This week on TransCanada Music West, we look back on a year’s worth of great live music from Western Canada’s best emerging and established acts. We’ll help you relive the glory days of summer with live songs from Jr. Gone Wild and Reuben and the Dark, recorded at the Calgary Folk Music Festival. Then we’ll take you to the west coast with Jay Malinowski and Close Talker captured during Breakout West in Victoria. Then, we’ll bring it all home with Colleen Brown and Michael Rault in full force in CKUA’s performance space.

"What A Great Day" Jr. Gone Wild (Live at Calgary Folk Fest)
"Ready to Go" Petunia (Live at the Mercury Room)
"Burning the Candle at Both Ends" Matt Patershuk (Live from Grande Prairie)
"Devil's Time" Reuben and the Dark (Live at Calgary Folk Fest)
"Heads" Close Talker (Live at Metro Theatre)
"Donzoko Blues" Jay Malinowski & the Deadcoast (Live from Alix Goolden Hall)   
"Moncton Flight 179" Colleen Brown (Live at CKUA)
"Lost Something"  Michael Rault (Live at CKUA)
"Prairie Girl" Rah Rah (Live at CKUA)
"Rambleaway" Ryan Boldt (Live at the Mercury Room)
"Institution" Slow Leaves (Live from Bailey Theatre)
"Damn Tattoo" John Wort Hannam (Live at The Club)
"Lick Your Wounds" Andy Shauf (Live from the Mercury Room)

This week on TransCanada Music West, we feature the instrumental styling of Victoria's Weird Party! The five piece group describes their sound as a “weird ambient melange” drawing on elements of funk, jazz, and soul to create a somewhat psychedelic sound. The band is made up of staples of the Victoria music scene, including Andrew Poirier, Chris Mackenzie, Piers Henwood, and William Farrant. In 2012, the band entered the studio with Ted Gowan of Tegan and Sara behind the board. The group would record their improvisational debut album live off-the-floor in just one weekend. They followed up that record in 2014 with their sophomore album Mellow Funk Vol. 1. This week's feature set includes live renditions of songs featured on that album, and a brand new, yet to be released track.

This week, we feature the live sounds of Swedish Canadian songstress Sarah MacDougall, in concert at Victoria’s Wood Hall during Breakout West. Four albums into her career, Sarah has found success both in Sweden, and right here in Canada. Just days after performing her Music West featured set, the Whitehorse-based musician took home the 2015 Western Canadian Music Award for Roots Solo Album of the Year.

The songs on that award-winning record, Grand Canyon, take inspiration from Sarah’s time working at a home for at risk youth. The record features collaborations with Rose Cousins, Jesse Zubot, and Leah Abramson of The Abramson Singers. This intimate set was recorded at midnight on the first night of Breakout West 2015, and includes songs from Grand Canyon, and Sarah’s 2011 album The Greatest Ones Alive.

This week on the podcast, Victoria folk outfit Fish & Bird are our featured act. The band recently performed a hometown show during Breakout West 2015 at Wood Hall.  Taylor Ashton and fiddler Adam Iredale-Gray formed the band in 2007 when they bonded over their shared love for traditional folk music. The band’s fusion of traditional and contemporary influences has earned them a reputation as trailblazers in the folk music world. In this episode, you’ll hear songs from their latest album, Something in the Ether.

This week on the show: indie-rock melodies delivered live by Saskatoon’s own Close Talker. The band has only been a going concern for three years, but they’ve already captured national attention. Close Talker formed when lead singer Will Quiring met guitarist Matthew Kopperud at a B.C. bible college. In the spring of 2013, Close Talker became finalists in a cross-Canada music competition on the merits of their single, “By the Lake" from their debut 2013 debut Timbers.

The album was release was written and recorded in just two weeks. But it so well received, it put Close Talker on radar of notable Canadian indie label, Nevado Music. In the summer of 2014, the band entered Montreal’s Breakglass Studios to record the follow-up record. It was produced by Besnard Lakes co-founder Jace Lasek (Wolf Parade, Stars, Mark Berube,Young Galaxy.) Unlike the quick outing that was their last recording, the group describes the approach to their sophomore effort, Flux, as a more “intentional” one. The band spent more than a year and a half on getting the songs on this record just right.

