Hi! Here's an overtly political song, perhaps cringingly so. Fellow Canucks may get some of the references. Travelling today - quickly put this on my phone on the way out the door this morning & I'm finally somewhere I can post it. I'll catch up on today's songs later tonight! 👋😀🎸 #HomeMadeMusic

Wiz Ball@wizball50.bsky.social · 5d ago

Morning #musiciansky mates! I don't tend to write political songs, but the news still finds its way in to a lot of them. Post a song of yours inspired by news or events: might be political, might be 4,000 holes in Blackburn, Lancs. Loose as you like! Mark it #HomeMadeMusic & quote this post 🙏

My 21 year-old niece has been visiting us from Toronto for the past week. Here are just a few of the musical exchanges we've had that have renewed my faith in the younger generation: She asked me some thoughtful questions about Steely Dan. We listened to Aja. 1/5...

Home At Last

YouTube video by Steely Dan - Topic

youtu.be

#HomeMadeMusic Hi! My submission this week is a hot mess - with timing and tuning issues, suspect guitar tone, dodgy drums, and generally sloppy playing all around. Why proud? It was one of the first tunes I recorded after getting my mini studio up and running - a "proof of concept" track that...

Wiz Ball@wizball50.bsky.social · 2w ago

Morning Music Makers We're far too hard on ourselves aren't we? Always our own worst critics. Well, not today! Please share a song of yours that has something about it you're dead proud of: a lyric, a solo, the whole thing. Mark it #HomeMadeMusic, and maybe quote this post. #musicsky #musiciansky

Happy Saturday, songsmiths! My submission for this week’s theme is a short song called "Bird." It’s meant to capture a feeling of being free and content - a high of sorts, I suppose. #HomeMadeMusic #musicsky

Wiz Ball@wizball50.bsky.social · 3w ago

Morning fellow Music Botherers, As it's the weekend I reckon we can let our hair down with today's theme: Post a song of yours best enjoyed on a high. Exactly what kind of 'high' is entirely up to you. All I ask is that you add #HomeMadeMusic and quote this post with it. #musicsky #musiciansky

#ClocktoberMusic #MusicChallenge From a 1954 Leonard Chess session, here's the great Jimmy Witherspoon singing “Time Brings About a Change,” featuring ace Chicago session guitarist Lee Cooper. I pretty much wore out my cassette copy of this compilation album in my teens. #MusicSky #NowPlaying

Jimmy Witherspoon - Time Brings About A Change

YouTube video by diggingtreasures

youtu.be

Terrific release today from American indie rock artist Negative Sleep. This is the kind of album that washes over you. Beautifully crafted songs, wonderfully warm acoustic and electric tones. Honest, human-made music, and it's marvelous. #AlbumRelease #NewMusic #NowPlaying @tmchambers.bsky.social

Negative Sleep, by Negative Sleep

16 track album

negativesleep.bandcamp.com

One of my favourite songs, from a desert-island album. David Lindley’s playing throughout is exquisite, and Jackson Browne’s songwriting is masterful. Both at the top of their game here, in my estimation. Happy birthday, Jackson!

Irene Fraser@boozybluesy.bsky.social · 3w ago

youtu.be/n3SJz9jujEA?... JACKSON BROWNE 'Late For The Sky' Happy 78th birthday to Jackson Browne 🥂 🍾 🎂 🎊 🎁 🎵🎸🎼🎸🎶

The Jazz Cats on the Canadian kids' show The Friendly Giant. Truly the stuff of childhood fever dreams. 😳

Friendly Giant: Music About Summer (1982), with Angie & Fiddle, 480x360

YouTube video by speirsr

youtu.be

Sleepy Hollow Reviews 🎃🐎@sleepingvillage.bsky.social · 4w ago

In honor of scary media month: what is the first piece of media you remember truly frightening you as a child?

