Downloads

Here's your chance to download interviews and moments from the show. All files are .mp3, but some are pretty long so will make for big downloads, so please be patient. Hopefully we all know how to download stuff, but in case you don't, choose which file you want, right click on it, select "Save File As," pick where you want it to go on your computer and then wait for the magic of TTBTGH to arrive the magical, digital way.

If you don't want to save these files to your computer, you can open them in your favourite media player. When I listen to podcasts, all I do is right click on a link, hold the button down, and drag it into my winamp or windows media player library, and I can listen to streaming audio without waiting for a download. This can be a bit slow or frustrating if your connection isn't high speed or whatever, but give it a try, it may work for you too!

The TTBTGH Time Machine - aka Podcasts

For the uninformed or unaware (both of which I was until recently), you do NOT need an ipod to enjoy these (that only seems like a clever marketing ploy), and you do NOT need any fancy hardware or software. All a podcast is is an .mp3 version of the show, posted online. Now, if you have to miss a show for whatever reason, it'll be right here for you whenever you can tune in. Heck, even Art Thomas can finally listen in! It's a good thing, and I hope you enjoy it. I'll try to post each show, and as time permits (which means it could be a while), I'll dig through the archives and pull up some golden oldies to put up here.

Tell the Band to Go Home is also available as an official podcast that you can subscribe to through the iTunes music store! For those who aren't aware, iTunes is a music library software that has been somewhat of a revolution, for me especially. Now, I'm able to organize my music and sort and search for things to use on the show. If you have an ipod, you have iTunes, but it is good for anyone on any computer. It's really great, so give it a try if you haven't already. Just head to http://www.apple.com/itunes/overview/ for your free download. It's really easy and really useful. You can organize your own music, or buy stuff through the world's largest online music retailer, iTunes. Best of all, you can subscribe to hundreds of great radio podcasts like Tell the Band to Go Home for absolutely free! If you subscribe to the podcast through iTunes, every time you open the program it will let you know if there is a new episode available to download, and all you have to do is click one button and the show is delivered to your itunes library for you to listen to or transfer to your ipod or whatever! It's really easy, and absolutely free! Now, of course, I'd love for you to continue to check out the website and the many older shows up there, but I think this new vehicle is going to make it even easier for folks to enjoy the great music we play on the show, so tell all your friends! The direct link to the itunes podcast is: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=261247396 (you have to have itunes installed to access that) or just go into the itunes store and search for Tell the Band to Go Home or Jeff Robson, and there you go.

A Note About Podcasts: I don't spend a whole lot of time editing these shows for you. They're here, warts and all, just as they were on air. You may occasionally notice a bit of overlap between segments; the way shows are recorded at UMFM is in one hour blocks, with a bit of overlap at the top of the hour. It's very time consuming to try and cut that out, so at the beginning of the hour you may hear a bit of repeat, but rest assured, those moments will surely be so good that you'll want to hear them again anyway! The final hour may cut off, because sometimes I go overtime (oops!) and it's very time consuming to pull up that extra hour just for a minute or two.

This year's Winnipeg Folk Festival was an exceptionally good one. On today's program we talk with a couple of the best "new" discoveries of the festival, Gregory Alan Isakov and Hoots & Hellmouth. Plus, NQ Arbuckle is coming, and that's always reason to celebrate. Speakin' of celebrations, Lucy's getting hitched on the weekend, and we've got some wedding/love songs to send her on her way.

Another Winnipeg Folk Festival has come and gone, and we've all got plenty of highlights to discuss and play. Also, we chat with an old favourite of ours, Danny Michel, who plays a big role in Folk Fest memories for us, and he's also got a dandy new record to celebrate.

We're pre-recorded this week, as all good-hearted local music lovers are at the Winnipeg Folk Festival! As you may know, going to the Winnipeg Folk Festival for the first time in 1993 changed my life forever, and directly led to me hosting this show today. Over the past 18 years, I have had so many amazing experiences at the Winnipeg festival (and others across the country), and this week I take a look back at some of the music and moments that stand out most for me. I've seen and heard some incredible things at those festivals, and I'm very excited to share some of those with you on today's show!

We're pre-recorded this week, as all good-hearted local music lovers are at the Winnipeg Folk Festival! KK, Mudge, and T-Bar have had many great experiences at the Winnipeg Festival (as well as festivals in Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario!), and this seemed like as good a time as any to look back at some of those magical moments that have inspired us over the years. Mudge takes a musical walk through time, listening to some Folk Fest faves and telling some stories that stand out. This is a real fun show for me, and one that I hope you'll enjoy listening to almost as much as I enjoyed making it! (Part 2 airs on Tell the Band to Go Home!)

It's Canada Day, up Canada way, and even Steel Belted Radio takes a day to celebrate that. We're pre-recorded this week with a musical tour of our great country with songs about our people & places, by some of Canada's finest musicians (and one honourary Canadian.) Celebrate with us!

A very fun show for me, as I was joined by my pal KK and a radio star in the making, young Ryann. They helped me play some great new music, preview some great upcoming shows, and go through Part I of the Official Winnipeg Folk Festival preview.

I'm off on a little weekend getaway, so no live show this week, but in my absence I present to you the official Tell the Band to Go Home standby show, which attempts to present some of the true great classics of yesterday and today.

I love Winnipeg's music scene, but I've never been as excited about a new Winnipeg artist as I am these days about Del Barber. His new record is one of this year's finest, his live shows are second to none, and he's a heck of a swell guy, to boot. I'm super excited to welcome him on to the show today.

After that, it almost doesn't matter, but there are some great shows coming up in Winnipeg, including The Bottle & The Truth, Joshua Cockerill, Tom Petty, and I'm headed off to Minneapolis to check out The Jayhawks!

We've got a whole bunch of great new music, some that's notable, and some that's just plain great. This is a good one. Trust me.

Visiting us live, in-studio today is JP Hoe, with a fresh batch of new songs and a live recording to talk about. Also, a big ol' batch of new releases, re-releases, and just plain good stuff.

The three minds that make up the Steel Belted team don't always agree (obviously), but if there's one thing we agree on, it's that The Damnwells are one of the greatest bands on Earth. Tonight, a very special treat, as we chat live with Alex Dezen, the leader of that amazing band.

We're joined by special co-host "Tony" today, which always makes things a little more fun. We play a musical game of connect-the-dots, hear some brilliant new music from Del Barber, some summer songs, a whole bunch of NQ Arbuckle (and related) music, and more!

Today, we've got some cool live music, an amazing new artist, a bunch of nifty new releases, and previews of upcoming concerts featuring T. Nile, Royal Wood, David Gray, Luther Wright, and much more!

It's Mother's Day, and there's nobody more worthy of a tribute, and so be it. We also send some musical love down to flooded Music City. We also had the usual mix of great new releases, upcoming shows you should care about, and some classics.

Mudge and T-Bar hold down the fort this week, and we've got a whole bunch of great new music. Heck, even T-Bar's set didn't suck this week! Unfortunately, a technical malfunction leaves this podcast a little short, as the half hour was a live-only sensation.

Simon & Garfunkle may not be coming to town this week, but that doesn’t mean we can’t hear some of their songs done by themselves and others. You know who is co12qaming to town? Brock Zeman, Peter Katz, Romi Mayes, and more! We’ve also got some new, some notable, and some just plain great music.

This is a show we've been looking forward to for a long time, as we're joined LIVE, in-studio by two great bands, Madison Violet and The John Henrys. We've been eager to see both live for some time now, and to have them performing in the studio was amazing.

Another busy week of shows, past and future. Thursday on Steel Belted Radio we heard some live music from Wyckham Porteous, who was in town with BOP Ensemble, and we revisited that. Coming up are great shows featuring Rose Cousins, Amelia Curran, Madison Violet, The John Henrys, and The Other Brothers. Plus, new music aplenty from Record Store Day and some great new and upcoming releases. And, in honour of the new vinyl picked up on Record Store Day, a big ol’ stack of classic vinyl!

Tonight, KK and Mudge are in the house, but leaving early to see the mighty BOP Ensemble at WECC. Luckily, we had a special visitor to the studio this week, as the legendary Wyckham Porteous came down to chat about BOP, his fine solo work, and play us some selections from both. As if that weren't enough, we have some selections for Mother Earth and a few Record Store Day finds!

Pre-recorded this week as I'm off on Minneapolis to see Matthew Ryan and take in the Record Store Day festivities.
This week, previews of BOP Ensemble, Madison Violet & The John Henrys, those silly Junos, and more!
PLUS: BRAND NEW JIM BRYSON!

Today we chat with the amazing Matthew Ryan and spin a whole bunch of his great songs. We glimpse backward at the great shows from the past week (or so) and look ahead at a few great ones to come. All that and a couple of requests.

One more week without KK to keep it all in line, so T-Bar & Mudge have the run of the place. KK does call in to update us on her exciting travels. Musically, we revisited an amazing show full of live guests one year ago, and made an exclusive concert announcement. We preview some Folk Fest artists, play some great new music, and, yeah, we let T-Bar slip in a few as well. Not bad ones, actually!

Featuring a conversation with Old Man Luedecke, and an in-studio visit and live performances from the wonderful Greg Macpherson. We also previewed the upcoming Matthew Barber show and slipped in some great new music from the likes of Patty Griffin, Allison Moorer, and more!

Mudge is the lone Roots Rock Weirdo on this April Fool's Day edition of Steel Belted Radio. KK does call in from the beach, but for the most part, Mudge is in charge with some April Fool's Day tunes, a look ahead at Jason Collett's Bonfire Ball, a musical trip to California, and some great new music recently acquired. We end off with the announcement of this year's Trout Forest Music Festival lineup, and it's a good one!

That wacky Robbie Fulks starts us off on a set of rootsy covers of 80s & 90s hits, but we dug ourselves out of that hole with some great new music. We chatted about the next great show at Sunset Saloon, the upcoming Bonfire Ball, and we paid tribute to the greatest rock band in history, 3 years after their last full concert.

This time it's KK and the Mudge running the show as T-Bar is off visiting his probation officer or something. We had a special guest on air as KK's niece Ryann is celebrating a birthday.

Halifax singer/songwriter Kev Corbett drops by to sing us some of his quirky songs and chat. We preview upcoming shows by the likes of Cameron Latimer, Kate Maki, and Brent Randall, and we play a special set for Lucy in honour of her upcoming unbirthday.

KK and the T-Bar take the reins this week as the Mudge gets stuck at work. Don't worry, Mudge calls in near the end to straighten those kids out, but for the most part, they do a decent job of playing good tunes.

