Just in time for Mother’s Day, Rita Wilson releases her debut album, AM/FM, a collection of songs Rita grew up with on the radio.  Rita'a voice possesses a breezy summer vibe, making a good case for all of these songs to appear on the radio again.  Sheryl Crow guests in addition to Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell, who is a worthy duet partner on “All I Have To Do Is Dream.”  I managed to have Rita answer some questions to celebrate the release of her debut and her answers are very inspiring!

MG: How did the idea to tackle this project come to you?

RW: When I had done Chicago The Musical on Broadway it reminded me how much I love to sing, and that I was missing that from my life.  Doing the musical was so wonderful but the decision to do it was frightening.  Would I be able to pull it off?  Singing and dancing for eight shows a week?  Sometimes your loved ones know what is right for you before you do, so with their support I did the show.  That experience changed me.  When you can encounter a dream, and overcome your own self doubts, it is liberating.  After that, I was one of the producers of Mamma Mia! The film and I made a decision that music would always be a part of my life from that point forward.  I approached Jay Landers, from Decca, to help me with song selections for a musical I had an idea for.  He asked if I had ever recorded.  I sent him some recordings I had done.  Before I knew it, I was making an album for Decca.

MG: Why now?

RW: It’s really all in the timing, but also, I asked myself, why NOT now?  It’s never too late to do something you love to do.  When I meet people who are in different fields I always ask them what they loved to do as a child, what their passion was.  I almost always get an immediate answer.  Everyone knows what they loved to do as a child.  Life can get in the way of following those dreams but the dream never dies.  There are no rules about when to do something you love.  We only impose those rules on ourselves.

MG:  Was coming up 14 songs difficult?  Did you have a plan for which songs you wanted to sing, and how did you come about arriving at the final tracklisting?  Why did you choose these songs and do they recall particular memories for you?

RW:  I went through over 100 songs to find the right combination of sound and story.  It was important for me that the songs told stories and that were relevant to my life when I first heard them.  The album is called AM/FM because that’s how we all heard music growing up, first on AM radio, then on FM radio.  Each song had to tell a story that elicited a memory or a fantasy.  I remember driving along in my parents’ car, then my car, when I got my license.  And wondering about the people in the songs, their lives, why they made the choices they did in each song.  My older sister would drive me to the beach in the summer and we would sing harmonies to the Beatles, Everly Brothers, or the Shirelles.  They taught us how to sing.

MG:  Are there songs you would have liked to have done but didn’t?

RW:  There are so many!  We over cut on the album so I have a lot of songs that were so hard not to include.  I didn’t do any Beatles songs because those are frequently covered.

MG:  Did you enjoy the album making process?

RW:  If I could do this every day of my life I would be thrilled!  We love music in our family.  There are instruments all over our house.  I can’t think of a better thing to do than to play music and sing.

MG: Will you be touring AM/FM?  Does the idea of touring excite or scare you?

RW:  Yes!  I am doing some dates and hope I will do more.  The idea of touring to me is like Christmas morning.  I get to open a gift every night!

MG:  Will there be a sequel?

RW:  Gosh, I hope so.  There are so many great songs out there.  I already have a list in my head.  Everyone tells me that no one buys CDs anymore but I have faith in buyers out there.  I suppose if enough are sold I will get to do it again.

MG:  What does the music future hold for Rita Wilson?

RW:  I hope I will continue to record and perform live.  There are so many artists I admire and would love to work with.  I was able to work with so many great guest artists on AM/FM that have inspired me and continue to inspire me.  I even got to record one of Patti Scialfa’s original songs that has never been recorded called “Every Perfect Picture”.  Maybe there will be some more original music in my future!

MG:  Thank you Rita Wilson for taking the time to speak with the Indigo Music Blog.  Best of luck to you  for great success on AM/FM.

RW:  Thank you to anyone who buys AM/FM.  I know you can spend your money on many things.  That you chose to buy my debut album is very much appreciated.  I hope you enjoy it and it will elicit your own memories and emotions.  XO, Rita.

Madonna could have retired after her 1980s success.  In her fourth decade, Madonna continues to launch extravagant and mighty successful tours accompanied by a new set of material, still extravagant, yet their results haven’t been consistent.

Since the mid 1990s, Madonna has had great album success everywhere but in her homeland.  America just didn’t like its dance music mixed with pop anymore.  The pop landscape has changed and the stars are aligned for America’s thirst to dance and Madonna’s newest collection of soon-to-be dance-floor classics.

Madonna has always fascinated me from her early days.  Some albums I like, some I don’t, and one or two rank among my favourites of all time.  Hard Candy was a major disappointment for me so I approached MDNA with caution.  It didn’t help the first two singles, “Give Me All Your Luvin’” and “Girls Gone Wild” didn’t build any anticipation in me, sounding too much like someone playing catch up in the playground, rather than sounding like the woman that “invented” the playground.

MDNA sees the Material Girl reunited with Ray of Light producer William Orbit for a number of tracks.  All I can say is more Mr. Orbit please!  The best moments of MDNA are where Madonna doesn’t sound like she’s trying so hard;  “I Don’t Give A” is another ill advised foray into Madonna rap, and within the context of this album, I’m left scratching my head at why “Give Me All Your Luvin’” was released as a single, let alone the first one.  I’m sure having current it-girl Nicki Minaj and finger-totin’ M.I.A. sharing the marquee was enough to decide that this was the song.

