Ottawa resident Séan McCann and founder of Great Big Sea to release memoir

 Séan McCann, founder of Great Big Sea will release a memoir in April titled One Good Reason: A Memoir of Addiction and Recovery, Music, and Love. The narrative moves back and forth between Séan and his wife Andrea Aragon’s points of view as they move through his addiction, and recovery.

Looking Back, Gazing Ahead — It’s all Beautiful to Alan Doyle

 “They came to see you. So you be you and nobody else,” Gord Downie once told Alan Doyle. They are words he’s never forgotten. Words that remain as the one time member of Great Big Sea, Canada’s biggest party band, continues his career as a solo musician. Once, in what

Guitars for Vets Provides Musical Medicine

 “With a guitar in your hands you have an instant companion,” says musician Séan McCann. He knows firsthand of music’s potential to heal. These days he reaches for Old Brown instead of a bottle. While music has made up a big part of who he has been for much of

Recovery Day Ottawa Spreads Hope and Awareness

 “If we don’t break the stigma associated with substance use disorders and process addictions, then we will never see recovery. If there is no visible recovery and support for recovery, then there is no visible hope for those suffering and those that care for them. This is a complex issue

Album Reviews: September 19, 2017

 Alvvays - Antisocialites (Nova Scotia/Toronto) Coming off their powerfully stirring debut, Alvvays had expectations high for their follow-up. Mixing their control of emotion with a crushing sense of melody on this new release however, they manage to bring a lot more rock power to this latest release while packing just

Folk Music Ontario Conference Celebrates 30 Years

 All photos by Andre Gagne. When Murray Foster of Great Big Sea and other bands took the stage at the Folk Music of Ontario Conference Awards Brunch on Sunday, he admitted it was his first time at the conference. He didn’t know what to expect and now that it is

From the Rock to the Capital, Séan McCann’s Road to Recovery: Part 1

 Photos by Dave Howells / Artwork by Meaghan Smith Séan McCann stood facing the two men he’d spent 20 years of his life with. As musicians, they travelled miles together for hundreds of nights in song. Now they were silent. It was two months before a tour that would celebrate their band. Soon the