You know by now how excited I get when the Winnipeg Folk Festival lineup is announced, and this year, there is plenty to be excited about, with a ton of cool, interesting, unknown acts to look forward to. We spent plenty of time looking down the list and listening to some acts to catch this year. That only left a little time for upcoming shows and new music, but we got it in there!

A tribute to my recently departed nemesis, Bobb the cat, kicked us off with some kid-friendly cat songs and some more "music for the entire household." Not being ones to kid around forever, we veered off into some more serious territory with some songs about violence, robbery, and going to hell (courtesy of a Clash tribute set). We also previewed upcoming shows by Ian Kelly and Ridley Bent. And, it's Oscar time again, and although we don't really give a hoot about movies, that Crazy Heart song and soundtrack are awesome, so we heard some of that and and a couple of other cinematic classics.

We've got plenty of music that's new and notable this week. We also are treated to some brand new music from one of our favourites, Keri Latimer from Nathan, who stopped by after a long, long absence to play some of her new solo songs. And speaking of special guests, we were joined by a new co-host "Tony" who sounded a whole lot like our old pal Carter.

Not much notable this week other than the long-awaited return of the great David Francey. That's always worth celebrating in song, so we sprinkled him throughout the show. The rest of the show was made up of new, interesting, and just plain wonderful music.

It’s Valentine’s Day, and we here don’t take this goofy, made up, greeting card “holiday” too seriously, so we’re glad to play some of the dark & twisted love songs that we most enjoy. On a more serious note, tomorrow is the second anniversary of the death of the great Willie P. Bennett, and since you can’t buy his music anywhere (a crying shame!), we’ve got to do our best to get it out there and keep it heard. We’re glad to do so and we promise to never stop

Hey, hey, the gang's all here... well, for 2/3 of the show anyway. For the last half hour we ducked out to go to the Haiti relief fundraiser at WECC, but we left a present behind. Jeff came in on Monday to record an AMAZING live set with The Wooden Sky featuring conversation and the entire band playing live, in-studio!

Another busy week of upcoming shows in Winnipeg, featuring The Wooden Sky, Jason Plumb, John Wort Hannam, and Spring Breakup, among others. We previewed those, had a listen to some Winnipeg classics, paid a birthday tribute to one of our most devoted listeners, and we still had plenty of time for new music from the mailbag and beyond!

It's KK & The Mudge in-studio this week as we play a wide variety of music, just the way we like it: some pop, some roots, some rock, all good.

We're extremely lucky in Manitoba to have an incredible music industry featuring some of the best artists in the world. That's in no small part thanks to the behind the scenes industry folk (and the horrendous weather!) at organizations like Manitoba Film & Sound. As great as that organization is, sometimes, they screw up. Big time. This Sunday is one example of that. The folks at Film & Sound put together an amazing showcase of Manitoba music, featuring steallar stars like The Weakerthans, Romi Mayes, JP Hoe, Paper Moon, and many, many more. What's more, they're putting it on for FREE this weekend at our wonderful concert hall. Sounds great, right? Well, they made one tragic mistake. They booked it on Sunday at 2 pm. I know, what were they thinking? No respect, I tell ya.

Well, I'm not one to sit and gripe about the foolishness of others. Instead, I'll be the bigger man and give you the weekend off to go support our wonderful artists. This week we're pre-taped so that I can go down to the concert hall with my picket sign bearing the TTBTGH logo. Maybe we'll get Stu Reid to pick up a dozen eggs and join us.

But, I'm not one to leave you in silence or slack off and run some old show you've heard already. No sir. This week, I put together another one of those timeless classics (and by that, I mean that you might hear it again some Sunday when I do slack off and run some old show...). This one is a good one. As I said on Thursday, I might actually be jealous of folks who stay home and listen. I pulled out some old classics that we haven't heard in a while. I even cobbled together a weak theme for the show. I won't tell you what it is, but I will tell you that the music this week is AMAZING, and this is one show you won't mind hearing again some time down the road.

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This week Steve Earle brings his Townesaoke tour to Winnipeg. I've long said that I'd rather hear Steve Earle do his own songs and hear Townes do his own songs, so this week that's exactly what we did. We also heard from Hayes Carll, James Keelaghan, Geoff Berner, and Rae Spoon who are all appearing in town soon. And, some new music that I've been dying to play (and a Fred Eaglesmith tangent it set me off on.)

The Mudge goes it alone this week with some previews of some great upcoming shows, and a sad, posthumous tribute to the late, great Paul Quarrington.

I've learned the hard way that sometimes, it is indeed best not to meet your heroes. With this in mind, for some reason, I've purposely avoided talking to one of the greatest songwriters in the world, even though I see him all over the place and have heard that he's a humble, decent dude. This week, I took my chances and chatted with John K Samson of The Weakerthans, and found that he is every bit as decent as I've heard. Phew. He kicks off a preview of an incredibly busy week in local shows, featuring John & Christine & friends, Dala, Joe Pug, Cuff the Duke, Blue Rodeo, and more!

It's been far too many years and one failed attempt, but finally, at long last, James Keelaghan drops by the studio to chat and sing us some of his amazing songs. He even asked me for a request (and wasn't bothered in the least by it) AND promised to come back! Now that's a show worth listening to again or catching up on if you missed it the first time.

This week we hear from a bunch of artists who made (and inspired) great music in 2009. We talked about what they're up to, but more importantly, we dedicated the show to our good friend Dietmar in Germany who is a tireless champion of the music that we love. He is an inspiration and a great help the the artists we talked to, including Leeroy Stagger, Evan Phillips, Romi Mayes, Dustin Bentall, Matt Epp, T. Nile, and more! Here's to you, Big D. Keep up the great work.

T-Bar and Mudge try to get along without KK by playing some great music from 2009 (and some of T-Bar's picks...)

We close the book on 2009 as KK joins me to cohost another 5 hour holiday marathon chock full of memories of music and events gone by.

Most folks take it easy over the holidays and stay home instead of coming in to do a radio show they don't get paid for. Bah! I'll pick up the slack for those lazy jokers, as usual. 5 hours of great music to keep your holidays enjoyable. And to keep me company, my good pal KK dropped by to cohost. Some bluesy stuff, some old classics we haven't heard in a while, a tribute to Townes, a little bit o' rock, tribute to Vic Chesnutt, and much more.

Carter drops by to co-host our last show before Christmas, and as usual he's got some jokes & questions to keep us entertained. And of course, we've got some Christmas songs that don't suck to sing our way into the holidays.

The Roots Rock Weirdoes get together for the last time in 2009 to play some old favourites, some best of 2009, and the two best Christmas songs of all.

Christmas time's a comin', and that means that we have to do our best to prove that not all holiday music stinks. It also means that we have to work on our "best of" lists for the year, so we ran down some contenders. And, just before the year ends, we had to squeeze in our (almost) annual visit from local singer/songwriter/super guy, JP Hoe to chat about his upcoming Hoe Hoe Hoe Holiday show. He also, yet again, has some dazzling new songs to play.

In between the usual hi jinx, we play some classics, look at some upcoming shows, and begin to discuss (or argue about, in our case) some of the best of 2009

Special guest co-host Elysha joins us today for some extra fun & festivities. We played some fetive songs, some requests, some of our favourites, and whatever else came to mind. We also had the official phone-in poll to settle the debate about "Canada Day/Toronto," no matter what that other guy says.

Things are finally slowing down on the concert calendar, so not a lot to look forward to, but we did have a few fine shows to relive. That left us with some time for some classics, some new stuff, and a few we just plain felt like playing.

A busy night with some very special, very exciting guests, live in-studio. First up is the wonderful artist behind one of this year's most beautiful albums, Rose Cousins. Her voice and reputation have been well known to us, since she's appeared on dozens of great albums that we love, but we're finally getting to know how great she is on her own. She dropped by to chat and play us some of her gorgeous songs.
Next in was a hot, up-and-coming roots-rock combo from Ottawa called Silver Creek. They're young boys with a heap of talent and they showed off some of their great songs.

We're on a roll with great guests as of late, and this week is certainly no exception. First up, a chat with probably the most important songwriter in my life, Ron Hawkins of The Lowest of the Low. He's coming to town opening up for Billy Bragg, and he's got a heck of a great new album to play for us, so we'll chat about the past, present, and future. As if that weren't enough, joining us live in studio is a band we'd never tell to go home, Sunparlour Players. They are without a doubt one of this country's best live acts, and it won't be long before they get the huge following they so rightly deserve. This week we'll prove that we knew them "back when..."

Tonight, KK & the Mudge chat with blues legends Doc Maclean & Big Dave McLean about their hectic tour, and play some good music.

You know, as much as we like to complain about Winnipeg sometimes, it seems that the good shows just keep on coming. This week we feature the Michael Johnston concert at my house, Matthew de Zoete, Joshua Cockerill, Vic Chesnutt & Nathan, Sunparlour Players, and more! We previewed them all, and still had time for some classics and a little bit of the pop music.

It may be cooler outside, but the music scene in town is still hot, hot, hot, and this week proves it as we have upcoming shows to preview by the likes of Justin Rutledge, Melissa McClelland, David Wilcox, Matthew de Zoete, Amelia Curran, and one of our all-time faves, Skydiggers! To think, even on a week like that, we fit in some new & notable stuff.

Steel Belted Radio has been blessed with a LOT of very special guests in-studio over the course of our 6 years on the air (Sexsmith, Collett, Plumb, Brock Zeman, Deep Dark Woods, Paul Kelly, etc.), but there's one guy we've been chasing all along, Mike Plume. He blessed us with an ideal name for our show, and we've always wanted him to come into the studio and sing our theme song for us. Tonight's the night. Now, what do we hope for in the years to come?

A few of our favourites playing upcoming in town this week filled up most of the show. It's hard not to get excited about a week where Matt Epp releases his new disc, Vance Gilbert makes his long-awaited return to the West End, and Mr. Mike Plume returns to town with his band! Still, we had time for some great new music and a dip into the mail bag for some new submissions.

KK & The Mudge in this week to entertain you with some great music and some bad jokes.)

Part 1 of this show was a rerun of the April visit by Dan Mangan on SBFRR, in honour of his return to town this week. Check out that interview if you haven't already (podcast or on the website).

The show proper, and thereby this podcast, began around 2:30, shortly after my return from Toronto. I'm back, baby, with great new music (including the rock & roll song of the year) and tales to tell.

Tonight we chat with the funny & talented Kate Reid about her upcoming show and acclaimed new album, and we talk to James Keelaghan about his long-awaited new album and about the very different locations of Red River College and the University of Manitoba...

Featuring a visit in-studio from Amy Campbell, in town for the Babes for Breasts songwriters' circle, and a phone call from Tom Wilson, about his new "Acid-folk" band, Lee Harvey Osmond.

