Letter from the Editor
I can’t tell you how excited I am to finally have a digital publication for Canadian Country music, this has been a dream of mine, I am excited to feature lifestyle articles on Canadian Country music, the fashion, the food, and the style influenced by our vibrant and ever growing Canadian Country music scene. I want to thank the artists who took a chance to play a part in my dream, and offered to contribute to the publication. It is my hope that you enjoyed a glimpse into our publication, I see great things for Canadian Country music and it deserves a platform to allow it to shine. Sincerely, Lisa Savill
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The Story Behind The Song Co-written by Jason Blaine/Deric Ruttan, "Cool" was the second hit single from my 4th studio album Life So Far, spending more than 11 weeks in the Top 10 the single would go on to become the most played Canadian country single of 2012 (BDS) and earned us a 2013 CCMA nomination for "Songwriter of The Year".!
The "cool" thing about the song is that is was as true-to-life as it gets. When Deric & I sat down to write the song in 2011, I had no idea that I was going to be living (or reliving) the lyrics of this song as it was climbing the charts.! I began working on the Life So Far record as I entered my 30s and it was a real time of reflection about where life had taken me so far. Somewhere along the way I had become a husband and father of two. Most of our friends were also at the same stage in life, married with children or expecting their first child. It occurred to me that we were all entering a new chapter in life as we closed the book on our crazy-twenties the sense was that we were all ready to turn that page.!
The idea for song came when I realized that this new chapter of life was what life was all about. Having a family to come home to and children to tuck in a night and say "I love you Daddy" is a huge blessing and it donned on me that is was also pretty Cool.! The interesting thing for me was that when we wrote the song I had no idea that my wife and I would be expecting our third child at the same time as the single and video would be climbing the charts at radio and CMT.! Almost at the same time the song reached it's peek our daughter Sara was born on July 14th, 2012.! As I toured that summer I had so many fans write me on facebook and twitter or come up and tell me after the show how they felt that this song was their story. The cool thing was, we were all living this song together.!
I think for someone looking at a musician up on stage or hearing their music on the radio its easy to see they are people who truly love what they do. They were blessed to be given a passion for something and driven enough to chase that passion. I'm no exception to this. I have a great love for music and feel very fortunate to have the success I've had in it. But if I didn't feel lucky enough having that I'm also fortunate enough to have a second passion. Farming. Growing up in the small community of Standard, farming was always a big part of my life. It wasn't till I was 15 though, that we moved out to the family farm from town and took it over for Grandma and Grampa. Though I've traveled many places I don't think my heart has ever left. Farming is very much in my blood. Its cool to think that my Great Grampa seeded and harvested the same land we do today. My Grampa did it, my dad did it and now I get to do it. Its more then just a job its a family legacy. I remember having a conversation with my Grampa about that a few years ago when I was seriously getting in to it full time. He said to do it you have to love it. Its not just going to work and getting a pay check. Its a whole way of life. I wrote a song after this particular conversation called "Makin Dust" and its the last track on my latest album "The Way I Was Raised." I thought it a fitting end to an album with that title. I continue to farm as well as pursue this music Career. I feel so fortunate to be able to make a living with my two greatest passions in life. I'm a very lucky man!
The Way I Was Raised By Drew Gregory
The Story Behind the Song “Where You Gunna Be” I was writing for my debut record down in Nashville with my two Producers Joel Feeney (Doc Walker) and Kevin Savigar (Rod Stewart) and the three of us had just started writing a fresh song about coming back to a small town when I had the overwhelming feeling to put things to a halt. Iʼve always felt overly compelled to try and write about real feelings and honest situations and stories and the song the three of us had started didnʼt feel sincere to me and I felt like I wouldnʼt be doing my job as a songwriter to push forward and sing something to people that was completely pulled out of thin air.
watch me do something as simple as blowing the candles out and making a wish on my 16th birthday. It would have meant the world to have my father be a part of those tiny monumental ,yet memorable moments of my life and I always found myself with a million questions racing through my mind, “On the day I get married- who will walk me down the isle? Where will my father be at the moment I say I do? Will he be thinking of me?” .
When the big question came from Joel and Kevin, “Okay, Lindsay, what do you want to write about” I knew exactly what I wanted to say in our next attempt a song so I went on to explain:
As I told my stories, cried through mounds of Kleenexʼs, overdosed on hugs and gushed my feelings to my fellow co-writers they took notes and chronologically ordered my stories. When Iʼd finished talking about my past and it came down to writing the lyrics, the three of us ended up pulling exact sentences I had said off of their notepads and taking the real moments and experiences I had undergone and dropping them into the song. Everything about writing the song came together extremely naturally and my co-writers and I ended up entitling it, “Where You Gunna Be”.
