Wed 22 Apr – Justin Townes Earle, Jerry Leger

Almost everyone I talked to had the same reaction when I told them I was going to see Justin Townes Earle (JTE), son of Steve Earle (SE). They grimaced. Most of my friends are in their late-20s and early-30s and are only family with SE's more recent work and political activism. And a lot of them are writing off JTE simply because they think his music will be SE 2.0.

I have to admit that I was (am?) way late to the SE party. Many of my music snob friends tells…

Wed 4 Mar – Jason Isbell

After getting off to a rocky start Wednesday night, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit knocked out some serious rock and blues at their show at the Horseshoe, the only Canadian stop on their current tour. Isbell commented that they barely made the show due to trouble crossing the Canadian border, which was, according to Isbell, "mostly my fault." I can picture Isbell and his southern drawl lipping off to a surly Canadian customs agent, but seriously customs, why do you always give bands such a hard time?

It appeared to me that the…

Sat 21 Feb – Blitzen Trapper, Alela Diane

From my blog: My Aimz is True

Like most of the fans at last night's Blitzen Trapper show, I only learned of their music upon the release of 2008's Furr. I first listened to Furron a train from Windsor to Toronto, Ontario, and I thought, "man, these dudes are hippies," and I got the urge to smoke a giant joint. I would describe their music as folk-rock, but they cross so many genres that its hard to put a label on them. Their music is similar to that of their…

From my blog: My Aimz is True

Its really hard to put these lists together, and on a given day/hour I can change my mind about the order of any of these albums, but this is what I submitted to the AltCountryTab.ca message board for their annual Gambler Awards. I think this list is slightly biased towards the bands I saw live this year (see #4, 5, 6, 9). You can't go wrong with any of these albums.

1. Drag the River - You Can't Live This Way
What a solid alt country album. I unfortunately did not discover this…

Thu 4 Dec – Neil Young, Wilco, Everest

From my blog: http://myaimzistrue.blogspot.com/

The first thing that strikes me when I see living legends in concert is the range of audience that they attack, and Neil Young attacked quite an interesting mix at the Air Canada Centre on Thursday, Dec. 4, from burned-out hippies older than my parents (for the record, my folks are one year younger than Neil), to kids barely old enough to drink, to youngsters attending the show with their now straight-laced, Bay Street parents who wished they were still hippies. The hipsters, the scenesters, the stoners, the…

Tue 11 Nov – The Hold Steady, Drive-By Truckers

Bad haircuts. Geeky glasses. Horrible fashion sense. Am I describing myself or the rock band, The Hold Steady? The answer is "Yes" (except for keyboardist Franz Nicolay - that dude is stylin'!). But don't ever accuse the dorks (or their nerdy fans) of not bringing the rock.

I have to admit that when I found out that two of the best live bands that I had ever seen were touring together, I peed my pants a little in excitement. The Hold Steady and the Drive-By Truckers are touring together this…

Sun 12 Oct – Okkervil River, Crooked Fingers

Concert Review: Okkervil River with Crooked Fingers, October 12, The Phoenix, Toronto
Review taken from my blog, My Aimz is True.

Every time I see this band live, I love them more and more. Okkervil River played to a near capacity crowd on the Sunday of Canadian Thanksgiving weekend and blew the roof off of the place. If you were in a turkey-induced coma before the show, the tryptophan was neutralized with a large dose of high energy rock. Lead singer Will Sheff is one of the best and most charismatic…

Fri 3 Oct – The Sadies
The Horseshoe, Toronto
From: My Aimz is True

Friday of Aimz:
1. Accidentally set alarm for "p.m." and roll into work very late.
2. End up working until 10 p.m.
3. Change out of work cloths into jeans and my cleanest dirty shirt (which happened to be a Lucero T-shirt laying on my bedroom floor).
4. Run to the cash machine.
5. Have beer for dinner.
6. Lose my socks when they are rocked off by The Sadies.

The Sadies played, I shit thee not, 50 songs in just over two hours. They…

Sat 4 Oct – The Sadies
Saturday, October 4, The Horseshoe, Toronto
From: My Aimz is True

Saturday of Aimz:
1. Wake up at 11, hungover from too much Keith's.
2. Pull it together with the help of coffee and donuts.
3. Drive out to Scarborough to buy a new curling broom. (If this isn't the start of a Canadian country song, then I don't know what is.)
4. Drink 2.5 liters of water, eat half of a large tomato, mushroom, and basil pizza, and take a two hour nap.
5. Shower for the first time since Thursday.
6. Proceed…

Wed 16 Jul – Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Fleet Foxes

The more things change the more they stay the same with our indie rock hero Steven Malkmus. At age 42 he is still an awkward geek, he still has hair that flops in his face when he is rocking out, and he still wails on the guitar. He and his band The Jicks took the stage while Malkmus remarked, "This is nice that its not a festival. At least there is air conditioning here." Then they blasted into "Gardenia," one of the more poppy tracks off of their…