Only one real show of any interest this week as our old pal Dave Lang returns to town. We paid an early birthday tribute to John Prine, who comes to town later this month, and did our duty and played some classic Stan Rogers. For the most part, this show was all about the new music, and what great new music it is, including the long-awaited collaboration between NQ Arbuckle & Carolyn Mark.

We're certifying fall as officially here, as the busy late summer concert concert season is winding down. Sure, there are a couple of shows this week, including The Deep Dark Woods and Kent McAlister, but for the most part, we looked back at great shows past, and heard some great new music.

Hey, hey, the gang's all here for our usual silliness as we look at new music, upcoming shows, classics, and we cut each other off, laugh, and complain. Good times.

Another unbelievably busy week for concerts in Winnipeg, kicked off by one of the biggest hits at this year's Winnipeg Folk Festival, Amelia Curran, who stopped by the studio to sing us a couple of songs from her great new album Hunter Hunter. The week continues with The Other Brothers, Alana Levandoski, Elliott BROOD, and the return of the great Jesse DeNatale, among others. Even with a busy week like that, we managed to fit in some great new music.

I can't believe that I thought last week was a busy one for concerts. The next two weeks are among the busiest I've ever seen in this town, so we've got a lot to fit in, including Leeroy Stagger, Eric Bogle, BOP Ensemble, Dustin Bentall, Brock Zeman, Two Hours Traffic, The Hold Steady, and next week's in-studio guest Amelia Curran! Now that's a busy show full of great music!

Wowee, is concert season ever kicking into gear once again. This week, it's Brock Zeman, Cuff the Duke & Ayla Brook, Cohenfest, and more! We managed to fit all that in, along with some classics from the past. Busy times for great music.

KK & T-Bar go it alone and prove that they just might know a thing or two about great music. Perhaps one of the most solid musical episodes of the show EVER. Wrapping up our 6th year on air together in grand style!

Featuring a conversation with Catherine MacLellan. Also, some new, some notable, some classics, and a couple of songs in honour of Jeremy's first birthday!

A conversation with one of the artists all of the Steel Belted Roots Rock Weirdoes can agree on, Lynn Miles. Plus, an exclusive concert announcement, cool music, and more!

Pre-recorded as I'm off on the MS Bike Tour. A bunch of really great music from my house concert guests, some folks from the East, some folks I've somehow neglected, some brand new stuff, and a little bit o' pop.

We preview a couple of exciting upcoming shows with some guests. First up, talented young singer/songwriter Liam Titcomb is traveling across the country raising money for War Child. With great songs, a great attitude, and a great cause, how could we not support him. Liam dropped by to talk about the tour and play us some of his amazing new songs. And, winding their way to my living room, Christina Martin and Steven Bowers called us from the road to tell us how their tour is going.

Desi takes a solo spin at the wheel with some unusually hip song choices (and a little bit of roots to keep us grounded.)

Back from Trout Forest Music Festival with tales to tell and songs to spin. Also, some tunes as seen on TV, some songs for The King, some great new music, and an exclusive, exciting concert announcement!

Jeff & T-Bar return from Trout Forest with tales of very different experiences. As always, we've got the new, the notable, the annoying, and all that other good stuff too.

Pre-recorded as I'm off at the Trout Forest Music Festival. The Fred Eaglesmith show rolls into town this week, and that means a heaping helping of Fred and of course a tribute to the late great Willie P Bennett. Then, we've got new music, old but interesting music, upcoming events, and more.

A few upcoming shows definitely worth mentioning (Trout Forest, Gimli, John Wort Hannam, etc.) but for the most part, this show was about great music, some we haven't heard for quite some time and some we just can't get enough of.

Summertime's a great time to relax and just listen to some great music, and that's what we did for the most part today. Sure, we talked a bit about the upcoming Trout Forest Music Festival, and a bit about the glory of The Jayhawks, but other than that, it was good music and good times.

We look back at this year's Winnipeg Folk Festival highs & lows. And just because WFF is over, that doesn't mean that festival season is over, instead, it's just gearing up. We take a look ahead at Canada's best little festival, Trout Forest, as AD Devin Latimer gives us a call to chat about this year's lineup.

The gang's back from the Winnipeg Folk Festival with songs to play and stories to tell. We also have the usual stuff (arguing, cutting each other off, making fun of Dean, T-Bar's lousy picks... you know.)

I'm off at Folk Fest as all good hearted people should be, but in my absence I present to you the official Tell the Band to Go Home standby show, which attempts to present some of the true great classics of yesterday and today.

It's time for the self-anointed OFFICIAL annual Folk Fest preview. We'll go over where you need to be and what you need to see at this year's Winnipeg Folk Festival.

This weekend we lost another great Canadian musician when the legendary Jackie Washington took his last bow. Jackie is truly one of the great, guiding lights of the Canadian folk/roots/blues community, so we had to pay tribute to his legendary career. Also, a look at some upcoming shows, some new music, and some classics we just don't hear often enough.

The recent Kasey Chambers/Shane Nicholson show in Fargo provided a lot of great moments and inspiration to get us started. Also, it's Fathers' Day, and I'm proud to be part of that group finally, so a short celebration. And, some great upcoming shows including Jill Barber, Dan Mangan, and more.

Last night Leeroy Stagger & The Wildflowers rocked the Studome and we heard some moments from that great show. This week promises more great moments, as The Red River Ex is in town, and bringing some good music with it. Also this week, we take a road trip to Fargo for Justin Townes Earle, Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson! Lots to enjoy and look forward to.

Featuring a talk with Leeroy Stagger about his fabulous new album, Everything Is Real and his cozy upcoming show. We just had to hear a bunch of his great songs from his already impressive career. Also coming up this week is the CD release/bake sale for Winnipeg's own Western States at WECC, so a couple from them. And, a ton of great new music that's come in recently.

Today, an interview with the always interesting Stephen Fearing, as well as some great new music. Also, we look ahead to our favourite season, festival season.

After a long, lonely absence, our beloved West End Cultural Centre is ready for business, and this week's Grand Re-Opening festival is giving us plenty of reasons to celebrate on this week's show, including Wednesday's Tell the Band to Go Home Songwriters' Circle. The show was largely devoted to previewing those shows, although some great new music made it in, and we paid tribute to the folks at Paste Magazine who are going through some hard times but are getting some help from some very talented musicians.

And, for some added entertainment and educational value, Carter and "Sophie" came in to co-host!

Some new music to start us off, some of which is wonderful and some that makes me wonder... a couple of history lessons about a couple of late greats, Mickey Newbury and Tom Evans, and a bunch of random greats thrown in on a whim, just the way we like it.

We preview the upcoming Romi Mayes CD release show, send out some love to two great mothers on Mothers Day, send out some music to some great listeners, as well as some new music, some old music, and a whole lotta great music.

Pre-recorded live from the comfort of my living room. We get a special visit from a pint-sized cohost, great new music including the amazing new Jim Bryson live album, another attempt to prove that Band of Horses is really just folk music in disguise, and a 90th birthday tribute to the great Pete Seeger!

KK takes the wheel for a rare solo show, and does the unthinkable: plays 1.5 hours of great music with no ridiculous arguing. She's trying to ruin the show, I'm sure of it. Hopefully you don't get used to hearing just the best music out there, because the circus will be back in town soon. In the meantime, enjoy it with birthday wishes for Jim Bryson, and great tunes from the likes of The Weakerthans, Leeroy Stagger, Romi Mayes, Matt Mays, and much more!

Our old friend Matt Epp drops by to preview some of the songs on his upcoming CD, and we look at the songs of Leonard Cohen, who comes to town this week. All that and exciting new music, classics, and more.

Another week, another great upcoming show, this time featuring Melissa McClelland and Jason Plumb. Also, more new music, we revisit some live and classic music, and listen to some of the great new & old music I picked up yesterday on Independent Record Store Day, including brand new Wilco!

A look ahead at this week's shows, including Martin Sexton and the Weakerthans/Oh Susanna. And, as usual, some great new music, some great old music, and whatever else there is.

When one of the singer/songwriters who first blew my mind at the Folk Fest and set me off on this musical journey calls and asks if he can drop by the studio, I don't care what day it is, I'm coming in. So, this was a Wednesday night special with special guest, live, in studio chatting and singing, Martin Sexton!

A look ahead at this week's shows, including Martin Sexton and the Weakerthans/Oh Susanna. And, as usual, some great new music, some great old music, and whatever else there is.

Tonight, an action-packed, super-sized episode chock full of great live guests, including up-and-coming singer/songwriter Dan Mangan, Roots Rock heavyweights Brock Zeman & Dan Walsh, and a great band to watch, The Deep Dark Woods. With all of those guests, I didn't even get to cut KK off all that much, but it's a fun show anyway, so tune in!

A little bit of everything we enjoy here on the show: some new, some notable classics, some upcoming shows/show guests, and some dedications. All around good stuff.

Your usual brand of Steel Belted silliness from the Roots Rock Weirdoes. Tonight we introduce you to what is destined to become Record of the Year for '09.

Some new & timely music (including a look at the only two Junos that matter) squeezed in between two exciting segments featuring live, in studio guests The Other Brothers (Chris Neufeld & Donovan Giesbrecht) and a look ahead at one of the most exciting concerts to come to town in a long time, next week's Guy Clark/Slaid Cleaves double bill

A special episode featuring an interview with Texas singer/songwriter Slaid Cleaves, who makes his long-awaited return to Winnipeg in a little over a week. And, as usual, your Roots Rock Weirdos play some great tunes and talk a whole lot.

Spotlighting upcoming shows by Serena Ryder & Great Lake Swimmers, some new music, a birthday tribute to Brock Zeman, and some surprisingly good music featured on Grey's Anatomy.

Celebrating International Women's Day in true TTBTGH style, a week late... We pulled out some of our favourite ladies, we let the gentlemen in with a couple of timely songs featuring ladies, and one request, because we love our listeners. Most of all though, we love good music, and man, woman, child, whatever, it's all good to us!

Tons of great new music made its way into my ears recently, so we just had to share much of it. That sent us off in all kinds of directions (as these things often do.) This week's history lesson segment was on the late great Steve Goodman and we heard a few of his best. Last up, a brief prelude to the upcoming homecoming by Luke Doucet and the lovely Amelia Curran.

Occasionally, we take on the role of the "other" show that plays you "both kinds of music," this week it's the really old and the really young. Last week we had a few long-time listeners wondering if we'd lost our minds with our "hipster" set, so this week we went straight back in time for some singer/songwriter classics straight out of the history books. Heck, it almost seemed perfect that the computer was on the fritz so we even had to resort to playing vinyl for a change.

