FINNEAS, City and Colour to Perform at Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Ceremony

Taking place on September 26, the event will honour The Tragically Hip, Loverboy's Mike Reno and Paul Dean, Leslie Feist and Roch Voisine.

Billy Eff is the Content Director for Rolling Stone Canada. An award-winning journalist and columnist, he has previously contributed to outlets including VICE and Urbania. A passionate advocate for underground music and a musician himself, he has conducted several hundred interviews with artists and industry professionals across a wide range of styles and genres over the past 15 years. He is based in Montréal, Québec.

The Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame is putting together a star-studded international music event for this year's ceremony, with FINNEAS, City and Colour, Jeff Tweedy and Our Lady Peace among the performers announced for the induction gala.

Taking place on September 26 at Toronto’s Massey Hall, the event will honour The Tragically Hip, Loverboy songwriting partners Mike Reno and Paul Dean, Leslie Feist and Roch Voisine.

The performance lineup announced today includes a mix of iconic and up-and-coming Canadian acts and artists with international profiles. Allison Russell, Amanda Marshall, Charlotte Cornfield, Isabelle Boulay, Sebastian Gaskin, TALK and Todd Kerns are also set to take the stage, alongside Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy and GRAMMY-winning producer and artist FINNEAS.

There is also a noticeable francophone presence in the lineup. Ludovick Bourgeois, who won La Voix, Québec's adaptation of The Voice, in 2017, will perform alongside country singer Matt Lang, Sara Dufour and Boulay, one of Québec’s most prominent francophone vocalists. Rolling Stone Canada 'Future of Music 2026' artists Tia Wood and Ruby Waters, meanwhile, join a new generation of Canadian artists represented at the ceremony.

The event will also feature a special appearance from Boi-1da, the Toronto-born producer whose credits include some of the biggest records in contemporary hip-hop and pop.

FINNEAS will also be serving as one of the ceremony’s inductors. He will be joined by Kids in the Hall co-founder Bruce McCulloch, actor and filmmaker Jay Baruchel, and Olympic gold medalists and Walter Cup-winning hockey players Marie-Philip Poulin and Laura Stacey. Canadian songwriter Jim Vallance will also participate as an inductor. Vallance, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2022, is best known for his songwriting partnership with Bryan Adams and has won a record four JUNO Awards for Songwriter of the Year.

Journalist and producer George Stroumboulopoulos will co-host the ceremony alongside Québec pop singer and TV host Marie-Mai.

Canadians who wish to participate in the next Eurovision competition will be able to apply starting next week, CBC/Radio-Canada announced this morning.

Earlier this summer, the Crown corporation announced that Canada would be joining the Eurovision Song Contest next year, after it joined the European Broadcasting Union. The 71st edition of the world's biggest song competition, watched by hundreds of millions of viewers across the globe, will take place in May 2027 in Bulgaria.

Submissions for participants open on August 31 and will close on September 9. Applicants must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents to be eligible. Further details will be announced next week on CBC's Eurovision platform.

After the submission period ends, a shortlist will be selected internally by the broadcaster. Then, a public vote will be open to all Canadians to select who will represent the country at the prestigious competition. Finalists will then be reviewed by a panel of music industry experts, where a single artist will be selected and paired with some of the Canada's top musical talent to craft the song that will enter the competition in May 2027.

“We are seeking a magnetic Canadian performer with a genuine passion for representing Canada and a proven track record of captivating very large live audiences, whether through exceptional vocal power, electrifying stage presence, or truly original artistry,” said CBC's Executive vice-president Doug Smith.

This will be the very first time Canada will be officially represented at Eurovision. However, several Canadian artists have competed on behalf of other countries in the past. Notably, a 20-year-old Céline Dion wowed the world and became a global sensation when she represented Switzerland in 1988. More recently, Québec singer La Zarra represented France in 2023.

In October 1965, seven months before he left the Toronto folk scene to move to Los Angeles, Neil Young recorded the ballad “Casting Me Away From You” in the attic of his high school buddy, Comrie Smith. Young revisited the melody for the 1968 instrumental track “The Emperor of Wyoming,” which kicks off his self-titled solo debut LP, and the line “we found things to do in stormy weather” was used in his 1976 classic “Long May You Run.”

Earlier this year, when Young was in Malibu, California, recording his new LP Second Song with the Chrome Hearts, he found himself out of new songs after recording the five he wrote for the project. His mind went back to Smith’s attic all those years ago, and he decided to re-record “Casting Me Away From You” for the album.

Young shared the new version of “Casting Me Away From You” on the Neil Young Archives (click here to check it out) that he paired with a vintage video of him driving across Broken Arrow Ranch in California, where he lived for several decades. “[My son] Zeke’s mom, Carrie Snodgress, is riding her horse along with Timer, our dog,” Young writes, “who’s riding as we cross the beautiful ranch on a new road.”

Earlier this month, Young released the 11-minute title track to “Second Song.” The full album – which also includes a re-recording of Young’s 1964 extreme deep cut “I’ll Love You Forever” – will be released on September 19.

“Those two old songs, they just seemed to fit with the new ones,” Young told fans in July. “There was no concept. [The album] is a couple of old songs, and lot of new ones. With the length of the new songs, we could have knocked out the old songs and still had an album, for length. But we went ahead and added the two old songs. That’s what this album is about. It’s about the new songs vs the old songs. The old songs offer some sort of reflection and juxtaposition or something. They all seem to fit together.”

