Hidden Track

We all remember the moment we discovered that secret song on one of our favourite albums. Often, those hidden gems provide a revealing peek behind-the-curtain, leading us to new insights about the artists and recordings we thought we knew. CKUA’s Hidden Track podcast aims to do the same, by bringing you stories that change the way you experience music. Any given week, we’ll get to the heart of the song with the musician who wrote it, reflect on a landmark recording with the producer and engineer who helped shape it, or examine the legacy of a musical icon with the critic, biographer or industry player who knows them best. Whoever the guest may be, each episode will provide a moment of discovery you won’t soon forget.

Shad | Elegies and Levity 11/07/2025

Hidden Track x Music Yukon | Part 3 10/24/2025

Yves Jarvis | Beyond DIY 10/10/2025

Willi Carlisle | Finding Winged Victory 09/26/2025

Peter Dreams | A Cinematic Life 09/12/2025

Bedouin Soundclash | Memory Is What You Know 08/29/2025

Tami Neilson | Light Up the Night 08/15/2025

Steve Marriner | Hear My Heart - Live 07/25/2025

Jeremy Dutcher | Full Circle 07/11/2025

Reuben and the Bullhorn Singers | All These Roads, All These Rivers 06/20/2025

Amy Millan | Easy Now 06/06/2025

Rose Cousins | Believe in Love 05/23/2025

Captain Tractor | It's Gold Gold! 05/09/2025

Starpainter | Live from Cold Bones 04/25/2025

Alan Doyle | Great Big CKUA 04/11/2025

Caity Gyorgy & Mark Limacher | Modern Classics 03/28/2025

MOONRIIVR | A Magical World 03/14/2025

Wyatt C. Louis | Homespun 02/28/2025

Tony D | Electric Life 12/13/2024

Tony D | Electric Life We've got a live one here! This is a live session with the celebrated Canadian artist Tony D, who for decades has been known as an electrifying guitar talent, equally expressive in styles ranging from blues to swing to acid rock to flamenco! Tony has travelled the world playing music, and has a trophy case worth of awards; but somehow his new record Electric Delta is the first proper new Tony D solo offering of original material in a couple of decades! And the album release party for this long-awaited new record is what we hear in this highly celebratory live CKUA Hidden Track Session. Between his solo projects, the celebrated Canadian band MonkeyJunk, and plenty of other musical activities, he's toured everywhere from Memphis to Italy, and all across Canada! He's even performed in the northernmost continuously inhabited place in the world — Alert, Nunavut. Alberta has long been a kind of second home to Tony D; and these days he's actually a part-time resident of this part of the world, when he isn't on the road, as his partner and family live in the province. In this final episode of Hidden Track Season 5, we hear the electrifying Tony D performing in front of a rapt audience at CKUA's Live Performance Space in Edmonton, joined by his longtime bass player Joe Hawkins, as well as two superb Edmonton-based musicians: keyboardist Rooster Davis and drummer Jamie Cooper. The sparks really fly between these four musicians and the audience, as they perform a diverse set of original material — a Tony D classic called "Argentinian Surf Tango", plus two standouts from the new album, "Highway 7" and the rousing opening salvo: a dynamic instrumental workout entitled "NAS". Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer Recording/Mastering for this session provided by Brendan Cross. The Hidden Track podcast is a CKUA production, made possible by the generosity of our donors. Thank you for your support! /episode/index/show/hiddentrack/id/34424070

