Through The Fire Don Amero

Host Don Amero looks back on his first 20+ episodes of the Through the Fire podcast. Thinking about the "fires" that have been confronted on this show and the tools people have shared as they emerge from difficult times, Don shares some personal updates with the audience ahead of a summer break.
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On this episode, host Don Amero speaks to musician Steve Bell; a songwriter, storyteller, and troubadour for our time. Over the course of a 30-year solo career, he has been sharing messages of love, hope and faith through songs, stories, and writing. He is a mentor to many and an advocate of numerous meaningful causes.
His advocacy work has raised significant support for organizations like World Vision, Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Compassion Canada, and the North End Family Centre (Winnipeg). He is the recipient of the 2012 Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal  awarded to select Canadians who have, “made a significant contribution to their fellow countrymen, their community, or to Canada over the previous sixty years.”
Find out more about Steve Bell HERE.
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Since making her debut with 2016’s multi-award-winning Grace & Grit, Meghan Patrick has embodied the kind of unbridled truth-telling that leaves listeners feeling undeniably seen and understood. A back-to-back CCMA Female Artist of the Year whose accolades also include 18 CMAOntario Awards, the Nashville-based artist doubled down on that soul-baring specificity in the making of her latest project, The Greatest Show On Dirt. Over the course of the EP’s six intimately detailed tracks, the rural-Ontario-born singer/songwriter sets her storytelling to a high-energy but expansive sound that stretches beyond the boundaries of country—a move befitting of a musician whose background includes co-founding an all-girl band at age 13, studying opera and jazz, fronting a 10-piece funk act that once opened for Aretha Franklin, and touring extensively as part of a bluegrass group. Anchored in the powerful vocal work she’s brought to the stage as support for legends like Dwight Yoakam and top artists including Keith Urban, Old Dominion, Kip Moore, Brothers Osborne and more, the result is a body of work that captures the nuances of her emotional experience with equal parts boldness, humor, and wildly colorful originality.
Naming John Prine, Neil Young, and Waylon Jennings among her longtime inspirations, Patrick first started honing her distinct narrative voice as a kid in the small town of Bowmanville, then took up guitar after graduating from high school. During her time at McGill University, she built up her chops by busking in the Montreal subways, eventually dropping out of school to tour with her bluegrass band. Within a year of striking out as a solo artist, Patrick landed a deal with a major label and soon teamed up with the likes of Vince Gill to record the widely acclaimed Grace & Grit. But while the coming years brought a number of triumphs—including scoring her first #1 single with “Walls Come Down” (from her 2018 sophomore LP) and winning a Juno Award for her 2019 EP Wild As Me—Patrick later endured a period of intense upheaval compounded by the chaos of the pandemic.
Now at work on her first full-length since 2021’s Heart on My Glass, Patrick has found that strengthening her creative vision has reaffirmed her sense of purpose as an artist.
Find out more about Meghan Patrick:
https://meghanpatrickmusic.com/
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https://twitter.com/MegPatrickMusic
 
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In this episode of Through The Fire, Host Don Amero speaks to the man behind his record label, Mike Denney of MDM Recordings. Founded in 2008, MDM Recordings Inc. (MDM) is a multi-award winning full service independent label and management company specializing in country music. Boasting an impressive roster that includes platinum-selling JUNO and CCMA Award winner Jess Moskaluke, multi-JUNO and CCMA Award winner and CCMA Hall of Fame inductee Charlie Major, three-time JUNO Award nominee Don Amero, CCMA Award nominees Tyler Joe Miller and Black Mountain Whiskey Rebellion, and newcomers Five Roses and The Redhill Valleys. MDM was the number ONE Independent Country Label in Canada in 2021. Since its inception, MDM has earned multiple distinctions at the CCMA Awards for ‘Record Company of the Year’ and a 2021 win for ‘Management Company of the Year’, and individually, Denney is currently a three-time Record Company Person of the Year Award winner and was named Industry Person of the Year in 2020. MDM boasts more than twenty-five Top 10 songs and over 250M global streams, with additional licensing in Australia and New Zealand via ABC Music Corp and in the UK and European markets via Enki Music, and support in the live tour space from Heliocentric Entertainment in Australia, the UK, and Europe.
Find out more about Mike Denny and MDM Recordings:
https://mdmrecordings.net/about/
Find out more about the Henry Armstrong Award
http://henryarmstrongaward.ca/
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On this episode, Don Amero honours former friend and bandmate Vince Fontaine with his daughter Gabrielle and longtime bandmate Jay Bodner. The three musicians discuss their favourite memories of Vince and the legacy they will carry forward in his honour.
Gabrielle Fontaine is an Anishinaabe singer-songwriter and guitarist based in Winnipeg MB. Gabrielle joined Indian City as a singer-songwriter on the 2017 Here & Now album. She is the daughter of the late band leader, Vince Fontaine. After the sudden passing of her father, Gabrielle was motivated to follow in her father’s footsteps within the band as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Gabrielle performs music and captivates audiences with her lyrics of personal experiences and perspectives of life, often highlighting her view through an Indigenous lens. Her honest melodies and angelic voice are sure to leave a unique and lasting impression. She is poised to follow in the strong tradition of Manitoba's vibrant music community while fostering her talent nationally and internationally.
Jay Bodner has been a singer, guitar player and songwriter with Indian City since joining the band on their 2018 Juno nominated album Here and Now and most recently their 2022 Juno nominated release, Code Red. Prior to Indian City, he held tenure for 25 years with the band Eagle & Hawk along with his musical partner and the founder of Indian City and Eagle & Hawk, Vince Fontaine.  Eagle & Hawk recorded 10 albums in its career, toured internationally and went on to win a Juno Award in 2002 as well as nominations in 2004 and 2006. Both Indian City and Eagle & Hawk were humbled with numerous Indigenous music industry awards and nominations in Canada and the United States over the past few decades. Jay believes that music is medicine and remains committed to Vince Fontaine’s vision of building bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.
Follow along with both Indian City and Eagle and Hawk:
http://www.eagleandhawk.com/
http://www.indiancity.ca/
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Sam Corbett is a founding member and the drummer of the JUNO Award-winning and platinum-selling band The Sheepdogs, and a cancer survivor. He just released his debut solo album NUTANA on April 7 featuring 10 original songs and two captivating covers) he wrote while stepping away from the band to undergo cancer treatment, one month before his first daughter was born. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, the saying goes. In the case of Corbett, the cancer that didn’t kill him made him both stronger and vastly more creative as a songwriter, lyricist, and musician. 
Follow along with Sam's new project Nutana:
https://nutanaband.com/
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https://twitter.com/fakesamcorbett
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If you're a musician struggling to make ends meet during a health scare, please consider reaching out to Unison; a non-profit registered music industry charity that provides counselling and emergency relief services to the Canadian music community through times of hardship, illness or economic difficulties.
https://unisonfund.ca/
Find out more about the Through the Fire Podcast:
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