Brian Tremblay's Lonesome Cowboy Podcast

Brian Tremblay - The Lonesome Cowboy

Listen to the stories of solo musicians who are trying to pursue a career all the while doing everything themselves from booking to recording to distribution and promotion. thelonesomecowboypodcast.substack.com

  1. Oct 19

    Lotus Wight

    https://lotuswight.com/ At the age of eight years old, Allison professed his love for the 1920s-era actress, Margaret DuMont, whom he had seen in the films of the Marx Brothers. When he learned of her death, he fell into a deep depression which could only be healed by listening to the music of that era. Tin-pan alley, ragtime jazz, and Appalachian fiddle tunes were the balm for his young soul, and an important influence on his later music. As a young adult, Sam was engaged with an itinerant square-dance band from the Ottawa Valley and travelled throughout the United States for eight years, playing dance music and studying fiddle, banjo and songs of the American vernacular. It was during this time that Allison invented his alter-ego, Lotus Wight. Wight plays music in the key of Folk, Blues and Ragtime. Audiences are captivated by Lotus’ seamless movement from banjo to jaw-harp to guitar and his own invention, the contrabass harmoniphoneum. Lotus sings and writes songs that sound like they have been plucked from the turn of the century and his inimitable style has been talked about in the folk music world for years. Wight has played all over the globe including festivals in The Shetland Islands, Turkey, Denmark, and the Netherlands. If you would like to support my work here on Substack and my music (https://www.briantmusic.com), please click the Buy Me A Coffee logo above and donate. It is challenging to succeed in music and art, and your donation goes a long way toward helping me continue making it. Brian Tremblay’s Lonesome Cowboy Podcast is a free publication. There’s no charge to subscribe. Thank you! Get full access to Brian Tremblay's Lonesome Cowboy Cowboy Podcast at thelonesomecowboypodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  2. Oct 13

    Anne Lederman

    https://www.annelederman.com/ Anne began her professional career as a fiddler in the late 1970s touring with Harry Hibbs, Newfoundland’s “favourite son”. In 1983, as half of duo Muddy York with Ian Bell, she released the ground-breaking recording Scatter The Ashes: Music of Old Ontario (now re-mastered and released on CD). In 1985 and ‘86, she returned to Manitoba to study and record the music of Indigenous fiddlers, resulting in a 4-record archival set of recordings titled Old Native and Métis Fiddling in Manitoba (re-released in 2004 as a double CD set on The National Museum’s Archive label). This was followed by work with Izvor, an ensemble devoted to Balkan, Greek and other East European traditions, and then The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band with whom she recorded two albums: The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and Agada. In 1991, she released her first solo recording, Not A Mark In This World, a collection of Canadian traditional songs of social comment. This was followed in 1998 with a special collection of songs for children, Come From Every Way, about coming to Canada from all over the world. In 1999, Anne began to work with Njacko Backo of Cameroon and his Kalimba Kalimba! ensemble who have toured the Prairies, Quebec, B.C. and the North. They have released 6 recordings, Ka Koua (2001), The Conscience of Africa (2004) Ou est l’amour? (2009) Ici Bas, rien n’est impossible (2013), À tous les enfants de la terre, and one for children, Jaime mon Ècole The year 2000 saw the appearance of Anne’s first instrumental fiddle recording, 7 Cats, featuring traditional and original tunes – Metis, French-Canadian, Celtic-Canadian, Klezmer and Macedonian. This was followed in 2003 by Fiddlesong, a work hailed by critics as an inspired expression of “Canadian world music”. If you would like to support my work here on Substack and my music (https://www.briantmusic.com), please click the Buy Me A Coffee logo above and donate. It is challenging to succeed in music and art, and your donation goes a long way toward helping me continue making it. Brian Tremblay’s Lonesome Cowboy Podcast is a free publication. There’s no charge to subscribe. Thank you! Get full access to Brian Tremblay's Lonesome Cowboy Cowboy Podcast at thelonesomecowboypodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  3. Sep 14

    Ali McCormick

    https://www.alimccormick.ca/ Rolling her own smokes, chopping her own wood, and shining with the satisfaction of self-sufficiency, Ali embodies the world she writes about. A mechanic of the heart, she tunes emotion into melody — shifting gears with rhythmic and lyrical precision across a finely honed collection of songs. Her distinctive phrasing carries echoes of country and blues, yet remains deeply rooted in the storytelling traditions of folk. Known as the Lioness of Lanark, Ali hails from Watson’s Corners, a tiny bush community nestled in the Lanark Highlands of Ontario, Canada. Raised on an off-grid subsistence farm where creativity knew no limits, she developed a rare blend of artistic fearlessness, closeness to nature, and fierce independence that continues to define her music today. For more than a decade, Ali has toured and performed nationwide, honing her craft on stages across Canada and building a devoted following through the strength of her live performances. If you would like to support my work here on Substack and my music (https://www.briantmusic.com), please click the Buy Me A Coffee logo above and donate. It is challenging to succeed in music and art, and your donation goes a long way toward helping me continue making it. Brian Tremblay’s Lonesome Cowboy Podcast is a free publication. There’s no charge to subscribe. Thank you! Get full access to Brian Tremblay's Lonesome Cowboy Cowboy Podcast at thelonesomecowboypodcast.substack.com/subscribe

  4. Sep 9

    North Tone Strings

    https://northtonestrings.ca/ This whole thing started with one question: Why was no one making guitar strings in Canada? Canada has produced some of the most iconic musicians in the world. We have the artists, the venues, and a guitar culture that runs deep. But for as long as anyone can remember, every single set of strings played in this country has come from somewhere else. The longer we sat with that fact, the stranger it felt. And then it started feeling like something worth fixing. NorthTone was founded by Al Henry and Amanda Diamond, a husband and wife team who came at this from two very different angles and ended up in exactly the same place. Al has spent more than thirty years as a guitarist and gear obsessive. The kind of player who notices the difference between a fresh set and a dead one before he’s finished the opening riff. He’s chased tone through countless guitars, amps, and thousands of sets of strings. That experience and attention to detail is baked into everything NorthTone is building. Amanda brings the vision and the voice. A creative entrepreneur and Canadian Army Veteran, she’s built businesses around storytelling, community, and the belief that the things we make should mean something. Her fingerprints are on everything that makes NorthTone more than just a string company. Together, they make a company that’s equal parts craft and character. NorthTone is proud to be an Indigenous owned and veteran run company. If you would like to support my work here on Substack and my music (https://www.briantmusic.com), please click the Buy Me A Coffee logo above and donate. It is challenging to succeed in music and art, and your donation goes a long way toward helping me continue making it. Brian Tremblay’s Lonesome Cowboy Podcast is a free publication. There’s no charge to subscribe. Thank you! Get full access to Brian Tremblay's Lonesome Cowboy Cowboy Podcast at thelonesomecowboypodcast.substack.com/subscribe

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Listen to the stories of solo musicians who are trying to pursue a career all the while doing everything themselves from booking to recording to distribution and promotion. thelonesomecowboypodcast.substack.com