Hidden Track x Music Yukon | Part 2 11/29/2024

Hidden Track x Music Yukon | Part 2 When you consider that the Yukon's population density is estimated to be roughly 0.07 people per square kilometre, it's kind of amazing the cultural imprint that the territory has made — both in terms of Canadian and global culture! The majestic, dramatic land made world-famous in classics ranging from The Cremation of Sam McGee to The Call of the Wild has long inspired artists of all kinds, and it’s truly become a haven for musical creatives. From the territory's living Indigenous musical traditions, to the fabled folk songs of the Klondike, to the incredible people making original music today ranging from bluegrass to hip-hop, the story of Yukon music is a vibrant, diverse, and ever-evolving one — as we hear in this episode, the thrilling conclusion of our first-ever Hidden Track two-parter! Just as in Part One of our Music Yukon/Hidden Track collab, we’re treated to some truly thrilling live performances by artists from that vast territory, and we get a sense of how the Yukon impacts their lives and art practices. While Edmonton, Alberta is sometimes referred to as the most northerly large city in the Americas, with metropolitan population of more than one million people, you've got to make a roughly 2,000 kilometre-long trip southeast to get from the Yukon's capital city of Whitehorse to Edmonton! So, it was a pretty big deal when a whole troop of Yukon musicians made the big trek down south to perform as part of the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival in August 2024. This was thanks to the support of Music Yukon and a really cool partnership with the Edmonton Fringe. While they were here, CKUA was lucky enough to host a whole bunch of them for Hidden Track sessions in our Studio A in Edmonton. They shared stories and songs with us that evoke the unique natural beauty, highly personalized sense of expression, and vibrant community feeling that make the Yukon such a magical place for music. In Part 2, we hear from Alex MacNeil (leader of the outsider power-pop favourites Alex MacNeil and the Revenants, accompanied here by Hendika), the idiosyncratic punk-inspired stylings of Cryptozoologists, and the spirited soulful beauty of Bria Rose N' Thorns. Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer Recording and mastering for this episode by Brendan Cross. The Hidden Track Podcast is a CKUA production made possible by our incredible donor community. Thank you for your support! /episode/index/show/hiddentrack/id/34182010

Joel Plaskett | Four Tracks and the Truth 11/15/2024

Joel Plaskett | Four Tracks and the Truth Joel Plaskett first came to fame in the beloved rock band Thrush Hermit, a group who came together as teenagers in Halifax and barnstormed across Canada and beyond throughout the '90s with a dynamic stage show, plus an actual neon sign reading "Rock and Roll". In fact, last time Joel visited CKUA's Edmonton studios was five years ago during a Thrush Hermit reunion tour, and he told us about keeping that "Rock and Roll" sign in storage for many years. For his autumn 2024 tour, he certainly wasn't in need of the iconic "Rock and Roll" sign. It was just himself and his guitars (plus a reclining armchair and photo projector) for an album launch tour to celebrate his stunningly intimate acoustic album One Real Reveal. He's an artist who's been known to challenge himself to ever-greater thematic journeys in his solo work. There's his well-loved 2009 release Three— his third solo outing - a triple album which was largely made up of songs with triple-barrelled titles. Then there was 44, released the day before he turned 45, consisting of four albums of eleven songs each. He's come up with maybe an even more daunting creative challenge this time, scaling the process all the way down to the number one — a record made with a single microphone, created almost entirely by Joel alone. Except for one very notable exception, which he'll reveal to us in this conversation. An unparallelled storyteller and an artist of remarkable candour and curiosity, Joel Plaskett shared very generously with us about the serendipitous musical moment that sparked this whole album, how it represents a return to his roots in somewhat surprising ways, how spoken word suddenly introduced itself as part of his artistry, and the importance of embracing the presence, spontaneity, transience, and cyclical nature of music, art, and life. This is a Hidden Track Story: Joel Plaskett | Four Tracks and the Truth. Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer The Hidden Track Podcast is a CKUA production made possible by the generosity of our donour community. Thank you for your support! /episode/index/show/hiddentrack/id/33917082

