conventions

Neel, Heather, and Phil on a Zoom call

Heather Feather: Children’s songs with a message

Canadian children’s artist, Heather Feather, is pleased to announce her second studio album, Together, out on June 27, 2025. The 2025 ECMA “Children’s Artist of the Year,” award recipient holds a PhD in Music Theory from McGill, a Bachelor of Music from Memorial University, and is a fearless disability advocate, recently partnering with international advocacy …

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Neel, Frank, and Phil on a Zoom call

Songwriting Challenge 2025 Launch: Write a song in an odd time signature

Our songwriting challenge for 2025 is to write a song in an odd time signature.  Award-winning composer and educator Frank Horvat joined us with his pick of odd-time-signature songs. Thanks Frank! We talked about: Our re-discovered Patreon Page – thanks for your support! Juno Awards 2025: Congratulations to our previous guests Julian Taylor and Aphrose …

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Roger and Neel

Bending the songwriting rules with Roger Beckett

Roger Beckett is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, community builder and artist manager from Pickering, Ontario. He has written and had songs released in various genres, “Fade Away” (Country), “7 Billion” (Pop), with Canadian and US songwriters and artists. He has also performed at various venues in Toronto and at the Bluebird and Commodore in Nashville. …

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Darrin James sitting in a forest with his acoustic guitar

Writing a non-romantic love song with Darrin James

Darrin James is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter, and producer known for his distinctive gravelly voice, thoughtful lyrics, and soulful musicianship. His eclectic production style encompasses a growing range of influences, often fusing gritty, bluesy guitar playing with rustic, acoustic elements of Americana and soul-style Hammond organ and horns. His new album, “See Right Through,” is his …

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