But the show was also for the very young, since I was joined by my hilarious occasional co-host Carter for some jokes and animal facts. He keeps me laughing and keeps me feeling young, so a bunch of songs for the young and the young at heart followed. Those technical difficulties made for a challenging show, but somehow, we made it through.

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We started off with a set of stellar new music that got us feelin' alright. Somehow (as these things so often do) we got off track and threw in a set of definitely non-singersongwriter hipster music. Then, we took a trip to the movies. It's Oscar night, and although I don't give a hoot about that show, I did manage to catch a couple of recent hits this weekend, The Wrestler, and Twilight, and we heard some songs inspired by those

Another Valentines Day has come and gone, and I've got some sucking up to do, so a set of lovey dovey tunes to melt her heart. Some new & noteable songs from here and elsewhere followed.

The bulk of the show was devoted to the first anniversary of the death of one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Willie P Bennett. Willie is one of the guiding lights of this show, so it's our duty to pay him some respect and play some of his songs as done by him and others, and hear some words from those most inspired by him.

How's this for a show: new music from some favourites and some new discoveries, bad news (Evan Phillips is out of commission), good news (Allison's birthday), better news (new Damnwells CD - FREE), and even better yet, a chat with the leader of one of my favourite bands of all time, Pat Dinizio of The Smithereens! Now that's a show!

February has never been my favourite month of the year, so this show was designed to chase away the winter blues and warm our hearts. We started off with a set of songs in honour of the new month. This weekend's episode of Austin City Limits reminded me what an incredible songwriter and performer Nick Lowe is, so we took a look at his amazing career for a while after that. And speaking of great pop/rock songwriters, Pat Dinizio of The Smithereens comes to town next week, and that's reason to celebrate and look at some of his great songs. All in all, a pop-heavy, but happenin' show for sure.

Unfortunately the station's digital taper dealy broke down during TTBTGH, yet AGAIN, so the last half of the show is missing. Listen live when you can, because you just never know when that thing will go down...

We started things off with one of my favourite features of the year, a look at what songs, albums, and artists were most played in the previous year. After that, it was in the other direction, as we pulled out some things we haven't heard in a while, for a feature called "Where Are They Now," where we listened to some folks who seemed bound for glory and then, for whatever reason, faded away. Whomever and wherever they are, we thank them for what they've given us and wish them well.

Last night's fabulous show, featuring Nathan and the BeBop Cowboys provided lots of inspiration. The men in the BeBop Cowboys are all legends in their own right, and all have done time with some of Canada's best, so we checked out some of their other accomplishments, as well as some classic Western Swing, which put us in the mood for some of the great sounds of yesterday, which inspired a trip down classic country memory lane.

We did leap into the present/future near the end of the show with some great new music, including a couple of releases that should have made our best of '08 lists, but reached our ears just a little too late.

2008 was a great year for music, and even in 4 1/2 hours, we couldn't go over it all, although we did our best to look at many of this year's highlights. Speaking of highlights, the show included a great chat with my favourite artist of the year, Nova Scotia's Christina Martin, whose album "Two Hearts" topped just about every list for me. Too bad the station's digital logger thingy was broken, so nobody will ever hear the interview again...

Our annual Holiday marathon of festive favourites, best of the year, and all around fun. This year I was joined by the always charming and amusing Carter with his jokes and trivia questions to liven things up.

A very special celebration of great music and great friends, as we opened up the studio doors for listeners to drop by, say hello, and check out the best of 2008. Jaine was on hand with awesome holiday cookies, Jeremy was on hand for his first ever radio appearance, KK came by to help keep things running, and loyal listener Dean sat in. Many other great friends came and went, and through it all, we managed to get in some of the best music of '08 as well as a few festive classics.
Also, an interview with one of my favourite discoveries of the year, Edmonton's Chloe Albert, recent winner of Best New/Emerging Artist at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

Before we really started diving in to the best of 2008, we paused to look back at the year in music for 2007, and especially some great '07 releases that didn't reach my ears until '08. There was time for a few festive numbers and requests before starting through the mountain of great 2008 releases.

Proving you don't always need a theme to have a pretty good show, today's program was all about requests, dedications, and good stuff we just needed to hear. Sure, we paid tribute to Richard Thompson who's coming to town, and Paul Kelly who's just plain great, but the rest was pure goodness from the likes of Fred Eaglesmith, David Francey, Mary Gauthier, and many more!

A bit of an abbreviated podcast this week, since we had trouble with the station's digital recorder/podcast maker thingy and part of the show didn't get recorded (a good reminder to listen live, whenever you can, because it was good!). You still get some upcoming show info, music from the mailbag, a brief tribute to Richard Thompson, and a look at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, going on tonight!

More great upcoming shows this week?!?! What's going on in Winnipeg? This week we're treated to Justin Rutledge, Dave Lang/Carolyn Mark, Jill Barber, and the long awaited Romi Mayes/Gurf Morlix show! Even with all of that on our minds, we still found time for some great new music.

A special pre-recorded segment of Steel Belted Free Range Radio featuring Romi Mayes & Gurf Morlix, including one of my favourite live-in-the-studio moments ever, Gurf's powerful cover of Blaze Foley's "Cold, Cold World." Do NOT miss this one!

Some great new music kicks us off in style, but from there it's another week of looking forward to some pretty stellar shows, including Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Fred Eaglesmith & Friends, and more!

It may be getting colder outside, but the concert scene is really starting to heat up in town with a bunch of great shows over the next couple of weeks. This week we preview the great Eliza Gilkyson double bill, as well as Hayes Carll & Scott Nolan, and more.

The past couple of weeks may have left you wondering whether we were still focussing on acoustic-based independent singer/songwriters, after our R.E.M theme and last week's Neil Young tribute, so this week we're back to basics with some classic singer/songwriters, some great new music from folks like Ryan Adams, Ray Lamontagne, Lucinda Williams, Luke Doucet, and more. Yeah, we played a Pince cover, a Radiohead cover, and a Beatles cover, but you just can't entirely overhaul the format overnight!

Prerecorded because the gang's off at the long awaited Neil Young show at the arena. In honour of one of the greatest singer/songwriters of all, this is our own Steel Belted Neilfest, featuring a bunch of Neil's best, as well as some covers and Neil related songs to get you in the mood for the concert, or to make you feel bad if you missed it.

I couldn't believe it when I saw R.E.M. on Austin City Limits this week. They're not roots music! Or are they? I figured if they're good enough for ACL, darn it, they're good enough for us too. Plus, they're the only members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame that I've met, and I always like to brag about that. It seems that some pretty folky singer/songwriters are fans too, because not only did we hear a few R.E.M. originals and collaborators, but we heard some folky covers of their stuff as well.

All of this got me in the mood for some good old fashioned pop music. Although I'm an old folky now, I was raised on a steady diet of pop music, so I never pass up the chance to bop along to some hooks & melodies, so some classic pop nuggets.

But we can't get away without some folk & roots, and that came in honour of our friends at Candor, who are holding their "wedding" social this week to raise money for a new store/venue. We played just some of the great artists lending a hand to the worthwhile cause.

A little bit of many of the things that we try to do best around here: some great new music, some rare/unusual stuff, a look back at a great Elliott BROOD show, and a profile of one of the most under-rated singer/songwriters around, Jon Dee Graham.

It's a good news/bad news kind of day. The good news is that there are some great upcoming shows featuring the likes of Elliott BROOD and C.R. Avery, as well as some great new stuff.

Unfortunately the bad news is that lots of my new music comes from the closing out sale at Candor. When the bad news hit that they were going to be forced to close down for a while, it came as a shock, so I headed down to stock up on some things that I hadn't made a point of picking up yet, but knew I'd better while I still had the chance. They'll be back, bigger and better than ever, but in the meantime, thanks for the musical memories and best of luck!

This past week the world was introduced to the next generation of Tell the Band to Go Home hosts, my son Jeremy. He's been filling our home and our lives with joy (and plenty of noise...) ever since. THe bulk of the show was dedicated to him, with some great kids' music.

We went to the other end of the spectrum for the latter part of the show, paying tribute to a couple of dinosaurs who are coming to town in the next while, Neil Diamond and Elton John.

Last night was the long-awaited and much anticipated return of the Mike Plume Band at the Pyramid. Unfortunately, Mike went on well after my normal bedtime. That, plus the return to the working world this week had me feeling really tired, and a little punchy today. All of this is to make excuses for my silly behaviour and poor planning. Luckily, I had some great music on hand to cover for my ineptitude. The first hour was a little slow and sentimental, the second hour we perked it up with some rockin' classics.

By popular demand, Carter returns with more of his jokes and charm to brighten things up. We both head back to school after this weekend (where does the summer go), so we slipped in some back to school/work songs. Following that, some great new music, some great upcoming events, and whatever else we could squeeze into such a busy show!

Pre-recorded this week as I'm taking part in the MS Bike Tour. Thanks to everyone who supported the charity auction last week; I'll do my best to come through like so many kind listeners did. This week on the show, a bunch of tunes based on that theme, bikes, roads, etc., as well as some great new music.

Next week TTBTGH will be pre-recorded because I'm taking part in the MS Society's bike tour, where I'll be riding my bike from Stonewall to Gimli and back again to raise money for the thousands of Manitobans living with Multiple Sclerosis, and their friends and family members like me. The MS Society does great work to help, educate, and fund research into this terrible disease, and I'm committed to doing whatever I can to help them out. To that end, I brought in a box of CDs, DVDs, books, etc. and had my very first radio auction where listeners called in "bids" for the items. All money bid is donated directly to the MS Society, so you're doing a good deed and getting some good stuff at the same time. We played an hour of music from some of the items up for bids, and an hour of great new music.

There's still time to support my ride: https://msofs.mssociety.ca/2008Bike/Sponsor.aspx?PID=1060132&L=2&GC=ORS
And still lots of items up for auction: http://www.tellthebandtogohome.com/MSBike2008.htm

Pre-recorded again this week as I'm off to Ear Falls, Ont for the Trout Forest Music Festival. For those of you stuck at home (or listening later on), some new music and some old classics, mixed in with some news and upcoming shows.

Marc Guiguere, who is normally on the air before me, wasn't coming in today, and Jared, knowing what a sucker I am, mentioned that I could come in early if I wanted to. I'm on holidays and haven't been in the studio much lately, so why not? Marc's show is a mix of blues and old rock stuff, so I tried to stick with that by hosting my own hour of blues and an hour of bluesy rock. It was a fun experiment, but I think I'll stick with the singer/songwriter stuff.

And there was no shortage of good singer/songwriter stuff to play. I just got back from a trip to Hillside in Guelph, with stops in Toronto and Minneapolis, so you know that I have a ton of stories to tell and new discs to play. You throw in some info on upcoming shows and you've got a pretty solid show, I'd say.

Prerecorded this week as I'm off enjoying the Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario. To start off the show an overview of some of the great acts I'm seeing this weekend. Although you likely won't make it to Hillside, you can still check out Trout Forest in early August, so a few songs to tempt you out there.
And, lots of great new, notable, and rediscovered music.

Prerecorded, but all new. A look back at another great Winnipeg Folk Festival, a look forward to some great upcoming shows at Candor, and a listen to a few special songs for a very special person.

This is it, this year's artist-by-artist look at who not to miss at the 35th Winnipeg Folk Festival happening next weekend. There's lots to see, and the folks we played today are the ones that I most recommend.

It's part 2 of our official Winnipeg Folk Festival preview as our old pal JP Hoe drops by the studio for the first time in a long time to play us some new tunes and debut his long awaited full length CD.

Also on the show some exciting new releases and a look ahead at the jam packed concert schedule for Canada Day, featuring the first local appearance by the Drive-By Truckers and the return of one of my favourite live bands Sunparlour Players.

Our favourite time of year is almost here, it's almost time for the Winnipeg Folk Festival! This is the first of our official Folk Fest previews, and the first of two special podcasts we're doing in conjunction with the Winnipeg Folk Festival website. This week, one of the most exciting performers coming to the festival for the very first time, all the way from Austin Texas, the legendary Eliza Gilkyson. We caught up with her on the telephone before she heads to town to find out all about her new album and her amazing career up to this point.

featuring a live in-studio visit by Ayla Brook, leader of AA Sound System, who just released a great new solo album and dropped by to talk and play us some tunes. Also, a look ahead at the Winnipeg Jazz Festival and more.

On today's show we heard some eagerly awaited new music from folks like Shannon Lyon, Brock Zeman, Jackie Greene, the new Skydiggers! and much more.

Also, today marks father's day, and although that day's never meant a whole lot to me, that's about to change, so we looked at some songs for dads and some famous dads & their offspring.

yup, podcast machine was broken AGAIN, so another episode that you'll never get to hear again, sadly

I hate to strip away the magic, but the truth is that sometimes I show up to the station somewhat uninspired, with no real vision or idea what to play. Luckily, in those cases, the listeners often come to the rescue, and thankfully that was the case today. Loyal listeners Rob & Laura started us off by asking for some songs that might help them plant the flowers in the garden, and it was off and running from there. We slipped in a few for Allie and even one for our neighbour Julianne.

The new NQ Arbuckle is here! The new NQ Arbuckle is here! Couldn't wait even a moment to play this one. Get it June 10.

Last night our beloved West End Cultural Centre said goodbye to the old hall and looked forward to the new with a stellar all-star recreation of the classic concert film, The Band's Last Waltz. So many things came to mind, great memories, the amazing local music community, and how damn good The Band was. We paid tribute to The Band & friends for a good long while on the show.

And, at long last, June is here. Some songs celebrating the calendar's turn for the better.

One just for fun today. My family and I went to the Teddy Bear Picnic (always a good time for the kids) and then headed down to UMFM. So, you get to hear me goof around with the always entertaining and talented Carter & Elysha, who provided some great jokes & riddles for the listeners to answer.

We started off with a look back at last night's amazing Romi Mayes/Dustin Bentall show, and ended off with a look forward to Thursday's Scott Nolan/C.R. Avery show. In between, we took a listen to some classics that haven't been heard on the show for a while, but are worthy of a listen every once in a while.

It's Mom's day and we've got a lot to celebrate as always. For Jaine, Lucy, and all of the mothers out there, we just had to play a few songs in their honour. Hour two was full of songs dedicated to moms and some that mom should love.

Hour 1 was devoted to nostalgia (with the announcement of an upcoming Mike Plume Band show!), and some fabulous new music from the likes of Langhorne Slim, Eliza Gilkyson, and Elliott BROOD!

Just when you think winter is long gone, you wake up and it's grey and snowy outside. It's been a long week for me, and that was just enough to make me want to stay in bed. So, this week, we go back Under the Covers for some of our favourite cover songs. This week was almost all covers, some new, some neat, some downright weird.

Not much in the theme department this week other than a couple of upcoming concerts and Elysha's upcoming birthday. Otherwise, it was all great music, all the time, and we covered a whole lot of it this week. Listener Claire called this a "perfect show," and who are we to argue with a dedicated listener like Claire?

It's Earth Day this week, and any good folk show has to play some hippie earth songs, so we played a few earth & earthy numbers. What better place to get your fill of tree huggin' songs than at a folk festival, and we looked ahead to a couple of good ones to consider trekking to this summer. And, some fabulous new music. A jam packed show once again.

A bit of everything on this one, requests, dedications, upcoming concerts, new music, old classics, and more! Featuring music from Mike Plume Band, Gram Parsons, Steve Dawson, Whiskeytown, and more. You can't go wrong with a lineup like that!

NO SHOW - Bought a house instead! Hate to miss a show, but if you're upset, you're welcome to come and check out one of the house concerts I hope to host once we move in this summer!

Last week we were joined by a legend who's just about done it all, and this week, it's a newcomer with a very bright future. Ridley Bent stopped by to chat and play us some of his heart breaking country songs and even one of his great "hick hop" numbers. This guy is great, so check this one out.

A busy show indeed. Some requests & dedications (including a very special set sent out to a very unexpected on-air caller), some new music, and a look at this week's slate of upcoming shows (which is pretty great and action packed yet again!)

We've been lucky on this show and we've had more than our fair share of great guests live in-studio, but this week, we topped them all. We were joined live by perhaps one of the greatest songwriters on the planet, all the way from Australia, Mr. Paul Kelly. He and nephew Dan Kelly were in town to promote Paul's great new album Stolen Apples with a show at the Royal Albert, but they were gracious enough to stop by the studio first to chat and play a couple of songs.

Some new music to start us off. Music Month in Manitoba continues with a busy week of shows, and we'll tell you about the ones you need to see, including Paul Kelly on Thursday!

Another classic lost forever as the station's digital logger wasn't working again. One of these days I'll get in the habit of checking that before the show. In the meantime, this is yet another reminder to listen in live if you can, just in case.

Just one important show this week as Music Month continues, but it's a good 'un, featuring The Weakerthans, Dala, and Danny Michel, so we had to play some tunes from them. This weekend the news I wait for all year started to arrive as The Winnipeg Folk Festival released a preliminary lineup, and there are some highlights on there for sure, so we heard from a few of the folks I'm most looking forward to. Then, some of the great new releases I have been meaning to get on for a while, and a few old classics. (and a couple of funny jokes from Carter too!)

This episode might make you a bit dizzy with all of the looking back and forward, but it's worth the whiplash. We looked back at Stephen Fearing's great show, Jeff Healey's great career, and at one of the greatest Canadian bands of all, The Lowest of the Low.

We also looked forward to some new/upcoming releases from some old favourites. Lastly, we looked forward to Monday's Steve Earle/Allison Moorer concert by looking ahead at Allison's great new album, which looks back on some old classics, and we looked back at some of the great work Steve Earle has done with others

Music Month in Manitoba continues with one of the most solid weeks of shows we've seen in a very long time. It kicks off this afternoon with Hayes Carll playing live at Candor. Can't miss that one, so this show is pre-recorded. Hayes takes the stage again tonight opening for Corb Lund. Then, Brock Zeman & Dan Walsh are back, a stellar Townes Van Zandt tribute show on Friday, then Saturday, it's Stephen Fearing & Oh Susanna for goodness sake! How could we possibly think of anything but shows on a week like that?

Some requests & dedications started us off on the right track. Then, it's Oscar night tonight and a couple of movies with great soundtracks are up for some big awards, so we heard some great movie music. Following that, we look ahead to March, which is music month with an outstanding lineup of shows, kicking off with John Wort Hannam & Twilight Hotel on Friday (which is technically February, but who's counting), then Josh Ritter and Two Hours Traffic on Saturday. And that's only the beginning!

A show I wish I never had to do. Yesterday, one of the true guiding lights of this show went out, as Canada's greatest songwriter of all time, Willie P Bennett died. His songs and spirit will live on forever, but it's sad to think that we'll never see him or hear from him again. In memory of him, two hours of memories and music from the man, including Willie originals, Willie covers, a song about Willie, songs featuring Willie, and Willie live. We heard from friends like Stephen Fearing, Scott Nolan, Colin Linden, and Willie's longtime boss, bandmate, and friend, Fred Eaglesmith.

Push on, you weary soul...

Even though it's February and it's miserable outside, we're in a bit of a celebratory mood this week. Long time listener Allison is celebrating a birthday, the greatest little store in town, Candor is celebrating the first anniversary of their amazing grand opening show, and The King of Fundrive, CKUW's Stu Reid, is putting togther the posters and the prize packs for his annual plea to keep the station on air, and this year, he's invited me down to be a Phone Troll! All this, and, it's Valentine's Day coming up and for once I've actually got something to celebrate on that silly day.

Some new music, a trip into the TTBTGH mail bag for some recent CD submissions, and a whole lot of great music in this super-sized episode, as Bluegrass Guy couldn't make it in so we kept on going until we started to run out of steam after 2.5 hours!

Pretaped this week as I'm off on vacation in Florida. In honour of that, a few songs related to that journey.

There are a couple of great shows coming up this week, starting off with a lovely lady named Kim Barlow who hails from the Yukon but is visiting us on Tuesday, January 29 at the West End. We checked out some of her great material.

Then after that, on Thursday, January 31, one of my favourite live performers and one of the most powerful and passionate singer/songwriters alive today, Martyn Joseph returns to Winnipeg. I've interviewed Martyn a number of times but it was shocking to learn that it's been almost 4 years since I talked to him last in February of 2004. I can't be here to interview him live this week, so we listened back to that interview.

If you've become reliant upon the podcasts to listen to the show, this week is a reminder that listening live is always best if you can manage. The fancy-pants machine that records our broadcasts for the CRTC and which I use to make my podcasts wasn't working (don't tell the CRTC that), so this great episode lives on only in our memory...

Another show with no real rhyme or reason, just solid music. We started off looking ahead to the upcoming Blue Rodeo/Luke Doucet show, talked a bit about my upcoming trip, but other than that, it was just whatever good songs were requested or I could think of!

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Sometimes you show up without a real plan and let things roll, and if you're really lucky, like I think I was today, you get into it and end up with a pretty solid show. Talking about Robbie Fulks' son got us off to a rockin' start, so we ran with it and ended up rocking a bit more than we sometimes do, but with a playlist like this, perhaps we should more often! 2 hours of rockin' goodness!