This week on TransCanada Music West, you’ll hear more than a few of those songs. Recorded live at Breakout West 2015 in Victoria BC.

Setlist:
Burnstick
Heads
Slow Weather
Strange Feelings
Blurring Days
The Coast
Great Unknown

This week on TransCanada Music West (Fridays at 8pm MT on CKUA), we take you back to Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria for a hometown performance by Towers and Trees. The Folk outfit was founded in 2012 by Adrian Chalifour. The singer-songwriter had been working away on songs as a solo artist for the better part of a decade. After trying to make a go in music as a solo artist in Vancouver and Kamloops, Adrian returned to Victoria, and formed an eight-piece band featuring some of city’s most talented supporting players.

The group released the first Towers and Trees EP, Broken Record in 2012. Building on the success of that record, Towers and Trees celebrated the release of their debut full length album, The West Coast this past October.

Featuring Adrian Chalifour on vocals, Jesse Boland on bass, David Zellinsky on lead guitar, James Liira on keys and vocals, and Dave Arter bass –CKUA presents Towers and Trees live from Alix Goodlen Hall in Victoria during Breakout West.

Tracklist:
Tide I
We're Not Islands
West Coast - Tide II
Bad Heart
Montreal
Last Breath
FREE

This week on the TransCanada Music West podcast, it's Jay Malinowski and the Deadcoast live from Victoria's Alix Goolden Hall during Breakout West 2015. Jay Malinowski has earned a reputation as a young, commercially successful creative force. In his late teens, he fronted the JUNO Award winning reggae-rock outfit Bedouin Soundclash. The band recorded a plethora of pop gems, including “When The Night Feels My Song.”But in the decade since that breakthrough hit, Jay has continued to hone his craft.

In 2010 he released his first solo album, Bright Lights and Bruises. That was followed by an EP collaboration with Coeur de Pirate, released under the moniker Armistice.  Jay returned to his family’s home base of Vancouver in 2012, formed The Deadcoast (Elliott Vaugh on the Viola, John Kastelic on violin, and
Martin Reisle on cello) and set to work on their first EP, Indian Summer.

That record was followed up by the full length album, Martel. The concept album draws inspiration from the life of Malinowski’s ancestor Charles Martel – A mid-eighteenth century sailor who fled France for the New World…only to find himself fighting the French in the Siege of Louisbourg. Many of the songs you’ll hear on this week's show were featured on that record.

Tracklist:
Donzoko Blues
Patience Phipps
Singapore Sling
untitled
Life Is A Gun
How It Comes Is How It Goes
Up The Cross
The Reckoning
I Was Walking Through A Dream
We've All Got To Be Going Somewhere

This week on TransCanada Music West, it’s Reuben and the Dark recorded live at the 2015 Calgary Folk Music Festival. A little over a year ago, Reuben and the Dark were here in our studios to debut their album Funeral Sky. That record has been a bit of a breakthrough for the alt-rock outfit since its release in May 2014. Reuben and the Dark have underwent a couple of line-up changes since, but they haven’t let that stopped them from working on new material. In fact, on this week’s TransCanada Music West, you’ll hear some brand new – unreleased tunes.

This week on the TransCanada Music West podcast, we kick off a new season of the series with a live performance from Jr. Gone Wild captured on stage at the 2015 Calgary Folk Music Festival. The Edmonton band became synonymous with the cow-punk genre they helped to create during their 15 year career, which spans six releases from 1982-1995. In 2013, they re-formed for a reunion gig after disbanding nearly twenty years earlier. The overwhelming reaction to those reunion shows lead the group to continue to perform live and record music together.

The new lineup features founding member Mike McDonald, along with former Jr. Gone Wild alumni Dove Brown, Steve Loree and Larry Shelast.

Tracklist:
Just the Other Day
Raisins
I Don’t About All That
Downtime
The Bachelor’s Suite
What a Great Day
Why I Hate the ‘60s
Barricades (The Hockey Riot Song)
Slept All Afternoon
Annie Get Your Gun
Rhythm of the Rain

This week on the podcast, we bring you LaGlace, Alberta singer-songwriter Matt Patershuk in concert at the Grande Prairie Live Theatre! Matt’s most recent album Outside the Lights of Town, earned him a 2014 Western Canadian Music Award nomination for Country Recording of the Year. In the set, he's joined by Calgary fiddle sensation Scott Duncan.