Hidden Track x Music Yukon | Part 1 11/01/2024

Frazey Ford | Relentless Potential for Creativity 10/18/2024

Frank Turner | Acoustic Punk 10/04/2024

Frank Turner | Acoustic Punk In many ways, Frank is the perfect name for this well-loved singer-songwriter, producer, and eternal punk rock firebrand. Kind of like the many tattoos that adorn his arms, Frank Turner wears his heart right on his sleeve. Always unstintingly honest in all his artistic endeavours, Frank's music carries a candour and conviction that's incredibly powerful – devastating, even. Frank always manages always to have the ability to connect directly with the human heart – whether sharing tenderly of his own life's journey through his songs, or pushing back with snarling ferocity against fascism and injustice, his music resounds with urgency, authenticity, and humanity. No matter if you're talking about the all-out sonic assault of his fearsome band, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls, or – equally powerfully – when Frank is in the intimate solo acoustic mode that we experience on this episode. As we'll hear during this Hidden Track Session, Frank Turner is an astoundingly intelligent and acute observer of the human condition, a seemingly tireless road dog, a devoted music nerd of the very highest order, and a truly humble soul. He carved out some time between shows to join us in CKUA Live Performance Space in Edmonton, as he passed through on a relentless world tour celebrating his triumphant 2024 release, Undefeated. The record arrives on the heels of his 2022 album FTHC (for Frank Turner Hardcore) which – 15 years into his solo discography – saw this folk-punk troubadour shoot all the way up to Number One on the British Album Chart! For context, other artists to score UK Number One albums that year were people like Ed Sheeran, Beyonce, and Taylor Swift. But rather than try to repeat that formula for success, Frank decided to take the opportunity to instead to make this new album without a major label; and for the first time in his ten albums to date, to produce it entirely himself, in his own home studio. And as Frank tells us, the songs on Undefeated are mostly derived from stories drawn from his own life journey. In conversation, Frank is a fount of wonderful stories, insights, jokes, and esoteric music trivia – while as a songwriter and performer, he distills all of his brilliance down to a razor-sharp point. Along with a characteristically brilliant conversation with Frank, we're treated to an absolutely exquisite, heartfelt performance of three songs from Frank's new album, solo acoustic in CKUA studios: "Letters", "Girl from the Record Shop", and one of his most beautiful compositions to date, "Somewhere in Between". Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Recording/Mastering: Brendan Cross | Music: Doug Hoyer /episode/index/show/hiddentrack/id/33147352

Goldie Boutilier | Quiet on Set 09/20/2024

Goldie Boutilier | Quiet on Set As an artist, she's always been a bit of a shapeshifter. Over the course of her wildly diverse career, she's touched on numerous different genres, been signed to a series of major record labels, and made music under several monikers. Her journey has taken her from a tiny community on Nova Scotia's Cape Breton Island, to the bright lights of Los Angeles at age 20, to the City of Light – Paris, France. Her latest work sees her returning to Canada, coming back to her musical roots in many, taking ownership of her art and her story, and reverting to her real nickname and surname, Goldie Boutilier. We were lucky enough to catch up with Goldie during a breathless 2024 tour which saw her paired up for a run of dates across the continent with Orville Peck. And this autumn sees her rolling back through these parts – this time on her debut North American headlining tour, to celebrate the release of her brilliant new album, out September 27th – The Actress. Her latest music is inspired by some of the music she grew up hearing – ranging from Tammy Wynnette to Fleetwood Mac, Alison Krauss to the Twin Peaks soundtrack. The songs are informed by the transformations and heartbreaks she's undergone over the years and by her profoundly disturbing real-life experience -- living out the youthful dream of signing a major label deal and moving to L.A. As we'll hear, show business can be a cold, cruel, predatory enterprise; one that many artists only triumph over by reclaiming their narrative and artistic selves, on their own terms. That's what Goldie has done in her recent evolution, beginning with her arresting 2022 EP Cowboy Gangster Politician, carrying on through 2023's Emerald Year, and now The Actress. If Goldie's wild career arc were a Hollywood screenplay, it might seem a little too far-fetched to be believable. But, as Goldie sings on the title track to her new EP: "I am the actress, and you're in my movie." Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer Mixing for this session provided by Brendan Cross. /episode/index/show/hiddentrack/id/32980477