Just when you think you've settled on your Best of the year list, you spend some more time with a few late-comers and rethink the whole darn thing, as a few overlooked 2007 contenders proved off the top of the show.

Then, a brief sappy interlude.

With all of the Best of the year preparations and whatnot, a lot of new music gets sadly overlooked, but now that things are calm again, it's time to dig into the TTBTGH mailbag for a look at a few fine discs that have been sent our way as of late.

Then, a live, in-studio visit by one of Winnipeg's best, and the artist responsible for one of the best discs of 2007, Mr. Scott Nolan, who dropped by to chat and play some amazing new songs. Somehow, he just gets better, and he was damn good to start out with!

A Super-sized year end spectacular as we took over the airwaves for 3.5 hours of goodness.

Then, January 1 is the anniversary of the deaths of two of the greatest songwriters of all time, Hank Williams and Townes Van Zandt, and any good singer/songwriter show host worth his salt knows that its his duty to pay tribute.

Next up, a good friend of Townes Van Zandt was a guy named Blaze Foley. He is one of the most underrated songwriters of all time, but I've been into him in a big way lately, and so a few songs in hopes that we can get him just a little more well known.

One of the best albums of 2008 is sure to be Luke Doucet's new one, which I got my hands on recently. It features Luke's best work to date in his already impressive career, but it also brings to mind yet another new genre of music, songs about Rick Danko, so we looked at some of those and some of Danko's greatest songs.

As a new year causes us to look forward, I also tend to look back, so I took a trip down musical memory lane with a bunch of songs from my glory days of musical discovery.

Our 4 hour year-end marathon where we laugh and listen and send out the old year and ring in the new one. We listened to some of our favourite music of the year (and some old classics). Of course, it was also a chance to dig through the mail bag and check out some of the terrible music that gets sent in every year and encourage some of those people to maybe consider other career options.

For me and my family this is our Christmas eve, so Carter and I came down to the studio to play some of our favourite Christmas songs and celebrate.

Some of the Best of 2007, as we look at some of the most recent arrivals and a few that didn't quite make the official "Best of" list.

Another wild ride as we cross some pretty diverse musical terrain. We threw in a few festive songs to kick things off. Then, everyone's been talking about the big Led Zeppelin reunion concert, and just because we're a folk show doesn't mean we don't know the significance of this, so a brief Zep tribute. Then a tribute to John Lennon in commemoration of the anniversary of his death. Lastly, we continue looking at the year that was 2007 with some of the local highlights and a listen to a couple of the best in-studio moments from the year.

A little bit o' everything on this here show, with some seasonal music, some requests, some dedications, some new stuff, a brief look at the best of 2007 with a look back at some of the best of 2006, and even a celebration of Tom Waits' birthday! Action packed radio at its finest!

Here at TTBTGH, we take pride in the fact that we don't really give a hoot about sports, but this weekend, Winnipeg is buzzing with the news that our Blue Bombers are back in the Grey Cup, and although things don't look good, we have to do our best to cheer on the boys in Blue & Gold. Today's show was devoted to Blue & Gold songs aimed at sending some positive vibes to our team. We'll go back to not giving a hoot next week.

It's the beginning of our long, cold winter in Winnipeg as the first real snowfall arrived, so a few "snow" songs to lift our spirits.

It's always a pleasure to welcome Murray Evans, leader of The Dust Poets who are doing a live recording at WECC this week. He called us from the snowy prairies to discuss all that's been going on. We played some songs from that talented band as well as their fabulous opener, Dustin Bentall.

Lastly, a small set of "cat" songs for KK who lost her mind and proved that she's a cat person by welcoming "Neko" into her home. What can I say; I'm a dog person)

Too many themes to fit into two hours, we super-sized the show today and took over for Bluegrass Guy who took the holiday off, pushing the show to three hours, and I still ran out of time!

First up, it would be inappropriate not to recognize Remembrance Day by playing some songs about soldiers & war, but more importantly, we played some songs about peace.

Coming up next weekend some Winnipeg all-stars pay tribute to an under-appreciated Canadian songwriter/musician legend, David Essig. Essig will be in town to play alongside The D. Rangers, Romi Mayes, and more as they launch the homegrown Essig tribute record, Beverley Street on Saturday. So, a brief lesson in all things Essig with some songs he's played on, produced, and written.

November 12 is Neil Young's birthday, and our friends at the High & Lonesome Club have been celebrating in style with a weekend of amazing Neil Young music in Neilfest, and we relived some of it with our own set of Neil classics and covers.

An interesting mix of mini-themes this week, as we explored similarly named songs, a couple of my favourites, and then we kept it in the family with a look at the Wainwright (Loudon, Martha, Rufus) and Rogers (Stan and Garnet) families

The past few shows have been made up of specific events & themes, so there hasn't been much time for new music or stuff I just felt like playing, so today was a chance to catch up on some of the music that I've picked up or had sent in as of late.

A busy week for upcoming shows that's for sure, and we took the time to run down the list and convince you to go to each of them. We're never too busy, however, to play some of the great new music that's fallen into my shopping cart as of late, so we ended off with some of the best that I've picked up lately.

First up, one of our favourite groups, The Wailin' Jennys play in Winnipeg with a new member tonight, and that's reason enough to celebrate and play some songs.

But an even better reason to celebrate, an important anniversary is right around the corner. In October of 1987, the Winnipeg music community changed forever when our beloved West End Cultural Centre opened its doors and enriched our lives. Over the past 15 years, I've seen some truly amazing shows under that roof (and a few real stinkers), and today's show celebrates 20 years, a lot of great memories, and a lot of love for the WECC. And, because Bluegrass Guy was a bit late, we got to go a bit longer, so 20 extra minutes to celebrate those 20 great years!

Thanksgiving, and thanks for allowing me to take the week off. I'm headed off for a much needed break for a couple of days, but in the meantime, some great music that you will hopefully be thankful for.

This month is a great one for shows, and up soon are Kelly Joe Phelps at WECC on Tuesday, and our old friends the Wailin' Jennys next Sunday, so some songs to get you ready for those.

I'm off to Minneapolis this weekend (I think), so a few songs in honour of that place.

Later on, a trip back in time to April 23, 2006 when Todd Hunter and Jeff Derksen from the Todd Hunter Band stopped by to tell us about their then new album, Life is Good. Todd will be part of a great fundraiser at the West End on Friday, October 12, and hopefully this classic live set will have you eager to attend.

Celebrating the 5th anniversary of Tell the Band to Go Home with some of the best & worst of what's come so far. Featuring classic moments that I'd rather forget from my very first on-air hosting opportunity in 2001, and some moments from this show's predecessor, The Songwriters' Circle, including my interview with the now rock star John Mayer from 2002. We also heard how the show kicked off, Sept. 29, 2002 with a performance by Kris Demeanor and Chantel Vitalis live in the studio.

And, thanks to KK, we have some very interesting stats which tell us who the most played artists, songs, and albums over the past 5 years have been.

Featuring an interview with one of the members of a very promising young duo named Dala. Their fine new album got me to thinking about the wealth of great new material by female singer/songwriters this year.

Also, a few love songs in honour of those of us who have found out that occasionally they’re true, and especially for a couple of our favourite listeners who are celebrating their 17th anniversary.

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I couldn't make it into the studio this week, but I couldn't take the risk that one you might accidentally miss out on the great shows going on this weekend, so I put together a 90 minute infomercial designed to help you avoid certain embarrassment in case you missed out.

In the first part of the show we take a listen to an interview I did with the legendary Steve Forbert a couple of years ago before he played the Folk Festival. He's coming back to town on Saturday for what is sure to be a great show.

In the second part of the show we travel back in time again to 2004 when Winnipeg's own Scott Nolan dropped by to chat and play some songs that were new then and just now seeing the light of day on his brand new record which will be released on Friday at the WECC. As if that weren't exciting enough, he's bringing along his producer and friend, the legendary Gurf Morlix!

Don't miss these shows.

What we like to do best on this show is tell you about new music you just have to hear, and upcoming shows you just have to attend, and today we had the best of both worlds, with new music from the likes of Dala, Shuyler Jansen, Steve Earle, and the fabulous Catherine MacLellan, and some amazing upcoming shows next weekend featuring Scott Nolan/Gurf Morlix and Steve Forbert!

First up, some stellar new music from a lady who, after just one listen, was guaranteed to be on my top 10 list for this year. Then, a look at one of those songwriters who I've heard of plenty, but never actually heard.

For the last hour, some pleasures that you don't have to feel guilty about. I went to see Crowded House in concert, and for a brief while, I thought maybe I should feel guilty about that. HA! The audience was a who's who of music in this town, and I knew right then that not all 80s pop music is bad. So, for an hour or so, we heard some pop music (and interesting covers of pop music) that you don't have to feel guilty about liking.

Back for another live visit are the always impressive Brock Zeman & Dan Walsh, who stopped by to chat and play for us before their set at Candor. We've known that Dan Walsh was one of the best guitar players (and nicest guys) out there for quite some time, but Zeman is quickly impressing me more and more with his great songs. These guys are welcome back any time, because somehow, they just get better & better.

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and this weekend marks Labour Day, the official end of my best summer ever. It's back to work next week (insert fake sympathy here), so a bunch of songs about work and working ended off the show nicely.

Summer must be coming to an end because the new releases are starting to roll out and there have been some good ones recently. It's been a banner week for new music for me, and today's show highlights the best discs that have come to me this week, as well as some old favourites from some artists with new discs, and a look at Busted Flat Records.

Featuring the lowdown on the 2007 Regina Folk Festival from T-Bar, and the lowdown on the 2007 Trout Forest Music Fest from JR. Plus, a few songs for "The King" on the 30th anniversary of his (supposed) death.

pretaped. By special request by one of our devoted listeners, a show full of fabulous female singer/songwriters, featuring some women covering songs by male songwriters and some rare little gems you might have missed, and just a few great ladies we haven't heard from in a while or often enough!

Featuring a live interview & performances by Kris Demeanor & Chantel Vitalis

It's coming up on our 5th anniversary of TTBTGH this fall, and I can't remember another time when I was too sick to come in and didn't have something lined up for you, but that's exactly what happened this week. Sorry!

This week, a special guest host, as my good friend Elysha Durupt takes to the airwaves for the first time.

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This week I've been away on a bit of a road trip, and if all goes well, I'll either be home or well on my way by the time this show airs, so this one's a bunch of songs about home and coming home. It's nice to get away, but it's always good to come back home, as these songs remind us.

