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Category Archives: Canada
Dean Brody named HELLO! Canada’s most beautiful
Congratulations to Canadian singer-songwriter Dean Brody! He’s just been named one of HELLO! Canada’s most beautiful people. He’s one of the handpicked Canadian stars for the issue, which is out on news stands today.
Dean has earned his spot on the list given his tremendous success across the country with his latest album DIRT. Raised in Jaffray, British Columbia, the singer-songwriter has become a household name in Canadian Country music. This year alone, he has been nominated for Country Album of the Year at the 2013 JUNO Awards and sold out his “The Dirt Tour” across Canada. He has charted four smash hits from his sophomore album, including the Gold-selling anthem “Canadian Girls,” “It’s Friday” ft. Great Big Sea, “Bob Marley” and his latest single “Dirt,” currently the #1 Most Added Single at radio this week.
Dean begins the summer festival circuit this June, with plans to release a brand new single this August in anticipation of his upcoming third album this November 2013.
Alan Jackson reschedules PEI and Nova Scotia shows
Country music legend Alan Jackson has rescheduled two of his upcoming Canadian dates so he can attend the funeral of George Jones. The dates effected are his previously scheduled shows on Wednesday and Thursday night in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia. Both dates have been rescheduled, with his PEI date now on Monday, May 6th at Credit Union Place in Summerside; and his NS date now on May 7th at Centre 200 in Sydney. All tickets with the old dates will be accepted at the new dates next week.
For ticketholders who are unable to attend the rescheduled dates, you can contact the box office for details on how to get a refund. Credit Union Place – Summerside, PEI 902-432-1234 or Centre 200, Sydney, NS 902-563-5229.
EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Emerson Drive
Emerson Drive is undoubtedly one of Canada’s most prized possessions. This five-piece band, hailing from Prairies, has made its mark on both Canadian and American country music over the span of almost two decades with several hits, nominations, and awards to be proud of. They are well known for songs including “I Should Be Sleeping,” “Fall Into Me,” “A Good Man,” and their chart topper, “Moments.” The band has picked up the award for Group or Duo of the Year at the Canadian Country Music Awards multiple times and are currently nominated for Country Album of the Year at the 2013 Juno Awards.
Roll, the band’s latest album, was released late last year and yet the first single, “She’s My Kind of Crazy,” has already been certified gold in Canada. The album features songs written almost entirely by the boys, all of which represent the lyrical, vocal, and instrumental talent that is Emerson Drive.
The band is currently in the middle of the CMT Hitlist Tour, which has seen stops in cities all across the country with fellow Canadians Doc Walker and Aaron Pritchett. We were lucky enough to sit down with lead singer Brad Mates after a terribly long bus ride from Winnipeg to Ottawa. That didn’t seem to matter, however, when we began to chat and Brad’s charming and caring personality shone through.
Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts & Dean Brody Added to Boots & Hearts
Miranda Lambert, Rascal Flatts, The Band Perry, and Canadian crooner Dean Brody have all been announced as additions to the second ever Boots & Hearts Music Festival in Ontario, Canada. Canada’s biggest country music festival will take place August 2nd to the 4th, 2013 at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario. Tickets are already on-sale for the festival, with three-day passes currently going for $199 at bootsandhearts.com. Early bird tickets had already sold-out after the announcement of Jason Aldean as a headlining act at next year’s festival.
The choices of Miranda, The Band Perry and Rascal Flatts were among the top ten most requested acts by fans of the festival. Festival organizers listened to the fans and added the superstars to an already huge line-up. It’s currently the only announced date so far for Miranda Lambert, who will be hitting the road in January with Dierks Bentley on their co-headlining Locked & Reloaded tour across the United States.
Boots & Hearts will be making an announcement of more than 25 acts as we get closer to the event. Who else do you want to see added to the line-up?
Wynonna Judd Postpones Canadian Dates
Wynonna Judd has been forced to postpone her upcoming Canadian tour dates due to her husband’s serious motorcycle accident. Michael Scott “Cactus,” Moser, who works as her drummer, and Wynonna were on their own bikes in Deadwood, South Dakota on Saturday night when Cactus collided with an oncoming vehicle. He was taken to hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries. The accident occurred before her show in Deadwood. Wynonna was not involved in the accident.
“The outpouring of prayer and support from friends, family and fans has been a blessing to both Cactus and I. Cactus is a champion. I love him deeply and I will not leave his side.”
The pair were married this past June in Tennessee. Her upcoming Canadian dates scheduled for this week will be postponed until further notice. We here at Keepin’ it Country wish Cactus a speedy recovery and hope to see them both on tour again soon!
Canadians Getting Unlimited Mobile Music Service
Canadian music fans will finally be able to access an unlimited music service on their mobile devices thanks to Public Mobile’s new service “Siren.” The initiative is already getting backed by some pretty serious industry heavyweights: Warner Music, Sony Music, and Universal Music. The application will be run by Livewire, and will be available to all current and new Public Mobile customers on their Android devices beginning on August 16th. Only Android users with Public Mobile will be able to access the service.
The Unlimited Music will be included in the company’s unlimited data, text, and talk packages which start at $40 monthly. The package includes call display, 3-way calling, and call waiting. For an extra $7 a month you can add on your voice mail service to the package. Users will immediately have access to a library of over one million songs with Warner Music, Sony Music, and Universal Music. In October, the music library will increase to over five million songs.
