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A complete history of Toronto’s legendary Horseshoe Tavern, “the Birthplace of Canadian Rock,” to coincide with its seventieth anniversary. Like the Queen Street strip that has been its home for seven decades, the Horseshoe Tavern continues to evolve. It remains as relevant today as it did when Jack Starr founded the country music club on the site of a former blacksmith shop. From country and rockabilly to rock ‘n’ roll, punk, alt/country, and back to roots music, the venerable live music venue has evolved with the times and trends — always keeping pace with the music.

A history of the Mariposa Folk Festival, from its humble roots in Orillia in 1961 to international acclaim and legendary status as a premier folk music gathering. Mariposa began in the heyday of the early 60s “folk boom.” In its more than fifty-five years, it has seen many of the world’s greatest performers grace its stages: Pete Seeger, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Gordon Lightfoot, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Jann Arden, and Serena Ryder. The festival has long held a musical mirror to popular culture in Canada.

Carl Dixon’s journey through the twists and turns of a music performer’s life began in Northern Ontario, where his boyhood dreams, shaped by the 1960s, collided with a new musical culture. Though Carl’s road was rocky, it was still paved with gold. It has led from his early days with hard rockers Coney Hatch to tours and lasting friendships with huge acts like Iron Maiden. The ups and downs were meteoric.

Céline Dion is quite possibly Canada’s most famous singer and an icon in her own home province of Quebec. Possessed of an incandescent voice and a vibrant personality, she has moved huge audiences all over the world. These two books tell her story. Céline is the story of her journey from being just one child in a huge family to becoming the world’s songbird. René Angélil fills in the gaps by presenting the life of her manager and husband, who helps guide both Céline’s career and life and has played a key role in her success. IncludesCélineRené Angelil: The Making of Céline Dion

The glory days of rock from the perspective of Canada’s original music magazine. The story of Music Express is told through the unique perspective of Keith Sharp, the magazine’s founder and editor. During its seventeen-year existence, Music Express rose from a small, Calgary-based regional magazine to an international publication. The interviews, anecdotes, and stories cover the golden era of Canadian music, with the rise to global status of such icons as Bryan Adams, Loverboy, Rush, Celine Dion, and Triumph.

Musical-instrument manufacturing was one of the few areas in which Canada was able to compete with the United States and England in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This book describes one of the leading firms in the music industry in Canada at that time. The Toronto business that was conducted under the sign of the "Big Fiddle" added significantly to the spread of music in the city of Toronto and far beyond. The founder of this family business was Richard Sudgen Williams. With his son, R.S.

After a summer of intense competition, Alberta’s Theo Tams emerged as the 2008 Canadian Idol champion. He had earned the admiration of the public and his fellow contestants with his soaring vocals, emotive piano playing and unmatched ability to mine the emotional core of a song. Theo Tams: Inside the Music is a candid and photo-rich look at the life experiences that prepared him for the Idol stage. It also provides a behind the scenes peek at the Idol experience itself, with testimonials and anecdotes from his fellow competitors and interviews with the Idol personalities.

Inside Music Books is pleased to introduce the Fan Lowdown series by music journalist Karen Bliss. These books offer the fan an enhanced experience. Bliss solicits stories from fans via the artist’s message board and mailing list: concert or road trip stories; meeting the artist; making cookies for the band; a song they fell in love to; a lyric that helped get them through a tough time. Bliss has interviewed the band members, sharing her most interesting submissions and getting the bands thoughts and their own memories.

A musical genre as tough and hard as the Canadian Shield. Canada has produced many successful proponents of the genre known as heavy metal, which grew out of the hard rock of the 1970s, exploded commercially in the 1980s, and then petered out in the 1990s as grunge took over, only to rise to prominence once again in the new millennium. The road to Canadian musical glory is not lined with the palm trees and top-down convertibles of the Sunset Strip.

A fascinating journey through the world’s musical cultures. Every culture on Earth has music. Every culture that’s ever existed has had it, but we don’t exactly know why. Music is not like food, shelter, or having opposable thumbs. We don’t need it to live, and yet we can’t seem to live without it. Glenn Dixon travels the globe exploring how and why people make music. From a tour of Bob Marley’s house to sitar lessons in India, he experiences music around the world and infuses the stories with the latest in brain research, genetics, and evolutionary psychology.