This week the show is pre-recorded as I'm off on my summer road trip down to the U.S. for a few days. In honour of that, we'll hear some great travellin' songs this week.

First up, a tribute to the legendary Royal Albert Arms, Winnipeg's dingiest and scariest, but perhaps most important music venue. The music community was stunned recently by the announcement that The Albert is being turned into condos for hipster yuppies. Sad. Very, very sad.

Next up, a chat with a guy who has played the Albert a few times, Devin Latimer of one of Winnipeg's finest bands, Nathan. He's got a new gig now as Artistic Director of the Trout Forest Music Festival in August, and he's assembled a stellar lineup of TTBTGH faves, so we had to have him on to brag and let us know how cool this festival is going to be.

Then, a look ahead at this year's only local concert by one of Winnipeg's finest, Greg Macpherson. Also, a look back at this year's Folk Festival.

I'm off enjoying myself at Folk Fest, and you should be too. I know how much the regulars just hate to have to choose between Folk Fest and TTBTGH, so I'll make the choice easy for you. This week we're going to take a trip back in the ttbtgh time machine and listen to an episode first broadcast way back on April 9, 2006.

at the time, I had this to say about the show:
A bit of a mixed bag as usual. Some new releases and plenty of excitement about the release of the lineup for the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Then, a compilation of compilations, as I pulled a bunch of great compilation discs off the shelf and dug up some gems.

It's Canada Day, up Canada Way once again, and you know how much we love to celebrate great Canadian music. It's also a celebration of 6 years of hosting shows on UMFM for me (my first real hosting gig was a Canada Day celebration show on July 2,2001). There's much going on as far as live music this weekend, including some great local acts playing, and then a special day-after-Canada-Day show featuring a great American, Hayes Carll tomorrow!

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Your official guide to the music nerds' event of the year, The Winnipeg Folk Festival, as we look at where to go and what to see this year.

Also featuring a conversation with Winnipeg Folk Festival Artistic Director, Chris Frayer.

Some sad & some glad today. First off, we celebrate the sad passing of a true Canadian legend, keyboardist Richard Bell. Bell has appeared on so many amazing albums, and it's our duty to pay tribute to him and look back at his amazing career.

Then, on a happier note, tonight marks the Winnipeg debut of the great Lucinda Williams. Williams may not be all that prolific at putting out albums of her own, but she has appeared as a guest on so many tributes and other people's records that it would be very easy to fill hours and hours with her lovely voice. We'll fit in what we can.

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Featuring a special visit live in-studio by a couple of fantastic singer/songwriters right up our Steel Belted alley, Romi Mayes and Dustin Bentall.

today an unbelievable treat as we were joined live, in-studio by the amazing Oh Susanna

First up, some eagerly awaited new music from Jimmy Lafave and Robbie Fulks. Then a few songs for anyone having a hard time and looking for better days. And lastly a look ahead to a couple more amazing upcoming shows, this week featuring Danny Michel and Oh Susanna.

A few songs in honour of our long, long awaited spring, a few favourite classics, and a bunch of songs looking ahead to upcoming shows featuring a couple of favourites, Kathleen Edwards and The Weakerthans!

Today we were treated to an in-studio visit by a great singer/songwriter by the name of John Wort Hannam. He came in 3 years ago and blew us away immediately, and this year was no different. With a pile of new songs and a great new album about to be released, this was indeed a pleasure.

And, some great new music, including a fantastic tribute album to one of my favourite all time bands, whom I'll be in Toronto next weekend to see, Rheostatics.

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Today's show was pretty much devoted to one of the most amazing non-folk fest gatherings of songwriters this city has ever seen. The so-called "Four Horsemen" tour brings together four of the greatest of all time, and four of our favourites, Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt, and Lyle Lovett, and we couldn't possibly be more excited and couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity to play some of their best.

Oh, and some new Can-con, cuz we have to and cuz it's good stuff.

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Featuring a special visit by some very talented guests, singer/songwriter Brock Zeman and awesome guitarist/all around good guy Dan Walsh, who dropped by to chat and sing some amazing songs.

The most anticipated news of the year has arrived: the lineup for the Winnipeg Folk Festival, and there were some pleasant surprises, so we played some songs from some of the notable names on the list. Then, some hotly anticipated upcoming shows.

Also, a special celebration of the life & music of one of the greatest singer/songwriters of them all on the eve of what would have been his birthday. The Man in Black, Johnny Cash would have been 75 on February 26, and as the host of a singer/songwriter show, it's in my contract to honour Johnny whenever possible.

Lastly, a brief tip o' the hat to our old pal Mike Plume who dropped me a line this week and got me thinking about how darn great he really is.

Another in our infrequent series of Tell the Band to Go Home invitational events, as we were joined by the owners of the new Candor Books & Music store, Amanda & Jules. They brought plenty of music for our listeners to hear.

Then, another fabulous in-studio session, this time featuring Winnipeg's own Matt Epp, and all the way from San Francisco, the amazing Jesse DeNatale.

A jam packed show, full of great new music and looking ahead at some more amazing upcoming shows.

Our great friends in the band Nathan fall into both categories, as we just received their upcoming album and they're having a CD release show on Feb. 23. Keri, Devin, and even baby Hazel dropped by the studio today to chat.

Although this is my least favourite time of the year, local concert promoters are doing their best to make it bearable by bringing to town some pretty amazing shows in the next few weeks. This week's show was pretty much exclusively in honour of the amazing upcoming shows you won't want to miss.

Tonight, a very special treat as we were joined in the studio by one of Canada's finest singer/songwriters, the great Stephen Fearing. As if that weren't enough, we talked to the young and amazingly talented Serena Ryder on the phone. What a night.

A tribute to the best live music venue in town, the Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club which is celebrating its 6th anniversary this weekend with lots of great acts & the annual Whisky Awards. We also feature an interview with the man himself, John Scoles, Owner & Janitor.

The results are in! Our annual list of what was hot on the show is finished for 2006. KK and I looked back at the most played songs, artists, and albums of 2006, and a few notables that were left off the list. I’m always pleased at what a diverse list of artists and songs we play on the show, and 2006 was no exception.

Enough of the Best of shows, enough of the fancy themes and wacky ideas, today, it is time to rock. Well, TTBTGH style. Just a few of the old favourites we haven't heard for a while, and some new stuff. 2 hours of great stuff only loosely connected by my musical tastes, and it worked out anyway!

2006 was a pretty interesting year in music, and so we took some time to look back at the year that was: some of the best, some of the worst, some of the weirdest, and more.

With almost 6 hours to fill, there was plenty of time for other stuff. After struggling to make it in to the station today through the massive snowstorm, things got off to a bit of a rough start thanks to weather related problems, and computer/ipod difficulties, but once we got going with some sympathetic snow songs, all was well.

Of course, we also paid tribute to two of the greatest songwriters of all time, Townes Van Zandt and Hank Williams, in recognition of the January 1 anniversaries of both of their deaths.

One of the longest (and funniest) SBFRR shows in history, as we spent 4 hours looking back at the best (and WORST) of 2006.

Featuring a look at the Canadian Folk Music Awards nominees. Awards are handed out tonight in Edmonton.

And, the first of a strong and plentiful batch of great releases from 2006, as well as memories of the best live-in-studio performances of the year.

Revelling in the awsomeness of the new Gob Iron album, "Death Songs for the Living," we played a few from that and some other deathly greats.

Also a look ahead at upcoming shows by The Be Good Tanyas, and Ron Sexsmith & Jill Barber.

This weekend marks the 30th anniversary of the legendary Band's legendary Last Waltz. That group's impact on music was huge, so we looked at some of their work and some great Band covers.

And, some musical birthdays, including our pal Geoff Berner, the late great Stan Rogers, and Randy Newman.

More celebration of the upcoming Grand Cariboo Opry. And, some tunes by my two current musical fixations: Tom Waits (in anticipation of his upcoming 3 CD set), and Gram Parsons (a belated birthday celebration.)

Christmas came early with the announcement of the brilliant Grand Cariboo Opry show coming up at the WECC. With so many of our favourites on board, we just have to celebrate with some songs. We were also joined by the leader of the whole cavalcade, the Legendary Heart himself, Barney Bentall.

Today is the birthday of two great Canadian singer/songwriters, Sarah Harmer and ol' Neil Young, so we had to celebrate that with some covers, guest appearances, and classics.

Sometimes a guy just gets lucky and ends up in the right place at the right time. Today was such a day. With the Western Canadian Music Awards & festival in town and a lot of great musicians hanging around all weekend, there wasn't much I could do but invite a bunch of them in, and luckily for me, a few of the greatest agreed to drop by. What happens when you throw Ken Beattie of Radiogram, Leeroy Stagger, John Ellis, and Dustin Bentall in a room together with a few acoustic guitars. Magic. Tune in and find out for yourself. This was a show not to be missed and not to be forgotten. Thanks so much to my great guests for making this possible. Truly an amazing way to cap off a great weekend of music.

Featuring a chat with our old pal, Geoff Berner, who's currently touring the country teaching people how to be an accordion player, thaks to his new instructional booklet. He'll be in town spreading his wisdom around like a rash on Tuesday at the West End. It should be an entertaining and educational evening.

I don’t know about you, but I had a pretty great summer. Too bad it had to end, but it’s time to go back to work. And for me, this labour day weekend is really about going back to work, as I return to the full-time work world this week and start my new career in the classroom. So this episode featured songs celebrating back to school and the world of work.

An abbreviated episode to allow for a great one hour special about Bruce Springsteen’s Seeger Sessions CD, and to allow me to recouperate from my recent ear surgery (I’m fine now, thanks.)

We did find time however for a visit from our old pal, Winnipeg singer/songwriter Matt Epp, who was preparing for the release of his second CD, Love in Such Strong Words.

Some days, it's really good to be me. This day was definitely one of those. This show featured a live, in-studio visit by the great singer/songwriter Bob Schneider from Austin, TX. Bob's blend of pop, rock, hip-hop, and folk makes him one of my absolute favourites, and a perfect example of what this show is supposed to be all about. It's diverse, it's interesting, and best of all, it's a lot of fun. He came in to chat and even played a few songs live for us. Very cool indeed.

This week marks the sad end of summer festival season. I'm off marking the occasion with one of the biggest and best of the season, The Edmonton Folk Music Festival. Big stars and big fun await. While I'm away, a pre-recorded show that should not disappoint. First up I'll brag about some of the great acts I'm going to see in Edmonton, but then, a whole lot of great new music. Some from the mail bag, some brand new releases, and some that's just new to me.

It's nice to remember that in summer, there's more going on than just folk festivals. To remind us of that, we were visited by a couple of great live guests, who dropped by to sing and chat about upcoming non-festival appearances.

