Devin Cuddy

Devin Cuddy’s music has a style its own, one that shouldn’t work, but somehow does. His unique blend of New Orleans blues and country effortlessly marries the two musical ideals with a distinctive element of Canadiana so eloquent, that it leaves one pondering why no one has done this before. In Toronto’s growing pseudo-country scene Devin’s new take on the genre pushes the limits of what people think they want to dance to on a Saturday night.

Coming from a lifetime surrounded by song, Devin Cuddy noted in the Winnipeg Free Press that “my passion for music grew out of being surrounded by it for so long,” noting he and his siblings developed their musical tastes by picking through their dad’s (Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy) vast collection of CDs.”

Since his mid teens, Devin expressed a passion for Dixieland jazz and New Orleans blues. Around that time, he began taking jazz lessons in an effort to further his musical prowess. Devin burst onto the Queen Street music scene in 2010, taking up a residency at the Cameron House on Wednesday nights.

After playing a multitude of live gigs, and workshopping the songs that were eventually recorded at The Woodshed Studio, he has recently released his debut album, Volume One, on Cameron House Records. The album includes a stellar cast of musicians, namely Nichol Robertson (guitar), Devon Richardson (bass), and Zach Sutton (drums).

Produced by Devin Cuddy, the album consists of 12 tracks recorded live off the floor in four days. Devin states “It was a culmination of material that I’ve been developing for the past six years, which makes this record even more satisfying. The idea was to recreate our live show, and I think that transferred well onto these recordings. I was very fortunate to have such a great band backing me, as well as the comfort of a studio that I am very familiar with.”  

Whitney Rose

Since storming onto the Toronto singer-songwriter scene in 2011 Whitney Rose has endeared herself to just about everyone with her intriguing, affecting and effective song writing, powerful voice, immense personal charm, and throwback style influenced by Patsy Cline, Kitty Wells and, gender-be-damned, the likes of Tom T. Hall and George Jones.  She started singing at her grandparent’s kitchen parties as well as in their little P.E.I. bar at approximately the time she was able to walk and/or form sentences. This comes across.

Whitney may be young, but don’t let that fool you.  There’s an ancient appeal to her.  As Exclaim! Magazine wrote, “At best, abstractly, Rose is something like Leadbelly singing "Goodnight Irene," beloved by young and old alike, timeless.”

Blue Rodeo's Bazil Donovan, who co-produced her album along with David Baxter, says of Whitney: "The reason I was drawn to Whitney was because she was playing real legitimate 1960's era country music, because there is none of that around on the radio anymore - there's nobody that I know of that is making honest…what I call real country music. When I heard her songs, I heard what she was doing, I went hey - that's real country music and I'm glad somebody's interested in it."

Whitney's debut album features Donovan and Baxter on bass and electric guitar, respectively, as well as Michelle Josef (Prairie Oyster, Dr. John, Etta James) on drums, Devin Cuddy on piano and Nichol Robertson on a second electric guitar. Adding to the record's stellar musicianship are Justin Rutledge, Wayne Petti (Cuff the Duke), John Borra (Rattlesnake Choir), Jamie Oliver (Big Tobacco and the Pickers) and Ted Hawkins (Lori Yates) on backing vocals, Bob Egan (Blue Rodeo, Wilco) on pedal steel, Kendel Carson on fiddle and another appearance by Justin Rutledge on harmonica.