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald | A Real Kind of Freedom 09/06/2024

Michael Bernard Fitzgerald | A Real Kind of Freedom Michael Bernard Fitzgerald is an artist who’s always expressed what’s most important to him through his songs. He's also been incredibly meticulous throughout his career, taking care to build a unique and heartfelt connection to his audience and striving to create an unforgettable live setting for his music. He’s elevated the sharing of live music to a high art in itself — whether it’s inviting Calgary Folk Fest goers to join him at picnic tables to eat pie in the sun, taking to the stage with 300 backing singers at the Jubilee Auditorium or, as we hear him in this particular setting, going into his Farm Tour mode to immerse audience and performer alike in a whisper-quiet, impossibly intimate moment of musical expression. Although his brand-new album Horizon Lines contains colossal hooks, massive production flourishes, and the trademark sense of pop music maximalism that has always made MBF’s work so exhilarating. Although, the heart of his songcraft, as ever, lies in his voice and his guitar. That’s the sensibility that he foregrounds during his very intimate Farm Tours, which is the very mode in which we caught up with him for this Hidden Track Session in CKUA’s Live Performance Space in Edmonton. Just ahead of the September 27th release of Horizon Lines, Michael Bernard Fitzgerald played beautifully hushed, solo acoustic renditions of the title track, first single “After a While”, and MBF staple “Good Plates”. He also shared some insight behind where the songs mugs come from, the inspiration he draws from his burgeoning family, and just exactly what a Farm Tour is all about. Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer Mixing assistance for this Session provided by Charlotte Carr. The Hidden Track Podcast is made possible by the generosity of our donor community. Thank you for your support! /episode/index/show/hiddentrack/id/32812297

Kaia Kater | Appetite for Healing 08/16/2024

Ellen Doty | Kaleidoscopic 08/02/2024

Cadence Weapon | Hometown Hero 07/19/2024

Cadence Weapon | Hometown Hero A couple of seasons back, Hidden Track released a big Cadence Weapon special. We spoke with Rollie Pemberton (Cadence Weapon) himself, along with some key family, friends and collaborators. A whole lot has happened for Cadence Weapon since that episode’s release. So, we felt it was time to catch-up during his brief visit back to Edmonton during the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s certainly been an exciting two years for Cadence Weapon! The major headline being that, in 2022, he won the Polaris Music Prize, the biggest and most illustrious music award there is in Canada! And, that same year, he released his greatly-acclaimed memoir, Bedroom Rapper. Jumping forward to 2024, he's recently put out an incredible new record, ROLLERCOASTER. Another noteworthy development brought Cadence Weapon back home to Edmonton somewhat unexpectedly. In early June 2024, the hockey team he's been cheering for all his life made a storybook run, from the bottom of the National Hockey League standings at the start of the season, all the way to the Stanley Cup Championship. Seized by sudden inspiration, Cadence Weapon created a new version of his anthem for Edmonton Oilers' sensation star centre and captain, Connor McDavid. Cadence Weapon released the first version in 2017 at the beginning of McDavid's NHL career, and he felt called to update it for this momentous occasion. Ever the hometown man, Cadence Weapon made time during his Edmonton playoff visit to chat with CKUA’s Grant Stovel for this episode of Hidden Track Stories. Here's our first in-person visit in many a long year with Cadence Weapon, who was very much in championship form. CREDITS Host: Grant Stovel | Producer: Scott Zielsdorf | Graphics: Craig Taffs | Music: Doug Hoyer Special thanks to Cadence Weapon for allowing us to include the opening instrumental to My Computer in this episode of Hidden Track. The Hidden Track Podcast is made possible by the generosity of CKUA’s donour community. Thank you for your support! /episode/index/show/hiddentrack/id/32185972

DakhaBrakha | Ethno-Chaos 07/05/2024

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