News on Canadian Songwriters Hall, Big & Rich, Pretty Girls Make Graves
Willie Nelson, k.d. lang, and Rufus Wainwright are among the performers tapped to perform Feb. 5 at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Third Annual Gala in Toronto. The event will be broadcast nationally on both CBC Radio One and CBC Radio Two the next day; CBC Television will air an hour-long special on March 6.
The gala will include salutes to Hall of Fame inductees Leonard Cohen and Gilles Vigneault and Legacy Award recipients Anne Murray and Lucille Dumont, both singers being honored for their contributions to Canadian songwriting.
The evening will be marked by numerous musical match-ups including veteran singer/songwriter Andy Kim with alternative-styled Bedouin Soundclash; the Stampeders with Doc Walker; soul diva Jully Black with R&B singer Jarvis Church; Quebec French-speaking performers Martin Leon and Jessica Vigneault as well as Marie-Mai with Fred St-Gelais; and Canadian performers such as Sarah Slean, Amelie Veille, Louise Pitre, Claire Pelletier and Jimmy Rankin.
-- Larry LeBlanc, Toronto