Record Rewind: Rush’s ‘2112’ at 50 — Risk, Rebellion, and Reinvention amplify.nmc.ca/record-rewin...

Oh yeah, Rush opening the Juno Awards with "Finding My Way"! First performance with Anika Nilles and she smoked, of course. You may be able to rewind at the stream and see: www.youtube.com/live/9NqLBYI...

Do you want to write about music for The Pickup? We're looking for freelance music writers! Email [email protected] with an introduction to you and your work. Please include your best writing samples/clips. (Send this to a friend who writes about music!)

Born in Truro, Nova Scotia in 1911, Portia May White (whose name was inspired by the heroine in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice), had a dream to become a professional singer. Trained in the bel canto method, the contralto’s voice was a “gift from heaven.” open.substack.com/pub/davidmcp...

Take Off, Eh? open.substack.com/pub/davidmcp...

Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes. How does one measure a year? For me, the past 364 days are measured in my love of live music. From Michigan to Minneapolis, in venues large and small, here are my Top 15 concerts of 2025. davidmcpherson.substack.com/p/long-live-...

Published today. A really cool story about how @adambaldwinracket.bsky.social song “Lighthouse in Little Lorraine” became a feature film starring J Balvin. www.socanmagazine.ca/features/how...

Long live live music & the venues that support artists & offer a community hub and space for music-lovers to gather. My feature story in today’s @thestar.com on Lee’s Palace www.thestar.com/entertainmen...

Revisiting Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited. Wrote some words for GRAMMY.com on this masterpiece. www.grammy.com/news/bob-dyl...

ICYMI: my conversation with —and feature on—Hayes Carll for @nodepression about his damn fine new record “We’re Only Human” out last week that IMHO is one of the best yet from this Texas troubadour and talented songwriter. nodepression.org/on-were-only...

The fun and fascinating origin story behind the two songs in one Guess Who classic “No Sugar Tonight/ New Mother Nature”

Over a career that spanned 70 years, Jimenez' playing came to define the Tex-Mex music and carried the tradition-drenched conjuto sound all over the world and across genres.

My tribute/in memoriam on Ozzy Osbourne for The Grammys. www.grammy.com/news/ozzy-os...

I wrote a fun essay about superman and pop-punk for this week's NPR Music newsletter. It will be sent out this weekend, sign up if you wanna read it thanks!https://www.npr.org/newsletter/music

@guygavrielkay.bsky.social Started to get lost in your latest yesterday. 👍👍

Our hearts are heavy for our friends and neighbors in Texas impacted by the devastating flooding. From now until Saturday, July 12, we will donate $5 from every Music Issue sold to the Kerr County Flood Relief Fund.

Thanks to my alma mater for including my new @dundurnpress.bsky.social ⛳️ book in this esteemed list of summer reads.

Happy Juneteenth!

I wrote a few words for GRAMMY.com about Brian Wilson & the wide-ranging influence of this musical genius & visionary. #brianwilsonRIP www.grammy.com/news/brian-w...

With Steve Earle getting invited late last week to join the Grand Ole Opry, revisit this 2015 feature I wrote about the hardcore troubadour and Grammy -winning songwriter. open.substack.com/pub/davidmcp...

“Going Coastal” with Neil … my latest rumination on the feature film directed by Neil’s wife Daryl Hannah. open.substack.com/pub/davidmcp...

Thanks Tim. You definitely need to return and see a show at the revitalized and rejuvenated Massey.

Thanks for the plug.

Back in 1970, 🇨🇦 singer Anne Murray took Gene MacLellan’s song “Snowbird” all the way to No. 1 on the U.S. charts. The cross-over hit was later covered by more than 100 other artists. Learn more about this song that lingers on in my latest Substack & subscribe here: open.substack.com/pub/davidmcp...

Calling all golfers! ⛳ While you wait for the green to be less snow-filled, why not test your knowledge of the beautiful game with #golf trivia, fun facts, and little-known history. Indigo: https://buff.ly/3Q4lY4q Amazon: https://buff.ly/3EANB2q Local Bookstore: https://buff.ly/3CMlJb3

RIP to another live music venue—The Dakota Tavern. I discovered this Toronto spot thanks to Luke Doucet. It’s where I discovered many new artists & spent many a late night Some nights I was too far gone in my drinking days & other nights was far too sober. open.substack.com/pub/davidmcp...

