Songs from CBC Radio 2's Songquest Premiere Today

Awhile back CBC Radio 2 asked Canadians what Canadian places needed a song and asked you to vote on places as well as who should write the songs. Today those songs are debuting on RADIO 2 DRIVE, at 3:30 p.m. (4 NT). To celebrate the newest entries into Canada’s songbook, all 13 artists will be on-air live to discuss their respective songs and the locations that inspired them.

“We’ve really made musical history here,” said Mark Steinmetz, director of music programming, CBC Radio. “Never before have Canadians from coast-to-coast been able to have such direct, immediate influence on the music that matters to them. These songs are for all of us—music about Canada, by Canadians, for Canadians.”

The songs (places and artists) chosen go like this:

Tough City, (Tofino, B.C.), by Oh Susanna
The Ballad of Mary White, (Hoodoos/Badlands, Alta.), by Jay Sparrow
Charlie’s (is coming down), (Good Time Charlie’s at The Plains, Sask.), by The Deep Dark Woods
In Waskada Somewhere, (Waskada, Man.), by Chantal Kreviazuk
Where They Left it Wild, (Algonquin Park, Ont.), by Hawksley Workman
Four Black Sheep in the Night, (The Black Sheep Inn, Que.), by Martha Wainwright
Don’t Drive Through, (Hopewell Rocks, N.B.), by David Myles
Singing Sands, (Singing Sand Beach, P.E.I.), by Catherine MacLellan
On the Rail, (The Cabot Trail, N.S.), by Joel Plaskett
Old Crow Black Night Stand Still, (Gros Morne National Park, Nfld.), by Hey Rosetta!
Time Before Bones, (Tuktoyaktuk Pingos, N.W.T.), by Dana Sipos
Dawson City, (Dawson City, YK), by Kim Barlow
Road to Nowhere, (The Road to Nowhere, NU), by Lucie Idlout

Tune in today at 3:30 p.m. to hear your picks. Who knows, maybe the person who keeps recording and uploading Bandwidth (whoever they are) will grab a copy of this too?