California Christmas (feat. Barenaked Ladies, Alessia Cara, Alan Doyle & The Sheepdogs)

Bryan Guy Adams, (born 5 November 1959) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, record producer, guitarist, photographer, philanthropist and activist. Adams rose to fame in Canada and the United States with his 1983 album Cuts Like a Knife and turned into a global star with his 1984 album Reckless, which produced some of his best known songs, including "Run to You" and "Summer of '69". In 1991, he released "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" from the album Waking Up the Neighbours and the song became a worldwide hit which went to number 1 in many countries, including 16 consecutive weeks in the United Kingdom, a new record. Adams also had the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Heaven", "All for Love" and "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" For his contributions to music, Adams has garnered many awards and nominations, including 20 Juno Awards among 56 nominations, 15 Grammy Award nominations including a win for [[Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media|Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television]] in 1992.

Alessia Caracciolo (born July 11, 1996), known professionally as Alessia Cara, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. After producing acoustic covers, she signed with EP Entertainment and Def Jam Recordings in 2014 and released her debut single the following year.

Alan Doyle, actor, producer, newly-minted best-selling author, and best-known as lead singer for Newfoundland's beloved Great Big Sea these past 20+ years, is set to release his second solo album, So Let's Go, on January 20. Title-track lead single So Let's Go, is a rousing rallying cry that's only further proof of Doyle's ability to draw the listener under his banner. Equally adept at drawing a crowd, Doyle will be embarking on a North American tour upon album release. Made in collaboration with Thomas 'Tawgs' Salter (Lights, Walk Off The Earth), Jerrod Bettis (Adele, Serena Ryder), Gordie Sampson (Keith Urban, Willie Nelson), and Joe Zook (OneRepublic, Katy Perry), the album follows Doyle's first solo outing, Boy On Bridge, released in 2012. "If there's an over-arching theme on this record, it's one of optimism...not that this is in contrast to my previous doom- laden songs!" laughs Doyle, who says this album is freer than Boy On Bridge in the respect of being open to all influences. "On my last solo record I wanted to explore musical backyards of friends of mine in different parts of the musical world. It was as much a physical as a musical journey away from home. On So Let' s Go, folks will hear much more stuff from my backyard and all the traditional and Celtic influences I grew up with, married with the most contemporary collaborators out there." A non-traditional marriage for Doyle was writing his first book simultaneously with the album, the best-selling memoir Where I Belong, released last month. The album's eponymous song is consistent with Alan Doyle's ethos: we're lucky to be here so let's make the most of it. This spirit also infuses the heartfelt Take Us Home while Sins of a Saturday Night celebrates a come-what-may approach. The album also gets reflective in moments, such as the plaintive Laying Down To Perish, inspired by a visit to Fogo Island. As a whole, So Let's Go remains consistent with Alan Doyle's enthusiasm for the wider world combined with a love for the comfort of home. Alan Doyle hails from Petty Harbour, NL, and formed Great Big Sea in 1993 with Sean McCann, Bob Hallett, and Darrell Power, in which they fused traditional Newfoundland music with their own pop sensibilities. Their nine albums, double-disc hits retrospective, and two DVD releases have been declared Gold or Platinum and have sold a combined 1.2 million copies in Canada. So Let's Go continues to cement Alan Doyle's reputation as one of our country's most treasured musicians and storytellers. "I always want people to have the greatest night of their life when the house lights go down."