#IsmuasMonthOfMusic #MusicChallenge #MusicSky Day 5: A song that makes you laugh. The Kids in the Hall - "Daves I Know"

The Daves I Know

YouTube video by javiehe09

youtu.be

Yup - there's a great story implied in "Midnight Train to Georgia". It could definitely be a novel. Incidentally, the Pips deliver my all-time favourite backup vocal performance on this track. Just incredible. Gladys Knight isn't too shabby, either! Here it is:

Gladys Knight & The Pips - Midnight Train to Georgia (Official Audio)

YouTube video by GladysKnightTPVEVO

youtu.be

Kate Armstrong@brainchain.ca · 4w ago

They talk about novels as songs and the two I think about a lot from that era are Gladys Knight and the Pips ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ and Bobbie Gentry’s ‘Apartment 21’.

Just heard that we've lost Sass Jordan. Damn. She was a staple of Canadian rock radio and MuchMusic back in the day. What an incredible voice. From her 1988 album Tell Somebody, here's "So Hard": #CanCon #CanadianMusic

Sass Jordan - So Hard (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by UnidiscMusic

youtu.be

Happy Saturday, Wiz Ball and fellow songwriters! My weather-related song mentions winter snowstorms in the chorus. It's called "Cool Summer Morning" (not sure why I didn't use it for the "morning" theme a few weeks ago). I remember having a cold when I recorded the vocals. #HomeMadeMusic #MusicSky

Wiz Ball@wizball50.bsky.social · 4w ago

Morning Songwrights! I'm back from navigating a dog walk across floodlands, caused by about 5" of rain falling in 10 mins. Hence today's theme: Post a song of yours that mentions, was inspired by or has any kind of tenuous link to the weather. Mark it #HomeMadeMusic and quote this post too 🙏

Did the "My 9 Albums" thing. Nine spots is brutal. I was a bit dismayed by what I left off. No Joni Mitchell or Pavement? Where's Blue Rodeo and the Hip? No bloody George Jones? On any given day, six of these slots could easily be filled by other albums. Not the top three, though. Those ones stay.

Is anyone else weirdly satisfied by crafting a Bluesky post to utilize the entire character allotment? As the counter approaches zero and the little blue circle nears completion, my word selection and sentence structure become awkwardly strategized to bring things in for another... perfect landing.

Do yourself a favour and listen to Loss Lines, the new album by UK musician Never The Bridle. It's packed full of melodic, charmingly quirky pop rock. The entire album brims with fresh ideas, interesting arrangements, and great songwriting. #BandcampFriday #MusicSky @neverthebridle.bsky.social

Loss Lines, by Never the Bridle

10 track album

neverthebridle.bandcamp.com

If you're into prog-jazz-fusion, do yourself a favour and listen to Danksy. They're wonderfully frenetic, harmonically sophisticated, and a ton of fun. #NowPlaying #Music

'Worm & God' by DANKSY (live performance)

YouTube video by Aaron Danks

youtu.be

Alan Syliboy & The Thundermakers perform a brilliant version of Joel Plaskett's “Nowhere With You.” Out of Millbrook First Nation in the traditional Mi'kmaq district of Sipekne’katik, here they are: #CanCon #CanadianMusic #NovaScotia

Nowhere With You

YouTube video by Alan Syliboy & The Thundermakers - Topic

youtu.be

My wife and I baked a delicious batch of apple dumplings last night using a time-tested recipe recently shared by Isaac Albeniz (@pardosa.bsky.social). They turned out wonderfully! Many thanks to you and your mom, Isaac! 🍏👋😀 #recipe #recipes #baking 🍜

Isaac Albeniz 🇨🇦@pardosa.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Here’s a recipe for Apple Dumplings that’s been in my family for almost 90 years. As you can see from the stains on the card it has been used extensively! I had to laminate the card to keep it from disintegrating! 😁 Great as a desert, especially after Thanksgiving dinner. Enjoy!

What band changed more stylistically throughout their career than The Damned? I had a bit of genre whiplash as a teen when I went directly from the raw, hooky first-wave punk rock of their 1977 Peel Sessions EP to the darkly melodic, polished goth rock of their 1985 album Phantasmagoria.

