Mike O’Brien grew up loving the process of writing a song. Or, as we find out in this chat, what he prefers to call making up a song. He began his career in Toronto at the turn-of-the-century playing with his high schools pals, one of whom was Afie Jurvanen. Mike and Afie would go on to form the band Paso Mino, which became a go-to backing band in the early oughts Toronto indie rock scene, most notably for Jason Collett.  As we get into in today’s chat, when Afie left the band to join Leslie Feist, and ultimately go his own way as Bahamas, it left Mike with a little extra time on his ha ..read more

James Clayton (aka Clay Pigeon) is a terrific songwriter, living in Montreal these days. He’s originally from Peterborough, Ontario, he went to a jazz school out in Nelson BC, and he cut his teeth at open mic nights in Berlin. Early in the Pandemic, he and his now wife Tosca, decided they wanted to come back to Canada. James had seen a documentary on the Montreal music scene and thought, uh, yeah, that seems like the place to be, let’s go to Montreal. So they did. It didn’t take long for James to fall in with the right crowd. He was approached by legendary Montreal engineer and record produ ..read more

Gatineau, Quebec's Mia Kelly is an exciting recent addition to the Folk and Americana scene in Canada. Two albums in, she’s shared the stage with the likes of Jeremie Albino, Julian Taylor, The Franklin Electric, and, previous When We Wake guest, Aysanabee. She’s also taken home two pieces of hardware at the Canadian Folk Music Awards, and, between you and me, I suspect there’s a few more coming. Her latest release, her second full length album, is entitled To Be Clear. And to be clear, it’s a beautiful collection of songs wise beyond their years. Mia writes with a striking vulnerability ..read more

On today's episode, I chat with the Big Turnip himself, Dylan Jewers. Born and raised in Dartmouth Nova Scotia, young Dylan was sure of two things: his love of Micheal Jordan, and the fact that, under no circumstances, would adult Dylan have a job working for anyone else. To his credit, and the edification of other likeminded youngens, with the exception of the odd job slinging beers at music venues, Dylan has made good on his young self's promise, and worked for (and in a lot of ways by) himself. Which is in no way meant to suggest he isn't intimately involved in his community, hell no, not ..read more

Lisa Haller enjoyed a homecoming in 2022 when she took over as Director of Programming at the Atlantic International Film Festival, in Halifax. She had spent the previous 15 years honing her game at film festivals across North America, including; the Whistler Film Festival, Aspen Film, and TIFF in Toronto. In our chat, we discuss the festival's opening night film, Jason Buxton's hotly anticipated Sharp Corner (which...I juuuust so happen to be in), Mike Downie's 4 part deep dive documentary about his late brother's band The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal, the exciting return of Festival M ..read more

With 10 albums under his belt, including an album entirely written for a stage musical, another in collaboration with his sister Jill Barber, a couple Juno nominations, a handful of Canadian Folk Music Award nominations, and multiple songs placed in TV shows and films, Matthew Barber is one of Canada's most respected contemporary songwriters. I have known Matt for so many years now that I have spent more time in my life knowing him than I have spent not knowing him. He's in a rarified class of people in my life. Outside of my family, he's the guy who has known me the longest, and I like it tha ..read more

Trombonist, radio show host, and Artistic Director of the TD Halifax Jazz Festival, Andrew Jackson, is coming off a monster year at the Music Nova Scotia Awards. They saw him taking home the honours in 3 categories: Jazz Album of the Year for New Doors, his collaboration with guitarist Sam Wilson; the Media Arts Award for his work on his long running radio program The Outer Edge on Dalhousie University's CKDU; and perhaps the biggest of them all, Musician of the Year. I chatted with him as he rounded the corner into the home stretch of the preparations for this year's edition of the Halifax J ..read more

Joel Gregorio lives in Toronto. He is an incredible designer and graphic artist. He's the founder of State Goods, which, as he puts it, is an evolving art study in nostalgia, memories, and connection. I have had the terrifically good fortune of working with Joel on both of the Clever Hopes albums. If you have a look, on whatever your streamer of choice is, under Clever Hopes, what you'll see is Joel's work. He designed all the singles art, the thumbnails, the album covers. He also Art Directed the layout for my vinyl on both Artefact and New Kind of Familiar. Bringing all those pieces to li ..read more

Eva Foote was born in Louisiana, but she moved away with her family as a kid and grew up in Edmonton. She still thinks a lot about Louisiana and what it means to her - what home means to her.  Is Edmonton home? Is Louisiana home? Is Toronto home? Vancouver? Is it Berlin? Or, is it, maybe all of them? We talk about the life of an artist on the road, and that feeling of never really landing anywhere to stay, because by the time you arrive, you’re already getting ready to leave for the next place. She and I met in Montreal after she had graduated from the National Theatre School. I direct ..read more

Kyle Cunjak is a musician, photographer, and, as we’ll come to find out, an avid surfing enthusiast. He loves surfing the Atlantic so much so that he can’t even really imagine leaving Nova Scotia. I’d say that’s definition enthusiast. Originally from Fredericton NB, he now calls Halifax home. He’s a terrifically in demand bass player, playing with the likes of David MyIes, Jenn Grant, Wolf Castle, and so many more. I had the great good fortune of having Kyle play bass on my most recent Clever Hopes album, New Kind of Familiar, and now I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way. He also operat ..read more