First up, singer/songwriter Kim Beggs came in all the way from the Yukon to appear on the show. Sure, she's got a concert coming up on Aug. 10 with Christine Fellows and Kim Barlow, but I like to think that I'm the real reason she came to Winnipeg. I'm a dreamer, what can I say.

Then, another visit by one of our most frequent, and definitely one of our favourite guests, JP Hoe. Hoe's got a show coming up on Aug. 16 at the West End, and he dropped by to plead for people to attend, and he gave his best sales pitch by singing and playing for us. I know I'm going to that show.

Then, my own plea for you to attend an upcoming show featuring one of the world's great underrated songwriters, Australia's Paul Kelly. Paul stops by the WECC on Wednesday, Aug. 9, and man, it's gonna be good.

This week is a pre-recorded show, because I'm off at the 2006 Calgary Folk Festival. Just for fun, we're rerunning the episode that I put together for when I was attending the 2004 Calgary Folk Festival, so you'll hear me yapping and bragging about a festival (and upcoming concerts) from 2 years ago! Imagine how confusing that will be for people who just tune in on the radio! HA!

KK and I took off out of town, to catch the Calgary Folk Fest, and we're giving the old T-Bar a week off. He's earned it. In our absence, a classic episode from the past. This one is from July 7, 2005, when we were away at the WInnipeg Folk Festival, so you'll hear me yapping about last year's festival. The show does, however, feature an interesting interview with Willy Porter, who was at last year's festival. This is a super-sized show, a full 2 hours of music and pointless yammering! Enjoy!

A look ahead to the Calgary Folk Fest, which I'm off to this week, and some great new music!

Hard to believe it's over for another year, but another Winnipeg Folk Festival has come and gone. Of course there were some highlights and some celebrity encounters, the tales of which made up much of today's show.

But over the past few weeks there's been a ton of new CDs that have found their way into my collection, and the rest of the show was made up of some great new arrivals.

Nobody tells a good Folk Fest story like our pal T-Bar, and boy did we have some stories to tell this year. And just to prove that they were true for a change, we finally called upon Terry's wife, Terry (Corky) to back him up.

Also, we spoke to former Canadian Idol contestant Keith Macpherson of Easily Amused to chat about that silly little contest. He'll always be our Canadian Idol.

I love doing this show and I try to take it as seriously as possible and always work hard for you. I always try to make sure there's a good show on the air every Sunday (it may or not be mine, but there's always options ;~)) But this week, the show on sure ain't gonna be live. Folk Fest is on! You didn't think I was going to come in on Folk Fest weekend, did you? And since all good listeners should be at Folk Fest anyway (except for Allison and Art, who are excused but who should try to come out some year), I'm not putting together a new show. Instead, we'll fire up the TTBTGH time machine again and travel way back to May 30, 2004. It's a good show and it's all put together right there for me (yeah, I'm lazy.)

Pretaped. Part of the second annual Tell the Band to Go Home Invitational Event, where I invite other local music fans to come and program the show. This year, there were twice as many weeks to pretape, so more guests and more fun. I always learn a lot by inviting new people to play songs on the show. Just when I think I know just about everything about singer/songwriters, I’m humbled by the talents of my guests. This week, I was off with my co-hosts on Steel Belted Free Range Radio (www.steelbeltedradio.com) to see Steve Forbert at Hugh’s Room in Toronto. What a road trip.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, through the miracle of modern digital recording, I was joined on the show by Jenny Western, host of Hit the Big Wide Strum, Pal, CKUW 95.9 fm’s weekly bluegrass program. Judging by her appearance this week, she knows a heck of a lot more than just bluegrass.

It's my favourite time of the year and time for my favourite show of the year, as we look forward to the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Lots of great artists appearing as always, and we'll tell you where to be and who not to miss.

Note: this show was pre-recorded at home, and I experienced some strange technical difficulties. There are occasional skips & glitches when I speak (not to mention the stutters and mistakes that you've come to expect.) They're pretty minor but just in case you were wondering, your record player doesn't need a new needle, it's just my silly computer acting up for unknown reasons.

The usual silliness & great music. Also featuring an interview with Canadian Idol contestant, Keith Macpherson of Easily Amused.

Featuring a set of train songs, because I spent way too much time on a train this week.

Also, a look at some of the many amazing albums that last week's guest Gurf Morlix has been part of, and a look at some upcoming shows including Dauphin Countryfest and Wilco next weekend.

Featuring a bunch of eagerly awaited new music from the likes of Danny Michel, The Wailin' Jennys, and more.

Plus! Guests-a-plenty! Local singer/songwriter Romi Mayes has assmbled an all-star cast to record her new album, and she brought a few friends down to the studio to chat and play for us, including Chris Carmichael, Scott Nolan, and singer/songwriter/producer/God Gurf Morlix!

Featuring a very special appearance by legendary Winnipeg singer/songwriter, Jeffrey Hatcher. Hatcher is responsible for a huge number of amazing songs with bands The Fuse, The Six, The Big Beat, and with hugely influential country band The Blue Shadows with Billy Cowsill. Hatcher's been away from the spotlight and the stage for almost a decade now. He dropped by to fill us in on his amazing career and to tell us about the very important work he's doing now as a music therapist. Although I felt really ill-prepared (a communication breakdown had me thinking that he was coming on TTBTGH the following Sunday, so I had no notes or discs to play, which made me feel like a total moron) and I was a bit star-struck by this amazing songwriter sitting across from me, I'm pretty proud of this interview as one of my favourites in a while.

An important note about this episode. The station's digital recording mechanism was a bit messed up, so the recording of this show sounds, uh, like crap. The recorder was temporarily set too high (not my fault and no way I could have known beforehand really), so this episode is kind of hard to listen to. It's here for TTBTGH completists and for the sake of complete archival coverage only. Our apologies for the technical problem. It has been fixed, I assure you.

Convocation day at the poor man's university, so I'm downtown picking up a hell of an expensive piece of paper, which means that I'm not here doing what I'd much rather be doing, playing music for you. Instead, I've prepared some fine, pre-recorded singer/songwriter action, featuring more new and undiscovered music than you can shake a stick at (although I recommend shaking a stick every now and again anyway, it feels pretty good, so long as you don't hit yourself or anyone else.)

My friends Easily Amused recently had some bad luck when their gear got stolen, but they're playing in town tonight, so to try and remember happier times and hopefully to convince some folks to come check them out, we take another trip in the TTBTGH Time Machine, to revisit a live in-studio visit from February, 2004.

Featuring an interview with local singer/songwriter Cat Jahnke, who is about to release her long awaited full-length debut, None of Those Things.

Featuring some great new releases, including my favourite of the week, Leeroy Stagger's great new EP. In honour of that and because it seemed like a good idea at the time, we played a new game that is sure to be a big hit at parties, Six Degrees of Leeroy Stagger, pointing out connections between Leeroy and some other TTBTGH faves

And! A first! Two special podcast only segments that were never aired on UMFM, but are available on the downloads page for you to enjoy!

Steel Belted Free Range Radio - May 4/06 - An abbreviated episode of SBFRR so that I can duck out and catch Andy Sheppard's CD release show at WECC. The last half hour was "The Shark Tank," a special radio show written and produced by students at George Waters Middle School.

April 30/06 - Featuring a phone interview with the great Andy Sheppard, and we celebrate the return of the Shrine Circus and we pay tribute to Bruce Springsteen and his fantastic new tribute record.

April 23/06 - For some odd reason, we took a trip to the barnyard, with songs about chickens, poneys, and even some monkeys. Don't ask.

In between all of that silliness, we had a visit from Todd Hunter & Jeff Derksen, who are about to release a new Todd Hunter Band disc, called "Life Is Good." Todd is good, and so is the record. He's not very silly though, and doesn't know any songs about chickens, ponies, or monkeys. Oh well.

April 16/06 - It's Easter Sunday. We try really hard not to delve into politics or religion on this show; we're non-judgmental listening at its finest. But I have noticed that a lot of my favourite singer/songwriters have name-checked the man upstairs in songs that aren't exactly religious. So, because I'm never one to pass up a fun and easy theme, we heard some songs for Jesus, and then some songs just for us down here.

April 9/06 - A bit of a mixed bag as usual. Some new releases and plenty of excitement about the release of the lineup for the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Then, a compilation of compilations, as I pulled a bunch of great compilation discs off the shelf and dug up some gems.

April 2/06 - Today a 2-hour celebration of great Canadian music. The Junos are especially silly this year, so it's hard to consider winning or even being nominated a huge honour, but any celebration of great Canadian music is ok by me. With
that in mind, this show looked at some of the better music being nominated, as well as some of the winners from the non-televised awards (which are always more important anyway).

Also, a listen to some of the great music put out by Sarah Harmer, who is in town this week. Not only does she put out great music on her own, but Harmer has been on more great Canadian albums than anyone I can think of, so we heard some of her contributions to others' albums.

Steel Belted Free Range Radio - March 30/06 - Featuring an interview with Winnipeg legend, and leader of Swing Soniq, Greg Leskiw. Greg dropped by the studio to talk about the new disc, "Love Wild," and the upcoming CD release show. Quite a treat to have this man in.

February 12/06 - Featuring different kinds of love songs as we approach that silliest of greeting card holidays.

February 5/06 - Featuring an in-studio visit by JP Hoe, who never ceases to amaze me when he drops by with crop of songs even better than the ones before.

Geoff Berner

Geoff is definitely one of my favourite guests to have on the show. He's always good for a bunch of laughs, so whenever he rolls through, we get him on the line to chat. He's also a really nice guy.

The first time I talked to Geoff was when I was doing a show with local radio icon Howard Mandshein on Monday nights. Whenever those two get together, the strangest things happen.

The first time we talked to Geoff (Feruary 3, 2003), he was to call in the same day that Canadian folk icon Bill Bourne was coming into the studio. I was supposed to get a ride to the studio with Bill Bourne, but he stood me up (long story), so I was late. When I got there, Bourne had done his interview but was hanging around still when we were set to talk to Geoff on the phone. The rest is the stuff that legends are made of. Howard put Geoff and Bill on the air at the same time, and somehow, had them playing a duet right there on the air, Geoff adding his parts via telephone.

The very next week (February 10, 2003), we had Geoff on the line again, and somehow, Howard had him singing live via telephone yet again.

Not long after that, Geoff was endearing himself to radio audiences yet again, as he came on my show, this time, live in the studio. He had played a very lively and memorable show the night before, but somehow made it in on a Sunday afternoon to record an interview and some live performances.

Other Interviews

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Geoff Berner

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