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A Little Something From the Toronto Star

Here’s an exerpt from the recent Toronto Star article on Canada’s wealth of songwriting talent as it relates to Joni Mitchell’s induction and the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame in general…

Nova Scotia rocker Joel Plaskett, who seems poised to crack the international music market in the near future, believes migration and isolation have a lot to do with the unique quality of Canadian songs.

“Immigrants brought their music from Scotland and Ireland and Europe,” he says. “And those origins are reflected in the melodies and song forms of each region of the country. They’ve stayed with us, partly because they connect people to their past. But also, I think, because our songs give us both a real sense of place and time and some kind of collective sensibility.

“The first time I played in Glasgow (Scotland), I felt as if I’d gone home. Everything was so familiar to me – the people even looked like Nova Scotians, and songs gave us a common language. We understood each other through songs.

“You could make an argument that climate and distance make a difference as well. The sense of aloneness, the need to connect can be pretty acute in most small Canadian communities. So details are important in a lot of Canadian songs, as personal points of reference. We also have a lot of time indoors during the winter. We read, we make music, we think a lot about ourselves and our circumstances.”

Very well said, we’d say…