For the last few days I spent more time than usual listing to music. I've been doing that a bit more since attending the Nova Scotia Music Week about a month ago. I've been exploring the music of some other Nova Scotia musicians that I've also seen in person and wanted to see what they have been up to on YouTube. I thought I would share a small sampling of some of the music I've been enjoying.

One established Nova Scotia musician whose work I enjoy is Matt Mays. He has a large body of excellent work that you can find on YouTube but the video I'll share with you is one of his more tender live performances at The Carlton in Halifax (Nova Scotia musical venue of the year). Matt is accompanied by fiddler Anna Ludlow who adds an extra depth of feeling to the song. I think of the song as Matt's song for the Xmas season. I hope you all chase your own light this holiday season.

When I realized the fiddle was adding extra texture to the song, I was reminded of fiddlers Ashley MacIssaac and Natalie MacMaster, two major Nova Scotia fiddlers who both apprenticed with renowned fiddler Buddy MacMaster. The video I thought I would share is of Natalie McMaster dressed in a rock outfit showing off some amazing fiddling technique and musicality in 2004 at the Philadelphia Folk Festival.

The final video I enjoyed quite a bit was by Town Heroes. At the Music Week event that I attended they took home alot of the awards as best new artists. In my case, the Town Heroes are literally that, they come from the same coastal Inverness community I grew up in, and where the farm is, and they are playing some good music. Their video includes footage of alot of Inverness scenery that I'm quite familiar with in this video. The video is called "Holding Up Grants" which I believe refers to a store in Inverness called Grants where teenagers often assembled in the evenings. You stood around, often with your back on the wall, holding up Grants store enjoying each other's company. Their Berlin Wall, Cambridge, Slag Heaps and New York City videos are also worth a listen/watch.

The Town of Inverness, Nova Scotia used to be a coal mining town but that industry eventually dried up and the town struggled to find a replacement. Fortunately, after a long downhill slide a potential replacement has come to town in the form of a golf course. Not just any old course, but a golf course with a vision of being a premiere golf destination for those who can afford it. Alot of people in Inverness didn't believe that "we could make it happen" as the Town Heroes refrain throughout their video but management of the Cabot Links, and the Town of Inverness, are starting to make more and more people a believer. An additional 18 hole golf course is currently being developed, called Cabot Cliffs, that is also along the ocean and might be starting up next golf season. The Cabot Links golf course is already ranked in the top 100 in the world (Golf Digest 2014/15), so the new 18 hole Cabot Cliffs golf course is going to be an interesting addition. Below is a day-old twitter photo of the Cabot Cliffs development. The sister Cabot Links course which is already opened is located further down the coastline closer to the town of Inverness (the Inverness beach front is where much of the above video was shot). The Cabot Cliffs course will feature shots over and near the cliffs, onsite accommodations, and more ability to control the complete experience of the course by being more remote from the town as you can see in the photo below.