Three time Music Nova Scotia Award winner, Daniel James McFadyen grew up outside of Toronto chasing a ball, not a melody. But somewhere between the rec centre squash courts and the dark and dreary corners of the pubs filled with folk covers, music found him.

His new album, Back to the Country, was written in a cabin on the east coast and recorded in a cabin cum recording studio on the west coast. It’s raw, nostalgic, and wide open.

Like the places that shaped it.

It's When We Wake with Daniel James McFadyen.

Landmine Tour

@danieljamesmcfadyen

Wanna get in touch?

Send an email to ⁠whenwewakeradio@gmail.com⁠

Or find me on Instagram

@whenwewakeradio & @theandrewshaver

When We Wake with Andrew Shaver is written, hosted, edited, and produced by ⁠Andrew Shaver⁠. The weekly radio broadcast is syndicated across Canada, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Theme song Got You by Noah Reid

Charlotte Cornfield is one of those songwriters who can make a small moment feel like a revelation. And speaking of revelations, while I’ve been a fan of Charlotte’s for almost a decade now, going all the way back to her 2106 debut Future Snowbird, in our chat, I learned that Charlotte knew of me years before that even.

You can imagine my surprise.

I guess, I used to be somebody, you know?

Nah.

Turns out, Charlotte and I have more than a couple handfuls of mutual friends form our shared time in Montreal, but this was our first real conversation.

And it went in many directions.

In today’s episode we talk about a magical week in September that Charlotte spent at a songwriter retreat in Cork, as well as the friendships and collaborations that have come out of it; her love of the Toronto music scene and, well, for the city itself; we talk a lot about family and what it means to keep creating while raising one. Charlotte’s daughter, Odette, is now two and a half, and that shift from all-hours songwriting to daycare-scheduled creativity has changed how Charlotte works.

In fact, her new album, due in spring of 2026, was written in the 3 months between Odette starting daycare and Charlotte going into the studio (with an as yet unannounced “dream band”) to record live off the floor, with no headphones and no overdubs.

We bookend our chat with some live dates she’s playing.

Off the top, the Nowadays Festival in Dartmouth NS October 9, and on the tail end, a show she’s playing November 12th at Massey Hall in Toronto as part of an incredible lineup celebrating Neil Young’s 80th.

charlottecornfield.com

Wanna get in touch?

Send an email to ⁠whenwewakeradio@gmail.com⁠

Or find me on Instagram

@whenwewakeradio & @theandrewshaver

When We Wake with Andrew Shaver is written, hosted, edited, and produced by ⁠Andrew Shaver⁠. The weekly radio broadcast is syndicated across Canada, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Theme song Got You by Noah Reid

Yukon Blonde has been part of Canada’s indie rock landscape for more than a decade.

They're JUNO-nominated, they've picked up a SOCAN award, they've had tunes placed in shows like Grey’s Anatomy and The Summer I Turned Pretty, they’ve hit the Top 10 at commercial alt radio, and had #1s on the CBC Music Top 20.

Not too shabby.

And they don’t just write great songs. As anyone who has seen them live knows, they are electric , even if they wrote most of their new album on acoustics.

On today's episode I chat with Yukon Blonde's Jeff Innes and Brandon Scott about the band's new album Friendship and Rock’n’Roll.

We get into how they first met; the heavy metal band Jeff stole Brandon away from; their shared love of vintage cameras; their thoughts on AI in the music industry, and why they hope it might push people back toward playing real instruments.

I also asked the two of them what they’d bring with them to the future. Jeff’s answer won’t surprise anyone, but Brandon’s even caught his old bud Jeff off guard.

And of course, we chat about the songs from the new record, an album that really does live up to its name: friendship and rock’n’roll.

@yukonblonde

Wanna get in touch?

Send an email to ⁠whenwewakeradio@gmail.com⁠

Or find me on Instagram

@whenwewakeradio & @theandrewshaver

When We Wake with Andrew Shaver is written, hosted, edited, and produced by ⁠Andrew Shaver⁠. The weekly radio broadcast is syndicated across Canada, from Newfoundland to British Columbia.

Theme song Got You by Noah Reid