“We are trying to change the music model and put it on its ear a little bit,” said Public Mobile chief executive offer Alex Krstajic. “So no more is there downloading songs at $1 a song from iTunes or $10 an album. And then on top of that as you are downloading that song, you are paying data (charges) to the carrier that you are with. So you are really getting hit twice.”
The new service will be available to Canadians without a credit check – so I’m sure it will be a hit with the teenagers. For current users, the application can be downloaded from the Google Play Store beginning on August 16th. New devices with Public Mobile will include the application already installed.
What do you think? Is this a great new music model for Canadians? Will you be switching just for this new service?
Blake Shelton Cancels Canadian Date
Due to a scheduling conflict with NBC’s The Voice, Blake Shelton has been forced to cancel one of his few Canadian dates this year. His August 4th date in Penticton, British Columbia date at the South Okanagan Events Center has been officially cancelled. Rising country newcomer Marlee Scott was booked as the special guest for the tour stop. Blake hopes to schedule a show in the future for the Canadian fans in the region. Global Spectrum will be working closely with Blake’s management team to figure out a way to have another date in Blake’s busy calender this year.
All tickets purchased by credit card will be automatically refunded the full ticket price and per-ticket fee back onto their credit cards starting tomorrow, July 20th. There may be a delay by a few days of the refunds showing up on credit card statements. For fans who purchased tickets by debit card, they are asked to return to the SOEC Box Office for their refunds with photo ID. Only the original purchaser of the tickets will be able to get the refund. All refunds will need to be completed before end of business day Friday, September 7th, 2012.
Miranda Lambert Hitting Canada in Fall
With only a few dates added so far, Miranda Lambert has added on a Canadian tour this Fall. The three announced dates so far are Dawson Creek, British Columbia on September4th at the EnCana Events Centre; Lethbridge, Alberta on September 6th at the EnMax Center; and, Regina, Sasketchewan on September 7th at the Brandt Centre. All three dates are in September, but fans should be able to expect more dates from Miranda in Canada this Summer. There are no special guests yet announced for these dates at this time.
See the official tour calendar on Miranda‘s website for a full list of tour dates, and keep an eye on Keepin’ it Country to see where else the On Fire superstar is heading this year. She’s already announced that she will tour with the Pistol Annies this Summer across the United States.
Where do you hope Miranda hits this year?
Mr & Mrs Shelton Take Over Canada
Being number one is sweet. Beating out your wife is even sweeter. That’s the case for Blake Shelton this week in the Canadian Country Singles Charts; he’s number one with “God Gave Me You.” Miranda Lambert isn’t far behind with “Baggage Claim,” and Lady Antebellum are holding up a pretty close third place with “We Owned The Night.” Check out the Canadian top ten below:
TW: 1 LW: 2 Blake Shelton – God Gave Me You – Warner Bros/WMN – Spins: 831
TW: 2 LW: 5 Miranda Lambert – Baggage Claim – RCA – Spins: 730
TW: 3 LW: 8 Lady Antebellum – We Owned The Night – Capitol Nashville/Capitol – Spins: 716
TW: 4 LW: 1 Rodney Atkins – Take A Back Road – Curb – Spins: 711
TW: 5 LW: 3 George Strait – Here For A Good Time – MCA Nashville – Spins: 706
TW: 6 LW: 6 Taylor Swift – Sparks Fly – Big Machine – Spins: 688
TW: 7 LW: 7 Jake Owen – Barefoot Blue Jean Night – RCA – Spins: 603
TW: 8 LW: 4 Keith Urban – Long Hot Summer – Capitol Nashville – Spins: 583
TW: 9 LW: 11 Emerson Drive – Sleep It Off – Open Road – Spins: 578
TW: 10 LW: Zac Brown Band – Keep Me In Mind – Southern Ground/Atlantic/BPG – Spins: 572
Both Miranda and Blake will be performing their singles live at the 45th annual Country Music Association (CMA) Awards November 9th in Nashville, TN. Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood both return as co-hosts for the fourth year in a row.
Review of CMT Hitlist Tour in Ottawa
The CMT Hitlist Tour made a stop in Ottawa, Ontario Tuesday night – one of 26 stops on a cross-country tour. Dean Brody, Deric Ruttan, and Aaron Lines graced the stage of Centrepoint Theatre, performing for a crowd of all different ages.
The boys, backed up by a four-piece band, came out to the stage together to first perform “Hey Good Lookin’”. Just after, the show featured a set by Dean. He started by performing his current single, “Little Yellow Blanket”, followed by his hit song “Wildflower”, a performance that captivated the audience and even brought a woman in the front row to giving a rose to the artist. He played other crowd favourites including, “People Know You By Your First Name” and “Trail In Life”. Without a doubt, his live performance definitely showcases his voice and it’s unique quality and capability.
Aaron Lines followed Dean to the stage, playing past hits that spoke to his relationship with his wife and two daughters. He started with “Moments That Matter”, a song that got cheers from the crowd when one of the lyrics mentioned hockey – obviously a staple to the Canadian identity. He went on to play “You Can’t Hide Beautiful”, a song he wrote originally for his wife but is now hoping to teach the words to his young daughters so that they may be instilled with the message that beauty is about remaining true to yourself. His set included other hits such as “Turn It Up”, “Lights of My Hometown”, and the crowd favourite “Cheaper to Keep Her”. His humble personality and love for his family was quite evident in his set, making his performance very relatable to the crowd and remarkably enjoyable to watch.
