My friend Dave is one of the most positive and innovative people I know. I often joke his blood type is "Be Positive". Dave is someone who truly lights up any room he walks in by his positive spirit and presence. Around the time I was working on the writing of my new album, Shine, I was having a conversation with Dave and asked him what he was up to? He told me he was on his way to a family dinner to “love on” his uncle. Little did I know this would lead to one of the album tracks on the new release.

Up until this point I had never heard of the practice “love on”. After my conversation with Dave I learned that “love on” is a common tradition in his family, whereby each family member gets honoured on their birthday and/or special occasions by having a dinner in their honour and affirmed that they are unique, special, and loved.

As I write this, I am also reminded of a few winters ago when my family gathered together to celebrate the...

When I was a kid one of my favourite things to do was pretend I was Fred Penner. For those of you that are unfamiliar, Fred Penner is a legendary Family and Children’s Entertainer who may be best known for his album, The Cat Came Back. At the age of five I would stand on the living room couch with a plunger stick as my microphone and a Fisher Price guitar and pretend I was Fred in concert. I remember going to watch Fred perform at my parent’s company Christmas party and then would go and see him at The Children’s Festival. This man has a magic about him and at the time I couldn’t really name it but I sure could feel it. Years later in grade seven, once again, Fred had a major impact on my life. I was asked to perform a song in front of my school in the gymnasium and decided to perform “The Cat Came Back”. I remember looking out at all the students singing along and thinking, ‘this is what I want to do for the rest of my life”. I...