Most interesting here is Orbit & Madge’s dark turn on the unfortunately named “Gang Bang”, something more suited to her former hubby’s film soundtrack rather than some skin flick.  The pulse of the dark throb lures me in and holds me until the dub step breakdown that is totally unnecessary. 

But with “Turn Up The Radio,” “I’m A Sinner,” and “Some Girls,” Madonna delivers on pure pop bubblegum joy that works on the dance-floor in the way only Madge can do.

Lyrically, Madonna hasn’t changed.  There are parts on this album, much like on Hard Candy, where I’ve muttered “Oh she didn’t just say that” to myself.  I guess if you’re shaking with wild abandon on a crowded, sweaty dance-floor, wisdom from a 50-something just escapes you and who cares what you’re singing.  But if my mom went out and started to sing some of this stuff, I’d sit her down for a little chat.

Aside from a couple of mis-steps and a surprising somber ending, MDNA works for me.  She may just be preaching to the converted at this point, but the converted will be rewarded with new classics.  Best enjoyed at a club with your sweatiest friends!

“Feet don’t fail me now”… thus begins the debut disc from New York native, Lana Del Rey.  The title track from Born To Die starts the disc off on the right foot, but clearly she’s walking with two different feet.

By the end of 2011, I had heard the name Lana Del Rey as much as I heard the name Adele. Without hearing a single note of music from the girl, she was exploding through the critical stratosphere, propelled by the song “Video Games”.

Fast forward some weeks later and my first exposure to Del Rey’s music, much like many others, she appeared on Saturday Night Live.  Like watching a deer in the headlights, I thought her appearance was one of the show’s skits.  Del Rey injected “Video Games” with the passion of a corpse and appeared more awkward than the freshest of freshmen at their first day of high school.  It was uncomfortable at first, and then I decided to stop the pain and go to bed.

Clearly she wasn’t prepared for such a national/international stage and it turned me right off the girl.  With the backlash that followed, I began to feel sorry for her, starting to chastise her management for throwing her to the wolves like that.

Since then, Born To Die came out and while resistant at first (the album sat on my desk for a couple of weeks) Del Rey’s face stared at me, almost daring me to give it a listen.

The verdict?  Surprisingly good actually, but songs can be split into two teams: one where she applies a more hushed, smokey tone that will appeal to an older demographic; the other. definitely to aim for her own age demographic.  Del Rey’s deep voice on “Born To Die” recalls the somber tones of Mazzy Star’s "Hope Sandoval," and was enough to make me instantly rethink my initial dismissal of her.  The song’s sweeping strings and muted beats compliment the range of Del Rey’s voice nicely and while it would be easy to tread into adult contemporary territory, the lyrics and production lend it a current and vital vibe.

The album is hit and miss from there.  The hits “Blue Jeans”, “Video Games,” and “Born To Die” are definitely worth the price of admission alone.  These are the songs that wear well with the evening gown.  I can almost picture her singing these in place of Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet. 

The misses for me are the tracks where Del Rey sounds like she’s channeling Britney Spears.  While this poppier stuff might find a home on the Top 40, ultimately they are forgettable and it will be the slower, almost Florence and the Machine style, that will continue carrying of Del Rey’s torch.

The girl is new and I should cut her some slack.  She’s new to her feet, but given the dual personalities, she will need to decide which foot fits her best.

The 2012 Juno Awards, celebrating the best of Canadian music, were held this year in Ottawa, hosted by William Shatner.

Before I get into the awards themselves, let me mention a couple of gripes I have regarding the Juno Awards.  The first is exclusive to this year and deals with the Album of the Year nominations.  Two of this year’s nominations were Christmas albums, largely cover albums physically available for only two months of the year.  The message I got when this year’s nominations were announced was “Well it was a dire year for Canadian albums so we had to nominate two Christmas albums."

The second is a long standing complaint regarding the Junos and it involves the use of sales data to determine winners.  Artists who sell lots of records are already rewarded hardware:  Gold or Platinum certifications.  The sales component eliminates any surprise from the awards and really gives no chance to those not overexposed or not subject to a huge marketing budget.

The telecast opened with a typically bombastic performance by Nickelback featuring a shorn Chad Kroeger.  They also brought the right amount of flash and pyro to start the evening.  William Shatner was equally bombastic, mysteriously strapping on a guitar that he wouldn’t play while delivering Shatner-style spoke word of some Canadian rock staples.  Was the 81 year old having difficulty pronouncing Deadmau5 and Dan Mangan?  Depending on where you sit on the Shatner fence, you either loved him or hated him.  Personally, I think Kardinal Offishall and Classified should act as hosts next year.

Performances were solid with Hey Rosetta! standing out as my highlight along with Feist who delivered more pyro than Nickelback on a percussion heavy “How Come You Never Go There.”  I’m not a fan of song snippets, so the dance pop montage was pretty pointless.  I can only imagine what goes through an artist's head when invited to play, but only for a minute. 

Blue Rodeo enlisted the aid of Sarah McLachlan for “Lost Together” as they were inducted into the Hall of Fame, while Dallas Green took the minimal approach by himself for City and Colour’s “The Grand Optimist.”

Big winners for the night included The Sheepdogs, Feist, and Don Mangan.  Justin Bieber predictably took home the Fans Choice and I’m not sure if I’m surprised about Michael Buble winning Album of the Year.  I like Buble, but this win just doesn’t sit right and I’m more worried about the message we’re sending out to the world about the quality of Canadian music.  There’s lots of quality out there, but a seasonal album as Album of the Year sends out a very different message.

Enjoy Single of the Year winner The Sheepdogs for "I Don't Know".