I grew up with a single mother and my father was always in and out of the picture for various reasons and since the time I was small Iʼd always wished for that ,“Daddyʼs little girl” relationship I knew so many of my friends had with their fathers.
“Where you Gunna Be” is my most favourite song on my upcoming release because the story behind and beneath a pretty progression and a bunch of words on a piece of paper is truly the story of my personal struggles and questions as a child.
While I was growing up I wished my dad could be around on a day to day basis for the simple everyday things children unknowingly take for granted. For instance, so many country songs talk about little girls fathers chasing the boys away and saving them from broken hearts and as ludicrous as it sounds, I longed to experience those seemingly insignificant, (And likely annoying) over-protective fatherly instincts.
When people hear this song for the first time I hope they understand that I dug down deep inside my soul and shared a vulnerable piece of who I am with the world. I can only hope that “Where You Gunna Be” touches people, makes them feel something or helps them through struggles of their own.
I explained this to my co-writers and the three of us decided to scrap the song and start over.
Growing up I just wished so much that I could have my father there to see me graduate or to
I truly believe music is the window to the soul and I hope, “Where you Gunna Be” is my first song of many that is able to reach people on a different level.
Life After Canadian Idol -By Jaydee Bixby
I grew up in a family where my mom and dad were in a band and still play together to this day. It was inevitable that music is what I was going to do with my life. Whether or not I’d have been as quickly recognized or gained as much success as I have because of Canadian Idol, who knows. But nothing would have stopped me from doing music. I’d played the Calgary Stampede and multiple singing competitions before Idol. I grew up with four generations of the Bixby family band. We all played. We played at the oldest rodeo in Canada, the Hand Hills Rodeo. It’s a family tradition, literally. I can’t imagine myself not doing music. My parents still have their band called “The Hillbilly Bixbys”. Being on Canadian Idol definitely helped my career in so many ways. I met the people I
needed to know in the industry. I learned a lot while I was on the show, and it introduced me to so many people who are still in my audience today. I don’t necessarily feel pressure to please my Canadian Idol fans. When I first did the show I didn’t have my own material and what I did write at that point was horrible because I was so young. When I didn’t have any of my own songs, I played the fans what they wanted to hear. And now they come to my shows and they’re happy to hear what I write. Absolutely my plan was always to play country music. It's in my blood. I never was going to become an Elvis impersonator. (laughs) (although Bixby is well known for his impressive Elvis impersonations)
Since Canadian Idol I’m proud to say that I’ve been introduced, 5 years later, not as 'the runner-up on Canadian Idol', but country music singer Jaydee Bixby. I’ve gotten to do shows because of my own shows, not because I was on Idol. I’ve opened for Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, and Loretta Lynn. It’s because my first album went to #1 in the country for Canadian country music. It still blows my mind to travel across the country, to go to a town I’ve never played and have people come out to see me. A lot of the inspiration for the album came to me over the last 5 or 6 years. I worked on it a lot on the road, that’s why I named it ‘Work in Progress". Even though it is finished now, a lot of the songs that we’d written for it has been in the making since my very first album. This year we got into the studio and used the same producers and a lot of the same musicians as we did with the first two albums. I like to work with familiar people. I’m pretty happy with it. My favourite song on the album right now is ‘Weight of the World’, the last track #13. I wrote that one. Of course I like them all. You know, when I was a single bachelor, I wasn’t very good at getting my dishes done, cleaning up my place, things like that. When I wrote the song the place I was staying at didn’t have a dishwaser. Let’s just say it got out of control a bit. We started writing the song literally on the back of an empty pack of
smokes. The song came out easily, we wrote the whole song in one night. It came from just looking around and thinking “holy moly it’s kind of messy in here”. The only thing we changed in recording was the opening line. On the CD it’s “I wish that I could tell you it’s gonna be OK”. Originally it was “I wish we had a dishwasher, I wish we had it made.” I decided to cover “It’s Only Make Believe” because it is a little bit of what I’ve been doing for my past 2 CD’s. Originally I covered different songs like Burton Cummings' 'Break It To Them Gently' and Tom Cochrane's 'Boy Inside the Man'. I remember my dad singing "It's Only Make Believe" when I was young. I’m a huge Conway Twitty fan. As far as I’m concerned there isn’t a country voice out there that can touch his. I did the song this time moreso for my mom, she really wanted it on my first and then my second CD. I got a chance to put it on Work In Progress for her. It's about going back to my roots. That’s the style of music that got me into music, I was introduced to it through my mom and Dad. I think it’s fantastic to introduce old country to a new generation.
