The playlist this week is for Canada Day next Thursday. Canada is a flawed country and with recent news of more of our dark history coming to light, I wondered if I should be celebrating Canada in song or not. I still believe Canada is a pretty great country, flaws and all. There is a lot of change that needs to happen and work to be done on reconciliation,  on searching for the other bodies of children who died at residential schools and on many other issues. My hope is that we can come together as Canadians whether we are indigenous or immigrants and that celebrating Canada Day can be part of that coming together.

We have some tracks from the likes of Stompin’ Tom Connors, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot and of course plenty from The Tragically Hip. Jason Collette, Classified, The Weakerthans also have something to sing about Canada. Others try to say it instrumentally such as Boskorgi, The Cosmic Range, Do Make Say Think, Jon Neher/Michael Scott Dawson and Evening Hymns. There are songs about Canada, Turtle Island, about provinces and cities of Canada, about The North, about winter, and a bunch that are just very Canadian such as The Hidden Cameras version of The Log Driver’s Waltz. There is over 9 hours of music on the playlist now. That should get you through the day.

Happy Canada Day!