Once in a while I’m lucky enough to get to keep Sheryl MacKay‘s chair warm while she’s off on holiday.

This weekend on NXNW on CBC Radio 1 I’m thrilled to get the chance to listen to some of my favourite music and share it with folks listening across BC.  On July 24th I’m revisiting a feature interview I did with Bill Henderson from the band Chilliwack a couple of months ago.  I didn’t grow up in Western Canada so I wasn’t really aware of Chilliwack – I mean, they were on my radar, but only as a faint blip.  Now that I know their music a bit better, I think they’re underrated in the rest of Canada.  This was a great band, and some of their work in the 1970s was pretty groundbreaking.

On July 25th I’m delighted to have the chance to sit down with Aidan Knight.  He’s my favourite new artist of 2010, hands down.  Every song on his debut album Versicolour speaks to me in some way.  His voice and his melodies are beyond reproach, his songwriting and his arrangements are intelligent and beautiful, and he’s a skilled lyricist to boot.  What a treat.

Also on the 25th, I’ll speak with author Adam Lewis Schroeder whose new novel In the Fabled East just finished blowing me away about an hour ago.  (Now what do I do?  The downside of coming to the end of a great novel.)

Feeling pretty lucky.