It's the penultimate episode of the season, and we're taking you back to the First United Church in Fort Saskatchewan for a set by Edmonton's Ayla Brook. Ayla has been a stalward player in the Edmonton music scene for over 10 years. Ayla began his career as a singer-songwriter in 2003 fronting alt-pop trio AA Sound System. In 2008, he released his first solo album, After The Morning After. At long last, Ayla is set to release a collection of brand new songs this October. The album is self-depricatingly titled: Ayla Brook: I Don't Want To Hear Your Breakup Songs. This week's podcast includes five new songs from that album, along with live renditions of tunes from After The Morning After, and the AA Sound System catalogue performed live at the First Untied Church in Fort Saskatchewan.

Set list:
Wake Up Early
Leave Anymore
Blue So Blue
People in the City
No Difference
Breakup Song
Hold On
Wasting Time
Upside Down
After The Morning After
One Two Three

This week on the TransCanada Music West podcast, we feature Victoria-based singer-songwriter Mike Edel live from the First United Church in Fort Saskatchewan. Mike’s brand new album India Seattle is an indie folk gem that’s received regular airplay on CKUA. The record was produced by Colin Stewart, who has previously produced albums for The New Pornographers, A.C. Newman, Kathryn Calder, Dan Mangan, and Ladyhawk.

Leaving home to find yourself. Finding the resolve to end a marriage to find happiness. These are just a few of the stories Alex Vissia explores in her songs. The Edmonton singer-songwriter began her career in music at age 11. That’s when Vissia and her sisters joined a choir in their hometown of Stony Plain, Alberta. From their modest start playing to seniors homes, The Vissia Sisters when on to play bluesgrass, country and folk songs to audiences at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

The sisters called in quits in 2011, and Alex went solo. Tonight you’ll hear songs for her latest album, Modern Love, along with a few tunes she’s been working on for her next album.

Set list:
Goodnight, Moonlight
Macondo
Mountaineer
Make Her Stay
You Should Be Sleeping
Don't Tell Me Riddles
Young Love
I Wanted
Wild Fig Tree

This week on TransCanada Music West, we feature Edmonton ex-pat Michael Rault. Michael has been a fixture on the Alberta music scene for the better part of a decade.  His latest album, Living Daylight, receives its US debut on Burger Records this month. The record is earning him comparisions to the likes of Tame Impala, and T-Rex, with Exclaim.ca calling it "one of the best rock records of 2015".

This week, you'll hear live renditions of the songs performed in session in CKUA's performance space.

Tracklist:

All Alone             
Real Love            
Fall in Love with Every Girl I See
Hiding from Heartbreak               
Lost Something
Too Bad So Sad
Nothing Means Nothing              
Too All My Friends          
Still Not Sad       

This week on TransCanada Music West, we feature Colleen Brown in concert, live from our Edmonton performance space. The singer-songwriter is touring in support of her latest album Direction, co-produced by Joel Plaskett, and Raymond Richards. In this week's episode, you hear stunning live renditions of songs from that record.

This week on TransCanada Music West, we feature Ryan Boldt in concert at The Mercury Room in Edmonton. Ryan has been touring the country in support of his latest record, Broadside Ballads. The record is a collection of interpretations of traditional folk songs. The album’s title refers to songs printed on inexpensive paper sold for no more than a penny during the sixteenth and early twentieth centuries in towns and villages around Britain. In this week’s set, Ryan is joined by guitarist Clayton Linthicum (Kacy & Clayton) who shares Ryan’s affinity for traditional folk music. When Ryan isn’t recording solo, he’s performing as the front man of Saskatoon folk rock outfit The Deep Dark Woods.

This week on the show, we take you to the historic Bailey Theatre in Camrose for a performance by Winnipeg act Slow Leaves. That’s the moniker for singer-songwriter Grant Davidson, who draws inspiration from '70s era songwriters like Gene Clark of The Byrds, and Mickey Newbury. You’ll hear songs from Slow Leaves’ latest release, Beauty is So Common, produced by Rusty Matyas of Imaginary Cities. It’s a collection catchy songs that calls to mind the era of Davidson’s influences.