On The Horizon with Jordan McIntosh
Tell us about your single "Grew Up In A Country Song"? This is one of the songs that I am most proud of, which was one of the reasons for releasing it as my latest single to radio. I wrote it down in Nashville, with two incredible writers, Heather Longstaffe and Johnny Gates, and before we started to write I told them that I wanted and needed a song about where I grew up... and that's exactly what we came up with. This song is about the people and places around me while I was growing up in a small town. I truly believe that anyone can relate to it, whether they also grew up in a country song, wish they grew up in a country song, or don't know they wish they grew up in a country song. Do you have plans for the rest of summer? Touring/ Summer Concerts? The rest of the summer is busy with playing shows, promoting the new single and working on my album. There are some more trips to Nashville planned to get some more writing and recording done, which I am really looking forward to because I love spending time down there, it's always an amazing experience. Anyone can see what I'm up to by following me on Twitter and Facebook. I see that you will be at this years CCMA's, will this be your first time? Yes this will be my first time and I couldn't be more excited. I can't wait to run into some old friends and meet some of my idols. I believe it's going to be a great experience for a new artist like myself to rub shoulders with some of Country music's finest.
You've made a lot of sacrifices to get to where you are, and at a very young age…is there anything you really miss, that you've had to give up? I spent a lot of time going down to Nashville, doing promo tours, and traveling since the beginning of this year, which was also the last couple months of my high school career. I knew that I would miss some school but I ended up missing a lot of it, which was alright because I had a co-op that allowed me to travel and still get my credits. The thing that was unfortunate was not being with my friends everyday and missing some of those high school "senior moments." Although it was a little upsetting at first, I realized that this is what I want to do...this is my passion...this is my life and sacrifices will have to be made to get where I want to go. What was the latest Concert that you saw? I recently opened for Jason McCoy and stayed after to watch his show. Let me tell you, he puts on an incredible show! The highlight for me was when he called me up on stage to perform a song with him and that was a dream come true. I still can't believe that it happened. We ended up singing "Wagon Wheel" and it was a ton of fun! Coolest place you've performed to date? I recently got to perform at Ottawa's Bluesfest which was unreal because, being from Ottawa, it's a festival that I've seen so many amazing acts play at. So to be up on that stage myself was unlike anywhere I've ever played before. Except for maybe during a promo tour across the country, one TV station had me perform in a mall in front of a shoe store, so that was pretty cool. Any place that you would really like to perform? I really hope to perform on some of the major award shows I've grown up watching and I truly believe that one day that might be a possibility. If I had to choose a specific place I would say the Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa. It's the place that I have seen many of my idols perform and I think, to be the one on stage and not in the audience would be awesome. Favorite Restaurant? Hands down, Lonestar Texas Grill. It's an amazing tex mex restaurant that has a country theme and my family go there all the time. They have the best fajitas because they make their own shells right there.
The Story Behind The Song Clayton Bellamy’s
“Victim Of My Own Compromise”
When I left Nashville on the move back to Alberta with my family, before I started at CISN FM doing the drive home show. I worked for a few months in Fort McMurray in the oil field as a welders helper. I tell you there are some things I am good at but running a tiger torch is not one of them! On my first day I burned off my welders eyebrows! I was living in camp working 13 on and 2 off getting on the crew bus at 6 am every morning and heading into the mines to work my 12 hr shifts. It wasn't the first time I had to go back to work while being in the music business. This career is no joke and it has it's WAY ups and it's WAY downs and when you have a family to support everything comes second to taking care of them. So away I went to work in the mines! While I was working away grinding pipe I had a lot of time to think about my life and the choices that I had made this far down the road. As I was working away I had what’s called a sky song! Thats when a song will kinda falls outta the sky into your lap. I wrote this on a note pad I had tucked into my coveralls while standing over a pipe! It's Called "Victim Of My Own Compromise" featuring the amazing Garth Hudson of The Band on accordion. And it's a reminder to never give up, never give in and never compromise what you believe in!
