April 2021 Album of the Month: The Sound of the True North

 

 

 Various Artists

The Sound of the True North

True North Records/NoiseTrade 

 

 

 

Ever feel like you’re in the 18^th century–1752 to be precise–when the calendar changed from the Julian to the Gregorian and 11 days disappeared? In our case, though, an entire year slipped away. My 2021 album of the month was actually released in 2019, but it’s worth turning back the clock for this glorious lost-in-Covid release.

 

I’m not usually a fan of compilations, but the Mississauga, Ontario-based True North Records consistently puts out fine music and there are no dogs yelping on this fine sampler. Talk about opening big. Buffy Ste. Marie is 80-years-old, but you’d never know it from listening to “You’ve Got to Run,” which also features Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq. This is First Nations music at its defiant finest and I challenge you to sit or be apolitical still while listening to it. Ste. Marie’s voice has lost some of its vibrato, but that’s actually a good thing, as that form of high warbling is out of style.

 

Where to go from there? How about the well-known but woefully underappreciated Bruce Cockburn, who shows anyone who doesn’t already know that he’s no slouch when it comes to serious acoustic blues. “Blind Willie” is a classic that sounds amazing from his Cockburn’s hands. Juno Award winner Craig Cardiff offers “To Be Safe, Loved & Home,” a hopeful, uplifting, and timely song. Leeroy Stagger’s “Hey Hey! (Song for Gord)” is an earworm in the very best way. It’s about the Gordon Downie from The Tragically Hip and honors the departed rocker in a joyous, infectious fashion does so in a folk/rock song. Like a lot of Canadian rock, The Mahones have the sense to know that rock is meant to move you, not just impress. The Mahones are a bit like Great Big Sea is that they roll folk, rock, and Celtic into one big party.

 

If you know anything about Canadian music, you know that the surname Rankin is synonymous with great musicianship. Jimmie Rankin checks in with the country-laced “Loving You Never Gets Old.” That old mandolin sizzle and Rankin is so spirited that you’ll be picking grass out of your mane. For pure fun, it’s hard to beat Old Man Luedecke’s tongue-in-cheek bluegrass “Easy Money.” Listen beyond the opening and I’ll bet you’ll find yourself walking about singing its chorus: I dream about easy/I dream about easy money…. Yeah, said no banjo picker not named Steve Martin, ever. Need your soul to shake down to its roots?

 

Crystal Shawanda sounds like Aretha Franklin reincarnated on “When It Comes to Love.” You’d never guess from the way she sings about the American South, Motown, and Boston that she’s from a First Nations island of just 3,200 souls in southern Ontario.

“Rise Again.” Matt Andersen’s soulful and gospel-influenced “Quarter on the Ground” and Jeremy Benjamin’s piano-driven, sensitive “Something Broke” round out an amazing collection of songs. This stuff is good enough to resurrect the sullied reputation of mix tapes. 

 

Rob Weir