Young originally planned on touring Europe this summer with the Chrome Hearts, but he cancelled all of the dates in February. “Everything is OK,” he told fans. “Just needed a break. Listening to my body.”

He’s remained almost completely absent from concert stages this year, appearing only for a brief set at David Suzuki’s 90th birthday show May 22 in Vancouver. But he’s playing two shows on a double bill with Wille Nelson – September 22 in Bridgeport, Connecticut and September 24 in Philadelphia – as a warmup to Farm Aid in Virginia Beach on September 26.

It’s unclear if he plans on playing additional shows, but don’t expect to see him at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theater, Radio City Music Hall, or any other venue that use facial recognition technology. “Neil Young will not be playing venues utilizing the facial recognition surveillance,” reads a recent post on the Neil Young Archives.

Late Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moose Wala will once again send concertgoers into frenzy, as his estate has confirmed that a hologram arena tour has been planned.

First rumoured to be in the works last year, the superstar's father has confirmed that around 10 dates are planned on this tour, and that he will personally be in attendance at the first representation, set to take place at Toronto's ScotiaBank Arena on October 8th. Entitled the 'Signed to God' tour, the holographic performances will also travel to cities including London and Los Angeles.

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''Through state-of-the-art 3D holography, fans will see Sidhu walk the stage, make eye contact with the crowd, deliver his powerful lyrics, and relive his most iconic moments. Every performance is synced with live lighting, sound, and stage effects, making the experience feel personal and unforgettable,'' reads a statement on his website. ''This isn’t a recreation. This is resurrection through art and technology — the chance to stand in the presence of a legend, to sing along, to feel the energy, and to witness Sidhu Moose Wala in a way that feels real, raw, and revolutionary.''

Few details have been released about the technology partners involved in making this event a reality. Despite having been around for over a decade, holographic performances remain rare. The most notable example was when the technology was used at Coachella in 2012, when a digital version of late rapper Tupac popped up onstage during Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg's performance, to join them for a rendition of ''Hail Mary'' and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted".

Sidhu Moose Wala was one Punjab's greatest exports and will be remembered as a trailblazing rapper. An at times controversial figure, loyal to his political convictions, he was shot dead in May 2022.

Bret Michaels

Bret Michaels has canceled the remainder of his 2026 tour dates in order to fully recover from recent surgeries the Poison singer underwent.

Michaels, a Type 1 diabetic who recently had a kidney stone removed as well as a ureteral stent placed, returned to the stage following the surgery with a gig Friday night in Sugar Hill, Georgia. However, soon after the show, it was apparent that he hadn’t fully healed from the operation.

“Following Bret Michaels’ comeback show [in Sugar Hill], doctors and paramedics determined immediately after the show that he still needs additional rest and recovery from his recent surgeries,” Michaels’ reps wrote in a statement on social media. “Bret will be taking the next several months off to heal and get back to 100%.”

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“We will be pulling Bret off the road for the time being,” Michaels’ doctors added. “He wanted to attempt this show, but we feel there is a much-needed period of rest and slow recovery ahead, especially considering the heat and humidity during the summer months and the effect it can have on his blood sugar levels.”

Michaels wrote separately on social media, “In my nonstop spirit to go out & do what I love − which is to play music and to see all of you, all my family, friends and fans & meet everybody … it’s what I truly love − I may have just chosen to go sooner than I should have. We will come back better than ever.”

The singer had six more dates booked on his Live and Amplified Tour for August and September — including his canceled headlining appearance Saturday at Gatlinburg, Tennessee’s The Mountain Music Festival — as well as a pair of gigs in November.

BigXthaPlug

BigXthaPlug was arrested Friday in Texas on drug and weapons charges, forcing the rising country rapper to miss a scheduled performance at a Winnipeg music festival.

The Dallas rapper born Xavier Landum was pulled over by the Allen Police Department and booked into the Collin County Jail on Friday on charges of driving while intoxicated, marijuana possession of less than 2 ounces, and unlawful possession of a firearm, Dallas’ KDFW reports.

Landum’s arrest comes exactly one year after the rapper was arrested for marijuana possession and unlawful possession of a firearm on August 21, 2025 in Dallas; he was out on bail on those charges when he was arrested Friday.

BigXthaPlug was scheduled to perform Friday night at Winnipeg, Manitoba’s Country Rising Festival, but he was forced to cancel the performance; organizers said they understood fans’ “disappointment and frustration” by the rapper’s absence due to a “personal emergency.”

Despite the arrest, BigXthaPlug is still slated to perform Saturday night at the Iowa State Fair Grandstand. Organizers there told KCCI Des Moines, “We are aware of reports regarding BigXthaPlug. We are in communication with his agent and at this time, we have been told he will still be performing.”

Rolling Stone profiled BigXthaPlug earlier this year for our Future of Music issue; a friend of Jelly Roll and Shaboozey, the rapper became a sensation with his country-rap LP I Hope You’re Happy, his first step towards what Rolling Stone called his “Texas-size ambition.”

“You can’t be one of the best artists in the world and have only done one genre,” BigXthaPlug said at the time. “Beyoncé, a GOAT, a queen. She’s done pop, country. Lil Wayne: rock, pop. Snoop Dogg did songs with Katy Perry and shit. All these people are greats, from Eminem to Dr. Dre to Ice Cube. Everybody has stepped out of that lane.”