Beauty Call
We asked some of Canadaʼs top Country Artists what their favorite Beauty products are:
Robyn & Ryleigh – Chapstick
Michelle Wright – Anything MAC, especially their Cremewash
Tenille – Mascara
Trinity Bradshaw – Cover Girl Products
Dining Spots Canadian Country Artists tell us where they like to dine:
Up and coming group WYATT likes:
SCOTT & DANNY: Bon Temp, Saskatoon Jordan McIntosh – Lonestar Texas Grill CAM: St. Tropez Bistro, Saskatoon
Tenille – Olive Garden & Booster Juice
BRAY: Mardi Gras Grill
GORD BAMFORD CHARITY GOLF CLASSIC RAISES $355,000 6th Annual Event Supports the Gord Bamford Charitable Foundation
(LACOMBE, AB) Gord Bamford isn’t afraid of a little challenge. In fact he met it head on, in true cowboy style, and raised $355,000 for the Gord Bamford Charitable Foundation on Wednesday, August 7, 2013. Since 2008, Bamford has generated over $1 million dollars through The Gord Bamford Charitable Foundation to support organizations such as the Ronald McDonald House Central Alberta, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lacombe, in addition to several children’s hospitals across Canada.
“Once again this event never ceases to amaze me and I’m thrilled that we surpassed our set goal of raising $300,000. From the talented musicians who perform and donate their time, to the sponsors who always support us, we are able to help those in need. These are great people and we look forward to working with them every year,” says Bamford. “$355,000 is a lot of money that will help many!” Tyler Gauthier of Sylvan Lake, Alberta was selected as the Make-A-Wish Foundation recipient. Last fall Tyler was diagnosed on December 21, 2012 with an acoustic neuroma tumor. Tyler and his family were present at the Gala to accept the $10,000 cheque on behalf of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Northern Alberta. Tyler and his family will be heading out on a Disney cruise on December 7, 2013.
“We were all very touched to be included in such a wonderful evening. The wish families let us know that the program and festivities were very meaningful to them and all they had been through. It was an extraordinary way to celebrate their wish journey and meet the amazing people that brought their wishes to life,” says Joanne Crook, a volunteer wish grantor with Make-A-Wish Northern Alberta. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lacombe and the ME Global Athletic Park of Lacombe will also benefit from some of the proceeds raised at the 2013 event. Canadian music royalty wowed the 700 people in attendance at the August 7th Gala. Michelle Wright, Aaron Pritchett, Deric Ruttan, Emerson Drive’s Brad Mates, Beverley Mahood, Patricia Conroy, Tera Lee, as well as American singer/songwriters Phil O’Donnell, Buddy Owens and Justin McBride all performed.
Title sponsors PennWest Exploration and Venue sponsor Dow Chemical Canada were joined by Heroes sponsors ATB Business & Agriculture, Downton’s Transport, Gasoline Alley Harley Davidson, Lacombe Ford, M & N Construction, Quinn Contracting Ltd., Sims & Associates Insurance Services and Viking Projects Ltd.
Upcoming Dates Dean Brody Tour Dates 2014 - Crop Circles & Tractor Beams w/ Cassadee Pope Date
Location
City
January 29, 2014
Mile One Centre
St. Johns, NFL
January 31,2014
Casino New Brunswick
Moncton, NB
February 1, 2014
Metro Centre
Halifax, NS
February 2, 2014
Aitken Centre
Fredericton, NB
February 5, 2014
Molson Centre
Barrie, ON
February 7, 2014
GM Centre
Oshawa, ON
February 8, 2014
K-Rock Centre
Kingston, ON
February 9, 2014
Hamilton Place
Hamilton, ON
February 11, 2014
Community Auditorium
Thunder Bay, ON
February 12, 2014
MTS Centre
Winnipeg, MB
February 13, 2014
TCU Place
Saskatoon, SK
February 14, 2014
Mosaic Place
Moose Jaw, SK
February 15, 2014
The Stampede Corral
Calgary, AB
February 16, 2014
Enmax Centre
Lethbridge, AB
February 18, 2014
Western Financial Place
Cranbrook, BC
February 19, 2014
Shaw Conference Center
Edmonton, AB
February 20, 2014
Encana Events Centre
Dawson Creek, BC
February 22, 2014
Abbotsford Ent & Sports CentreÂ
Abbotsford, BC
Good Reads Our favorite Canadian Country Artists told Countrified Canada what their favorite books were:
Clayton Bellamy – The Road – Jack Kerouac
Codie Prevost – The Secret by Rhonda Byrn
Michelle Wright – The Road Less Travelled – Scott Peck
On the “Green Carpet” Countrified Canada was extremely honored to be on the John Deere Green Carpet for the 2013 Canadian Country Music Awards. Check out a few of Canadian Country's favorite artists as well as some special guests.
The Band Perry
Dallas Smith and wife Kristen
Chad Brownlee Hunter Hayes
High Valley Lisa Brokop
Emerson Drive
Deric Ruttan
Brett Kissell and wife Cecilia