Setlist:
Careless and Serene
Life of a Better Man
Nostalgia
Institution
Enough About Me
Pretty Good Songwriters
Moths
Perpetual Sleep
Dreamer
Second Chances
A Piece of Advice
Everybody Wants to be In Love
Country of Ideas
Rearview

Calgary folk rocker Matt Swann (Hot Little Rocket, Extra Happy Ghost) has had a recurring presence on the CKUA charts since the release of his debut recording under the moniker Astral Swans. The album All My Favourite Singers Are Willie Nelson was chosen as the debut release on Dan Mangan’s newly minted label, Madic Records. The record has charmed more than a few announcers at CKUA. This week, while on national tour with Hayden and Dan Mangan + Blacksmith, Astral Swans joins us for an in-studio session including live renditions of songs from the album, and a gem of a cover originally performed by the album’s namesake.

Tracklist:
My Consience Don't Work in the New World
Park Street
You Carry A Sickness
The Beginning of the End
Blues Eyes Crying in the Rain
Holly
Attention
September
What Calms You Down Freaks Me Out

This week on TransCanada Music West, Regina indie-rockers Rah Rah deliver a live preview of songs from their forthcoming album, Vessels. You’ll also hear live renditions of tracks from the band's latest record The Poet’s Dead, which was longlisted for a Polaris Music Prize, named “Independent Album of the Year” at the 2013 WCMAs, and earned the group a JUNO nomination for Alternative Album of the Year in 2014.

Set List:
A Love That Sticks
Art and a Wife
Fake Our Love
Saint
Good Winter
Twenties
I'm a Killer
First Kiss
Prairie Girl
Duet for Emmylou & the Grievous Angel
Winter Sun

This week on TransCanada Music West, host Grant Stovel welcomes Alberta jazz outfit Hutchinson Andrew Trio to CKUA’s performance space. The acoustic piano trio features bassist Kodi Hutchinson, pianist Chris Andrew, and drummer Karl Schwonik. They’ve been a staple of the Alberta jazz scene for over a decade, and as of late, have been touring on the strength of their 2013 album Prairie Modern.
This week on the show, they give us a live preview of music from their forthcoming fall 2015 release.

Blues pianist David Vest performs a live session in CKUA’s Studio A.  The Toronto Blues Society recently honoured David with his second Maple Blues Award for Piano/Keyboard Player of the Year. The Victoria-based musician recently entered Alberta on his Western Canadian tour. Grant talks with David about his latest album, his recent award, and his decades-long career in music.

This week on TransCanada Music West, Calgary's T. Buckley Trio perform a lively set at Mikey's Juke Joint in Calgary. The outfit perform live renditions of songs from their album Northern Country Soul.

This week on TransCanada Music West, CKUA presents Andy Shauf and his band recorded live at The Mercury Room in Edmonton. The Regina-based singer-songwriter's latest record The Bearer of Bad News recently received its US debut on Tender Loving Empire/Party Damage Records. Andy’s songs prompt comparisons to records by influential greats like Elliott Smith and Nick Drake, and have fans and critics calling him one of Canada's best new folk songwriters.

High River, Alberta singer-songwriter Karla Adolphe joins TransCanada Music West host Grant Stovel in CKUA's Studio A. Karla performs songs from her latest album, Honeycomb Tombs, and shares stories about what inspires her songs.

This week, we present Saskatchewan folk duo Kacy & Clayton performing live at the Artery in Edmonton, Alberta. The band performs songs from their latest album, The Day is Past and Gone, which features adaptations of traditional folk songs made popular by the likes of Shirley Collins, Lead Belly, and Sandy Denny.

Kacy & Clayton are second cousins who grew up in Wood Mountain Hills, Saskatchewan, and they credit their knowledge of, and affinity for folk music to Kacy’s grandfather and Clayton’s Great-Uncle, Carl Anderson. The duo released their self-titled debut in 2011, recorded when Kacy was just 16. Their sophomore effort, The Day is Past and Gone, was produced by Ryan Boldt of The Deep Dark Woods – a band which also features Clayton Linthicum on guitar.