Best known as drummer and co-founder of JUNO Award-winning rock bruisers The Sheepdogs, Sam Corbett conceived of his solo project NUTANA in 2018 while undergoing treatment for testicular cancer. At age 34. While his wife Ashley was pregnant for the first time. Talk about harrowing.

And yet his towering debut album, named for the neighbourhood in Saskatoon where Corbett grew up, isn’t doom and gloom. Far from it. Rather, the 10 dazzling original songs and two captivating covers (Buffy Sainte-Marie, Tame Impala) on NUTANA hit all the retro, loose-limbed, and melodic notes one expects from a Sheepdog, albeit with lyrics that frequently deliver a wallop. 

Self-produced, it features a marquee roster of guests including Jim Bowskill (Blue Rodeo) and Chris Mason (The Deep Dark Woods) on “Ave H Blue”—alongside Clayton Linthicum (Kacy and Clayton), Shamus Currie (The Sheepdogs, BROS), and former Sheepdogs guitarist Leot Hanson, among others.

“Ave H Blue is the street I live on. When I was diagnosed in summer 2018, we had to cancel a couple of shows so I could have surgery,” Corbett says candidly. “I had some follow-up tests, and the cancer had spread to my lymph nodes. I had to back out of a couple of Sheepdogs tours to get the treatment. That was a very hard decision because I’ve been in the band from the beginning in 2004. I’d never not played a Sheepdogs show. The radiation treatments made me very sick and weak; I couldn’t even play the drums. But I could play the piano, and I started writing a bunch of melodies and songs that later became this album. It’s what I worked on when the guys were on tour, and I was recovering at home.”

Since earning his Bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from the University of Montreal in 2017, Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer Marcus Lowry has worked with a wide array of Canadian and international jazz, folk and pop artists. His debut solo album, Time, Time, Time, produced by Juno-nominated musician Joe Grass, is set to be released this coming fall. 

Like the morning haze that recedes to reveal a calm and clear day, Lowry’s intimate folk musings on “Leaving the Shore” drift and buoy through waves of delicate chamber music, subtle electronics and nautical field recordings. “Leaving the Shore” offers calm and serenity to the inevitability of change and the challenges that often come with it. 

To really enhance this feeling of a sea voyage, the song incorporated actual nautical field recordings from the personal collection of his producer, the great Joe Grass. In the song’s climax you can hear seaport bells and the sounds of rolling tides, which were recorded by Grass near his hometown in New Brunswick. 

“I struggle with anxiety and Hurry Sickness, so the feeling of time always slipping away is a recurring fear of mine,” says Lowry. “The whole album, really, speaks to this feeling. Each song depicts a type of journey that grapples with similar anxieties and choices, and each one has become a personal reminder that my own fear of change can threaten my ability to explore all of life’s richness and beauty.”

Watch the live-off-the-floor acoustic performance video here:

Tired Kid, the moniker of Toronto musician Thomas Kelly, creates music inspired by 90s alt rock bands that meet classic bands of the 60s and 70s. His lush and sentimental song, “Scotch,” was produced by Aaron Goldstein. 

The song was inspired by Kelly’s walks to coffee shops, his friends, and guitar tones by the band TOPS. 

Jason Kent has been making music his whole life as a frontman with his band Sunfields, and has recorded and toured as a sideman in an array of Montréal bands. His debut album was released in 2006, and his sophomore album Soft Commotion, fifteen years later. Now he brings us his latest album, Common Tongues (out June 2nd), which delves into the caverns of song with grainy vocals, acid-laced guitars, boisterous pianos and swampy undertones of vintage folk rock. 

“Fake Those Blues” captures a moment in time of a singer banging away at his piano. The whole time Kent was writing this song, he was just trying to keep up with it because it was literally written and recorded in two days. 

Kent and his engineer/mixer, Sam Gemme agreed that the song dictated that it wanted to be “live” sounding and natural. Some might categorize it as ‘70’s sounding. One can almost picture Harry Nilsson and John Lennon snorting lines off the console, cranking the master fader and singing along at the tops of their lungs!  

This weekend The Mitte Cultural District Announces their First Time Dynamic Art Festival which features RJ Mitte.

This exciting festival is a celebration of the vibrant and diverse arts community in the city of Brownsville while bringing talent from Hollywood and other places in the country to learn from and foster relationships and opportunities.

Each of their special guests will offer a one hour workshop in their respective field, along with performances from our local artists and performers. This festival is a testament to the creativity and passion of their community, and they look forward to sharing it with visitors from near and far. Come and join the foundation for a day of art, film, music and culture that you won’t want to miss.

RJ Mitte, the award winning actor best known for playing Walter “Flynn” White Jr. on the AMC series Breaking Bad, will open up the festival on Saturday April 29. The exciting festival is a celebration of the vibrant and diverse arts community in Brownsville, while bringing talent from Hollywood to learn and foster relationships and opportunities. From acting coach David Wells who has taught actors like RJ and Mila Kunis, to Jordan Ansel who has produced films like The Unseen, the guests are bringing an extraordinary lost of accomplishments and knowledge to the community.

The Mitte Foundation provided a grant to be able to bring the special guests to Brownsville, Texas. RJ is working to fulfill his grandparents’ Roy F and Joanne Cole Mitte dream, to promote and enhance historical, culture, and educational activities with the Mitte Cultural District.

Join the fun here https://mitteculturaldistrict.org/mitte-in-motion-a-dynamic-arts-festival/