Last week we visited Charlotte's Family Orchard in beautiful Gagetown, NB. There's nothing like a perfectly ripe apple, fresh off the tree. I've been a bit disappointed in the McIntoshes at the grocery stores lately, but now I've fallen in love with Macs all over again! 🍎 #NewBrunswick

In case anyone wants to take part in #HomeMadeMusic today but is put off by the theme, a song that ends an album or collection, or the last song you recorded with a certain instrument or bit of gear would fulfil that brief perfectly well too 😉

Wiz Ball@wizball50.bsky.social · last mo.

Good morning to all you writers of songs! Since last we spoke summer here has ended, inspiring today's theme: Post a song you've written about an end; to a relationship, an era, a pint—that's up to you. All I ask is that you mark it #HomeMadeMusic and quote this post. 😘 #musiciansky #musicsky

#HomeMadeMusic Hello, Wiz Ball and fellow songwriters! Here's my song about endings. It's called "Walk Away". Thanks for listening. 👋😀 The video features remixed footage from the 1968 public-domain film "Appalachia: Rich Land, Poor People", by Lee Lockwood and Don Lenzer. #musiciansky #musicsky

There's a new Lisa LeBlanc album coming out in January! She's just released the second single from the upcoming album, and here it is. From New Brunswick by way of Montreal, here's Acadie's own Lisa LeBlanc: #CanCon #CanadianMusic #NowPlaying

Lisa LeBlanc - A Fleeting Thought Becomes Another Fleeting Thought (Official Music Video)

YouTube video by Lisa LeBlanc

youtu.be

Listening to a lot of Kim Mitchell this evening. This 1984 video for "Go For Soda" may be my favourite vid of all time. When it came on Video Hits or Good Rockin' Tonight, we knew we were in for a good time. Ten yr old me didn't know what soda was at first. "Go For Pop" doesn't have the same ring.

Kim Mitchell - Go For Soda

YouTube video by KimMitchellVEVO

youtu.be

Just heard the sad news about the passing of Canadian lyricist and poet Pye Dubois. He had an amazing body of work, mostly with Max Webster / Kim Mitchell. He also collaborated with Neil Peart on a few Rush songs, including Tom Sawyer. Here's a classic, co-written by Dubois and Kim Mitchell:

Kim Mitchell - Easy To Tame

YouTube video by KimMitchellVEVO

youtu.be

Yup, Dee Dee was a hugely influential talent. Here's one of my fav Dee Dee-penned songs, from Rocket to Russia (which I consider to be the pinnacle of first-wave punk rock). Damn, I love that album! 1, 2, 3, 4 ...

Ramones - "Rockaway Beach" - Rocket to Russia

YouTube video by Ramones

youtu.be

Kate Armstrong@brainchain.ca · last mo.

He wrote so many iconic Ramones tracks including my fav. Rest in power , babes. m.youtube.com/watch?v=HJWF...

Look like it's going to be a lovely day out there! 🌞

Bill Withers - Lovely Day (Official Audio)

YouTube video by BillWithersVEVO

youtu.be

A tip of the hat to Rustee Allen, who played what I consider to be one of the greatest bass lines of all time on this track:

If You Want Me to Stay

YouTube video by Sly & The Family Stone - Topic

youtu.be

Kate Armstrong@brainchain.ca · last mo.

I feel like we all need a universal coping mechanism. So let’s share your favourite bass guitarist or bassist. 

Hi, Wiz Ball and #HomeMadeMusic crew! Here's my "event" song. I guess you could say it's about an election and the aftermath of said election. I wrote it in early 2025. Cheers! #musicsky #musiciansky

Wiz Ball@wizball50.bsky.social · last mo.

Good Morning Songwriters and Musicsmiths! Last week's theme was a bit tricky, so we're going with a simpler one this time. *Theme*: Post a song of yours about an event. Interpret 'event' as you wish. Just be sure you mark it #HomeMadeMusic, and quote this post if you can. #musicsky #musiciansky

Did Ramin Djawadi borrow from Alex Lifeson when he composed the Game of Thrones theme? Have a listen to the timestamped link below from 9:02 to 9:20, and then continue this short thread. From Lifeson's guitar solo on "No One at the Bridge", the third movement of The Fountain of Lamneth:

The Fountain Of Lamenth

YouTube video by Rush - Topic

youtu.be