Eight out of my nine books have been used without consent, acknowledgement or payment to generate AI content. 20+ years work. Almost a million words. Stolen. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Okay friends this is a fun challenge. Canada's right are rallying around Elon Musk to say much they love him. They are freaked out that my petition is about to be become most signed petition in Canadian history. Send a message to Elon, please sign my petition. www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

Felt today was a good day to revisit a pair of deep and interesting conversations I had in the past with the sonic genius — 🇨🇦 Daniel Lanois. open.substack.com/pub/davidmcp...

Seven years! That was an enjoyable conversation and my first of several deep dives on music with Mike — an engaging interviewer and podcast I highly recommend.

As winter’s embrace feels never-ending in parts of North America, start dreaming of spring—and tee off your golf season—with my new book, out in 🇨🇦 today. #bookbirthday #golf #newbook #booksky

RIP to one of my favorite authors: Tom Robbins. I discovered his weird, wonderful & unpredictable novels — like “Skinny Legs and All,” “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” and “Another Roadside Attraction” — thanks to Canadian poet Susan Musgrave.

Just finished this classic; it sat on my bookshelf for decades. The first time I picked it up, I struggled. This time I got lost in the stream of consciousness prose of Lowry’s main character: Geoffrey Firmin, an alcoholic, lost, lonely, living in Mexico against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War

My latest substack piece is the from my new book Dangerous Memory. "These are troubling times. I just can’t seem to get my bearings. I search for signposts and familiar patterns, but it’s like looking through the distortions of a funhouse mirror." substack.com/home/post/p-...

On this day in 1982: The J Geils Band started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Centrefold,’ the bands only US No.1. ‘Freeze-Frame’ was the first LP I ever bought. Anytime I hear “Centrefold” I’m brought back to that moment I first heard this earworm. What was your first LP?

Fore! The countdown is on. Two weeks today my new book — 101 Fascinating Golf Facts — arrives. #golf #books #gratitude

Another incredible writer has joined! Please follow @catherinehernandez.bsky.social Also if you haven’t read her latest book BEHIND YOU, grab a copy from your local indie bookstore! www.indiebookstores.ca

Ever since we hit the road in 87, we’ve been writing about the soft strength and sublime greatness of our complicated country. Continue to support the workers, artists, farmers, makers who live where you do; they prosper, we prosper. Let’s look north not south. Let’s see what we can find that’s new

Follow my weekly ruminations on my Substack. substack.com/@davidmcpher...

My conversation with Neko Case about her just released hard-hitting, poignant & funny memoir “The Harder I Fight the More I Love You” in today’s Toronto Star print edition. Highly recommend this book. #books #nekocase

Love this new track. It's got a whole Peter Gunn kinda vibe in parts and @suefoley.bsky.social's Telecaster is 🔥. Perfect for cranking on a Friday afternoon (esp after the week we've had that feels like a month).

Folk for Folk’s Sake. The kind of music that turns strangers into friends warmed Michiganders and visitors from far and near at the 48th annual Ann Arbor Folk Festival. My take. open.substack.com/pub/davidmcp...

Filled with gratitude as my next book arrives in less than one month. Learn fascinating facts about the grand-old game like this one: In Scotland, where golf was invented in the Middle Ages, the sport was later banned — not just once, but three times. www.dundurn.com/books_/t2211...

On this day in 1971, Neil Young played two shows at Massey Hall in Toronto. IMHO the resulting 2007 album, which showcases a 25-year-old solo acoustic Neil talkative & testing songs like “Old Man” that appeared on Harvest—is the best live album of all-time. What are your favorite live records?

Stevie Wonder was officially inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony held at New York City's Waldorf Astoria 36 years ago on January 18, 1989 | Explore more here: https://album.ink/SWonderAlbums

"We’re worried that a lot of people don’t understand the tie between what’s happening now to other immigrants and what happened to Japanese Americans [83 years ago]."—Susan Hayase, interviewed in @sfchronicle.com

A suburban townhouse, 4 college dudes huddled around an assortment of low-budget gear, singing & playing with reckless abandon. Seventeen years on from the first of these late-night garage-rock jams, the road for indie-pop quartet Jane’s Party is still wide open. www.socanmagazine.ca/features/jan...

Seems like a good excuse to post Julian Taylor: www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNbZ...