Crystal Shawanda Honours Raul Malo With Soulful Cover of "Come Unto Me," First Single From Upcoming Album 'Homesick Indian Blues' + Announces Canadian Tour

 

JUNO Award-winning powerhouse Crystal Shawanda releases "Come Unto Me" today on all streaming platforms, a heartfelt cover of The Mavericks classic and the first single from her forthcoming album 'Homesick Indian Blues'. The recording carries deep personal meaning for Shawanda, serving as a tribute to Raul Malo, the Mavericks' famed frontman, whose early support helped launch her career.

The story reaches back to Shawanda's earliest days in Nashville, when she and her band played for tips in the back room upstairs at Tootsies on Broadway, a room reserved at the time for acts the industry had given up on. Performing a mix of pre 1975 country, blues and rock and roll, Shawanda’s group built a devoted following among the songwriters, artists and producers who came to watch, Malo among them. "We never bothered Raul when he came in," Shawanda recalls. "We could see he was trying to lay low."

That changed the night of her RCA Records showcase, when Shawanda looked up and saw Malo in the crowd. His presence meant everything to a young artist who admired him precisely because he never fit the country music mould. "That support, that interest, it inspired me and encouraged me," she says, calling it one of the breadcrumbs that told her to keep going. When The Mavericks reunited years later with Eddie Perez joining the lineup, Shawanda and her husband, producer and guitarist Dewayne Strobel, began dreaming of one day collaborating with the band whose records had shaped them both.

That dream took on new urgency when the couple began working up "Come Unto Me" just before Malo's passing in December 2025. Strobel encouraged Shawanda to carry the song forward as a tribute rather than set it aside, and invited Perez to be part of the recording. Perez accepted, contributing electric and acoustic guitars and backing vocals, and personally walked Shawanda through his parts on the track. "I was like a little kid, so nervous and excited," she says of the session, describing Perez sharing stories of his years alongside Malo.

Malo himself once explained that the song drew inspiration from the film King Kong, the idea that even a giant can be rendered vulnerable by love. Shawanda has embraced that same spirit in her version, delivering the material with the commanding, full throated vocal power that has defined her blues catalogue for over a decade, set against the Tex Mex textures of a Flamingo Pink Stratocaster that Strobel acquired directly from Perez. "My husband and I have lived these words," Shawanda says, "and I think that really shines through in this track."

Born and raised in Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Shawanda signed with RCA Nashville in her early twenties and released 'Dawn of a New Day' in 2008, the highest charting album by a full blooded Canadian Indigenous country artist in the SoundScan era. She became the first Indigenous woman to win the Canadian Country Music Award for Female Artist of the Year in 2009, before shifting fully into the blues, a run that has produced JUNO wins for 'Church House Blues' and a Billboard Blues Chart Top 10 debut with 'Midnight Blues.' Her most recent album, 'Sing Pretty Blues,' topped the Indigenous Music Countdown in 2025 and earned JUNO and Canadian Blues Music Award nominations. In 2012, she founded New Sun Records, the first female and Indigenous owned record label in Canada, which she continues to run while mentoring emerging Indigenous artists.

Crystal Shawanda Tour Dates:

July 31 @ 10:00 AM, Wikwemikong Park Centre, Wikwemikong, ON

August 6 @ 7:00 PM, Red Arrow Brewing Company, Duncan, BC

August 8 @ 6:30 PM, Maffeo Sutton Park, Nanaimo, BC

August 15 @ 6:00 PM, Berczy Park, Toronto, ON

August 29 @ 8:00 PM, Massey Fair, Massey, ON

September 5 @ 8:00 PM, Playland Amusement Park, Vancouver, BC

September 11 @ 6:00 PM, Port Credit Memorial Park, Mississauga, ON

September 12 @ 5:30 PM, Badlands Amphitheatre, Drumheller, AB

September 26 @ 7:30 PM, Palais Montcalm, Québec, QC

September 27 @ 3:00 PM, Lakefield United Church, Lakefield, ON

January 16, 2027 @ 8:00 PM, Italian Cultural Centre, Thunder Bay, ON

January 18, 2027 @ 7:30 PM, Dryden Regional Training and Cultural Centre, Dryden, ON

January 21, 2027 @ 7:30 PM, Townshend Theatre, Fort Frances, ON

Heezer

 

Heezer was formed in South Karelia, Finland late 2020 when the global situation at the time left four rockers hanging loosely from the neck. Something had to be done. The musicians got together one cold winter evening to jam and see what comes out of it. Basic idea that followed was: STONER ROCK. It took only a couple of jam sessions when members of the band found out that playing together was effortless and the basic sound of Heezer was born almost by itself.

In summer 2021, recordings of the 4-song debut EP started. Raw sound and powerful riffs combined with memorable melodies and groovy rhythm section immediately attracted attention and got some great reviews. In 2022 Heezer already had songs ready for the debut album. “Sungrinder” came out via Argonauta Records in March 2023, taking songwriting even further as the band’s synergy grew more. All releases so far have been highly praised by multiple reviews and more music will follow as the band’s journey has only begun. And in the present day when live music is flowing, Heezer is ready to say what they have to say.

 https://heezerband.com/

Kitsa

 

Kitsa is a heavy rock band from Port Orchard, Washington, blending crushing riffs, groove-driven sludge, stoner rock, and the grit of ’90s heavy metal and grunge. Kitsa delivers a sound built on massive guitars, hard-earned melody, and unapologetic heaviness.

Following the release of their debut album, Dead by Dawn, Kitsa returns with their second full-length album, II, set for release on September 18, 2026. The new record pushes the band’s sound further into heavier, darker territory while sharpening the hooks, grooves, and dynamics that define Kitsa.

II features Tony Reed on bass, who also produced, recorded, mixed, and mastered the album. The record was captured at APL and Heavy Head Recording Co., bringing Reed’s unmistakable ear for heavy, organic rock into the heart of Kitsa’s evolving sound.

Leading into the album, Kitsa will release the upcoming single “Avaleigh” on July 7, 2026. Inspired by a real person the band met while playing shows in Oregon, “Avaleigh” carries a deeply human story beneath its weight and atmosphere, capturing the connection that can come from a brief encounter and the lasting impact of someone willing to share their life with strangers.

With II, Kitsa enters its next chapter louder, heavier, and more focused, carving out a sound where Pacific Northwest grit meets Southern sludge, stoner rock haze, and ’90s metal muscle.

Kitsa is Skot Davis on vocals, Chris Pound on guitar and vocals, and Randy Fort on drums, with Tony Reed featured on bass for II.

https://www.facebook.com/kitsaband

 

LISTEN TO THEM HERE

LIVE STREAM >> HERE

 

Saturna-Self Told Lies

 

We are heading back to Spain for the latest release from Stoner/Rock band Saturna, the band lead by the very talent James Vieco on guitar and vocals. This the first new music from the band since 2023`s album "The Reset" and the first taste from their new album "Light And Shadow" which is released on th 17<sup>th</sup> September 2026. "Self Told Lies" has James`s trademark vocals, very similar to Chris Cornell and has of course has a Sabbath/Soundgarden feel about it.

Saturna was formed in November 2010 in Spain (Barcelona), ​​as a project to develop some ideas of Rod (bass player). Experience and musicianship of the current formation has been demonstrated in different bands for the last 10 years during many concerts and recording sessions. The debut album "The Kingdom of Spirit" (2012) is a compilation of songs of the early years and has been enriched by the many influences of the band members, which is the strong point of Saturna's classic rock with psychedelic stoner influences.

David Clayton-Thomas, Legendary Voice of Blood, Sweat & Tears, Dies at 84

 

David Clayton-Thomas, the Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer and songwriter whose powerhouse voice propelled Blood, Sweat & Tears to the summit of popular music, died peacefully on the evening of Wednesday, June 24, 2026, at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. He was 84.

One of the most recognizable voices of his generation, Clayton-Thomas sang the hell out of every song he touched, soaring and sunny one moment, a deep and somber shade of blue the next. Over a career that carried him from the streets of Toronto to the stage at Woodstock and beyond, he sold more than 40 million records and helped shape the very sound of jazz-rock.

Born David Henry Thomsett in Surrey, England, on September 13, 1941, he was the son of Fred Thomsett, a Canadian soldier, and Freda, an English music student who met while she entertained troops at a London hospital. After the war the family settled in Willowdale, a suburb of Toronto. His early years were marked by hardship and a troubled relationship with his father, and by the age of fourteen he was living on the streets, surviving however he could and passing through a series of jails and reformatories. It was there, with a battered guitar left behind by a departing inmate, that he taught himself to play and discovered the talent that would change his life. For the first time, in jailhouse concerts, he found acceptance, and he never looked back.

Released in 1962, he gravitated to Toronto's Yonge Street strip, where the rhythm and blues drifting up from Detroit and Chicago became his education. The rockabilly legend Ronnie Hawkins recognized his formidable gift and took him under his wing, and before long Clayton-Thomas was fronting his own bands, first David Clayton-Thomas and the Fabulous Shays, then the jazz-infused Bossmen, one of the earliest rock bands anywhere to weave jazz musicians into its ranks. In 1966 he wrote and recorded the blistering anti-war anthem "Brainwashed," which stormed to the top of the Canadian charts.

His destiny changed one night in New York City, where folk singer Judy Collins heard him perform and told her friend, drummer Bobby Colomby, about the extraordinary voice she had encountered. Colomby's band, Blood, Sweat & Tears, had recently fractured, and he invited Clayton-Thomas to help rebuild it. The result was history. The band's 1968 self-titled album, his first with the group, sold ten million copies worldwide, topped the Billboard chart for seven weeks, and remained on the chart for an astonishing 109 weeks. It won five Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, famously besting the Beatles' 'Abbey Road,' and spun off three signature hits that each reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100: "You've Made Me So Very Happy," "And When I Die," and Clayton-Thomas's own composition, "Spinning Wheel." His searing rendition of Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" became a signature of his own.

With Clayton-Thomas at the microphone, Blood, Sweat & Tears became one of the defining acts of its era, headlining the Royal Albert Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House, the Hollywood Bowl, Madison Square Garden, the Newport Jazz Festival, and Woodstock, and following up with hit albums including 'Blood, Sweat & Tears 3' and 'Blood, Sweat & Tears 4,' which featured his hits "Lucretia MacEvil" and "Go Down Gamblin'." In 1970 the band made history as the first rock group to break through the Iron Curtain, touring Eastern Europe at the request of the U.S. State Department, an extraordinary and fraught chapter later chronicled in the acclaimed 2023 documentary 'What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?' Exhausted by years of relentless touring, he left the band in 1972, returning mid-decade and ultimately leading the group through its many incarnations until 2004.

Throughout a remarkable solo career, Clayton-Thomas released nearly a dozen albums under his own name. Among them was 'The Evergreens' in 2008, which he often named as his personal favourite, and 'Combo' in 2015, a labour of love that returned him to his roots, singing jazz and blues in the intimate clubs of Toronto where it all began. With the big, brassy sound of Blood, Sweat & Tears long behind him, he pared his band down to a bare minimum on that record, relying on a quintet of Canada's finest jazz musicians to showcase that unmistakable voice. His later work grew increasingly fearless and political, culminating in 2020's 'Say Somethin'.' He also hosted his own CBC television series, and in 2010, the same year he survived serious heart surgery, performed at Massey Hall with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

In his later years, Clayton-Thomas became a passionate advocate for justice-involved youth, drawing on his own hard adolescence to lift up young people facing the same struggles he once knew. He became a devoted champion of Peacebuilders Canada, the Toronto-based charity that promotes restorative youth justice, alternatives to incarceration, and conflict resolution in schools and communities. He wrote and recorded the song "The System" specifically to support the organization's restorative justice programs, and headlined numerous fundraising galas and benefit concerts on its behalf, including major shows at Toronto's Koerner Hall. His advocacy, like his music, came straight from lived experience, and a fierce belief that no young person should be defined by their worst moment.

His contributions were honoured many times over. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, received a special Juno Award for his outstanding contribution to Canadian music, earned a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in 2010, and in 2007 saw "Spinning Wheel" enshrined in the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. His searing 2010 memoir, 'Blood, Sweat and Tears,' told the unvarnished story of his journey from homeless street kid to international stardom, a story, above all, of grit, courage, and survival.

Living back in Toronto in his later years, the city he always considered home, Clayton-Thomas continued to perform and record with characteristic passion. “People like me don't retire,” he once said with a grin. “This is what I was put here to do.”

David Clayton-Thomas is survived by his daughters, Ashleigh Clayton-Thomas and Christine Graham. A memorial concert celebrating his life and music will be held at a later date, with proceeds benefiting Peacebuilders Canada, the cause so close to his heart. He leaves behind one of the most extraordinary voices in the history of Canadian music, and a legacy that secures his place among the finest vocalists this country has ever produced.

Karahka Unleash a Fierce Stoner Rock Blast on “Summer Hell”

Karahka’s new single “Summer Hell” is a burst of aggressive stoner rock that flirts with punk and hard rock. The band spices things up with a touch of metallic edge, resulting in a uniquely aggressive form of rock.

“Summer Hell” is a wryly self-ironic story about the band’s chaotic summer schedule. The “summer hell” breaks loose when gigs are double-booked, one member has scheduled a holiday trip, another has a dentist appointment, and someone is working night shifts.
The new single marks another step toward Karahka’s third album, scheduled for release in early 2027. A substantial amount of material has already been written, and the album’s overarching theme is now clear. The record will consist of stories in which circumstances push people to the brink of madness and what can happen at its worst.

“Summer Hell” represents the lighter, tongue-in-cheek side of that theme.

“The upcoming album will also feature glimpses of hope in the midst of a mad world. Close relationships and communities can carry you through, even when reality feels chaotic. The families and communities we grow up in can either break your mind or help you survive,” says guitarist Juuso Vettenranta.

Formed in 2020, Karahka is a prolific band. Their debut album Dark Side of the Night was released in 2024, followed by their second album Modern Fanfares in December 2025.
The first single from the upcoming album, “Temptations,” was released earlier this spring.

“Summer Hell” available on:
Spotify
Apple Music
Tidal
Qobuz
Deezer
“Summer Hell” lyric video:
YouTube
Line-up:
Jaan Lehti – drums, vocals
Juuso Vettenranta – guitar, backing vocals
Mikko Teittinen – guitar, backing vocals
Ari Enqvist – bass, vocals

Molly Johnson Announces New Album 'Talk to Me' Out June 26

 

 

Recognized as one of Canada’s greatest voices, Molly Johnson announces her new album Talk To Me, arriving June 26 via Universal Music Canada. The 10-track project combines music from Johnson’s recent All I See and Long Time Running EPs with four new recordings, including lead single “Holiday,” out now, further showcasing her unmistakable voice and continued artistic evolution.

Across the album, Johnson collaborates with artists from across generations of Canadian music, including JUNO Award-winning rapper Haviah Mighty, rising producer and artist CUBE, and Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. The result is a deeply collaborative body of work that blends soul, jazz, R&B, and rock through Johnson’s singular artistic lens.

At the heart of the album is “Talk To Me,” a call-and-response collaboration with Haviah Mighty centred around listening, dialogue, and connection across generations. Pairing Molly’s signature vocal style with Haviah’s sharp lyricism, the track reflects a meaningful exchange between two distinct voices and perspectives.

“What does a 67-year-old woman and a 21-year-old kid have in common? A real love of great music,” says Johnson about working with producer and artist CUBE. “I really believe we need to listen to younger voices, and I feel so excited that I get to be part of this new generation of music. The future looks bright to me.”

The album also features Johnson’s stirring interpretation of The Tragically Hip’s “Long Time Running,” recorded with Jim Cuddy of Blue Rodeo. First released in 1991, the song remains a defining piece of the Canadian musical canon, here reimagined with a sense of intimacy and reverence that honours its enduring legacy.

“This has been a long time coming,” says Johnson. “I’ve always wanted to record a duet with Jim. We’ve been friends for years, so to finally collaborate on a song by our beloved The Tragically Hip feels like real magic.”

Across the album, Johnson is joined by her long-time collaborators, including Davide Di Renzo, Mike Downes and Robi Botos, whose enduring musical partnership remains central to her sound. New recordings including “Holiday,” “Happy,” “Sunday Morning,” and “Just As Bad As You” further expand the album’s rich and deeply collaborative musical world.

Talk To Me will be available June 26 via Universal Music Canada.