festival’s second night will be Bywater Call, a powerhouse seven-piece Southern soul/root/rock band, and JUNO-nominated alt-country songwriter NQ Arbuckle.

SMOKESTACK DAY 1: Steve Strongman / MonkeyJunk / Hogtown Allstars

SMOKESTACK DAY 2: Whitehorse / Bywater Call / NQ Arbuckle

WHAT: Smokestack Festival and Concert Series

WHERE: Bridgeworks (200 Caroline St N, Hamilton, ON L8R 0A6)

WHEN: Friday, May 26 and Saturday, May 27 / Doors 7pm, Show 8pm daily

TICKETS: $40 (plus fees & taxes) available via bridgeworks.ca or eventbrite.com

2022 Maple Blues Award Drummer of the Year, Jim Casson (Downchild, The Maple Blues Band, The Hogtown Allstars, Dark Orchard) releases the second album from his musical adventure Davis Hall & The Green Lanterns.

While the recording of the first album searched for an identifying sound, this album focuses on the core group of Casson on drums, N. Jay Burr on tuba, Wayne DeAdder on guitar, Mike Branton on slide guitar and a guest appearance by Mark Lalama (Sisters Euclid, Dizzy & Fay) on keyboards. The sound is funky, rootsy, quirky and fun.

As was the case on the first album, these songs were built from the ground up, starting with drum improvisations and then creating bass lines, and chord structures to fit those initial drum parts.  Once Casson had edited those parts into song structures, the soloists and melody players were added to the funky gumbo. "Canboro Canborough puts the brass in the bass, the grit in the guitar, and the fun in funky", says Casson. "There is a lot of laughter on this album."

The song titles on this album once again pay tribute to Casson’s home of the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario, Canada, with the names of historical villages that he found on a 1907 military topographical map that hangs in his office.  The title track “Canboro Canborough” is a reference to the street that Casson grew up on.

Also, returning on this album are audio clips from a 1963 recording of local disc jockey Bob Bowland on CHOW 1470AM in nearby Welland, as well as a few other amusing clips.

For more information go to www.greenlanterns.ca

  1. Carrottown (3:56) Casson/DeAdder

  2. Homer (3:45) Casson/DeAdder

  3. Canboro Canborough (3:42) Casson

  4. Daincity (3:31) Casson

  5. The Comfort In The North (4:00) Casson

  6. Lowbanks (4:22) Casson/Burr/DeAdder

  7. Winger (3:49) Casson

  8. Silverdale (3:24) Casson/Burr/DeAdder

  9. Humberstone (3:44) Casson/Burr/DeAdder/Branton

10. Sugarloaf (3:18) Casson/DeAdder

2022 Maple Blues Award Drummer of the Year, Jim Casson (Downchild, The Maple Blues Band, The Hogtown Allstars, Dark Orchard) releases the second album from his musical adventure Davis Hall & The Green Lanterns.

While the recording of the first album searched for an identifying sound, this album focuses on the core group of Casson on drums, N. Jay Burr on tuba, Wayne DeAdder on guitar, Mike Branton on slide guitar and a guest appearance by Mark Lalama (Sisters Euclid, Dizzy & Fay) on keyboards. The sound is funky, rootsy, quirky and fun.

As was the case on the first album, these songs were built from the ground up, starting with drum improvisations and then creating bass lines, and chord structures to fit those initial drum parts.  Once Casson had edited those parts into song structures, the soloists and melody players were added to the funky gumbo. "Canboro Canborough puts the brass in the bass, the grit in the guitar, and the fun in funky", says Casson. "There is a lot of laughter on this album."

The song titles on this album once again pay tribute to Casson’s home of the Niagara Peninsula in Ontario, Canada, with the names of historical villages that he found on a 1907 military topographical map that hangs in his office.  The title track “Canboro Canborough” is a reference to the street that Casson grew up on.

Also, returning on this album are audio clips from a 1963 recording of local disc jockey Bob Bowland on CHOW 1470AM in nearby Welland, as well as a few other amusing clips.

For more information go to www.greenlanterns.ca

  1. Carrottown (3:56) Casson/DeAdder

  2. Homer (3:45) Casson/DeAdder

  3. Canboro Canborough (3:42) Casson

  4. Daincity (3:31) Casson

  5. The Comfort In The North (4:00) Casson

  6. Lowbanks (4:22) Casson/Burr/DeAdder

  7. Winger (3:49) Casson

  8. Silverdale (3:24) Casson/Burr/DeAdder

  9. Humberstone (3:44) Casson/Burr/DeAdder/Branton

10. Sugarloaf (3:18) Casson/DeAdder

11. White Toyota (1:59) Casson

Following the success of their 2023 EP Twelve Bar Prescription, which garnered a Maple Blues Award nomination for Horn Player Of The Year for FOG Blues & Brass Band saxophonist Dan Jancar, the Kitchener, Ontario based band have released this self recorded/produced single tribute to Copperpenny.

Originally written & recorded by Copperpenny, "Sittin’ On A Poor Man’s Throne" was released in 1973. In 1977, Bobby “Blue’ Bland (seven time Grammy nominee and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee) released his own version. Fast forward to 2024, FOG Blues & Brass Band (with the blessing and encouragement of original writers Bill Mononen, Ron Hiller and Rich Wamil) release their version simply called "Poor Man’s Throne"

Bobby Becker (FOG Keyboardist) and Bill Mononen (Copperpenny) have been friends since the early 70’s. This friendship eventually led to a song writing collaboration with FOG and Mononen. In fact, the collaboration brought forth the title track on FOG’s 2018 debut album Into The Fog. Bill also co wrote "Automatic Blues" the first track on the 2018 release. “Recording and releasing ‘Poor Man’s Throne’ is in many ways us saying thank you to Bill, and of course paying tribute to Copperpenny", says Jancar. “Poor Man’s Throne has been a staple in our live shows since the early days of FOG Blues & Brass Band.

Friendship and collaboration are not the only connections Copperpenny and FOG Blues & Brass Band have. They share roots in Kitchener Ontario, where both bands were formed and cultivated followings. Copperpenny in 1968, FOG Blues & Brass Band in 2016. Nearly 50 years passing between the two bands. Yet, the love of creating music binds them. Music will always find a way!