The fifteenth studio album from Barenaked Ladies, Fake Nudes is finely crafted yet flowing with carefree energy, stylistically adventurous yet rooted in timeless melodies and unforgettable hooks. As Robertson explains, the close collaboration that fueled the making of the album has everything to do with the band's deep connection on an artistic and individual level. "It's all about trust, and knowing that you can rely on the strengths of your bandmates," he says. "Whenever I go into the studio with new demos, I can always trust Jim and Ty and Kev's instincts, and know that adding each of their personalities to the mix will make the songs that much better."  In bringing their latest album to life, Barenaked Ladies found their chemistry and camaraderie stronger than ever before. With next year marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Toronto-based band -- which has now sold over 14 million albums worldwide and earned multiple JUNO Awards and Grammy nominations -- Fake Nudes emerges as their most dynamic album to date. Reuniting with award-winning producer Gavin Brown (who also helmed 2017's Ladies And Gentlemen: Barenaked Ladies And The Persuasions, 2015's Silverball, and 2013's Grinning Streak), Barenaked Ladies recorded Fake Nudes at their long-beloved Noble Street Studios in Toronto. With the tracklist pared down from dozens of song sketches brought in by Robertson, Hearn and Creeggan, the album builds off the band's harmony-rich hybrid of folk and pop/rock and pushes into more eclectic sonic terrain. Whether they're weaving in elements of electronic music or classic country, Barenaked Ladies' anything-goes approach instills Fake Nudes with a powerful vitality that makes each track all the more infectious. "The diversity that's always been a hallmark of this band is really liberating when we're making records, because we never feel restricted to a certain sound," Robertson notes. "It's way more malleable than that: whatever sound we all create together, that's Barenaked Ladies." Like much of Barenaked Ladies' back catalog, many of the tracks on Fake Nudes blend honest emotion with a playfully clever wit. And when it came time to choose a title for the album, the band again tapped into that sly sense of humor. "Anytime we've ever been on the radio or a TV show, the intro is always some variation of 'They're not naked, and they're not ladies!,' but we've generally avoided making the joke about the name," says Robertson. "Then while we were working on the album, the title Fake Nudes came to me as a play on the current president's obsession with deriding the media. It just seemed so perfect -- we are fake nudes." The present political climate also sparked the inspiration for "Lookin' Up," one of the songs from Fake Nudes. Co-penned by Robertson, Better Than Ezra's Kevin Griffin, and esteemed songwriter Sam Hollander, the indelibly joyful anthem delivers triumphant melodies along with fiery horn work from Los Lobos saxophonist Steve Berlin and longtime Sun Ra trumpeter Michael Ray. "'Lookin' Up is a reaction to what I think is a false narrative of constant peril and imminent doom," Robertson says. "It's so easy to get bogged down and fixate on all the terrible things that happen, but, there are actually a lot of good things going on in the world. It's still possible to be optimistic." Kaleidoscopic in both mood and sound, Fake Nudes kicks off with the wistful folk of "Canada Dry": a harmony-laced valentine to the band's homeland, featuring guest vocals by Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and former Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle. Later on the album, Barenaked Ladies seamlessly shift from the heavy-hearted but hopeful soulfulness of "Sunshine" (a song about "learning to distinguish what you want from what you need," says Robertson) to the atmospheric grandeur and dreamy intensity of "Navigate" (sample lyric: "We can't get lost/'Cause I can navigate by stars") to the giddy experimentalism of "Bag of Bones" (a fantastically leftfield number that merges sun-drenched psychedelia with stream-of-consciousness lyrical styling). One of the most inventive moments on Fake Nudes, "Nobody Better" matches its heart-on-sleeve lyrics with urgent rhythms and intricate guitar work. "For a while we couldn't figure out what to do with 'Nobody Better,'" Robertson recalls. "We'd been playing it like a Lyle Lovett song, and then one day Ty came in and said, 'What if it was more like a Sean Paul song?' So we built a drum loop that had this very dancehall feel to it, and then added this arpeggiated guitar line on top of that. It ended up 180 degrees from where we started -- we just went way outside of what we're used to doing, and it felt really great." Referencing Leonard Cohen and The Princess Bride with equal ease, Fake Nudes also showcases Barenaked Ladies' graceful versatility as lyricists. On "Dusty Rooms," Kevin Hearn infuses his life-on-the-road storytelling with flashes of surreal poetry ("A tiny tin full of tarantula skin and a house full of butterflies"), and then gives way to a bit of booming spoken word from his father. And with its delicate guitar tones and haunting effects -- along with ethereal vocal work from throat singer Tanya Tagaq -- "Flying Dreams" finds Hearn spinning a gorgeously poignant serenade to his daughter Havana. "Raising a child with special needs is challenging on every level." says Hearn."The experience is rich with both heartbreaks and extraordinary joys. One's capacity for love and understanding is inevitably changed in unexpected and wonderful ways. This is a song about my journey with my daughter. It is, of course, for her." Another touchstone from Fake Nudes, "Bringing It Home" slips into all-out celebration, fusing fat beats and bright melodies with a lyrical nod to Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 Hour Rule. "For us, those 10,000 hours are the hours we've spent in Days Inn Hotels," says Robertson, referring to the notion that 10,000 hours of deliberate practice are essential for success in any field. "It's a song recognizing how long we've been doing this, and how we've gotten to the point where we can really enjoy ourselves and be confident about where we're at." Through the years, the band has endlessly proved their undeniable power as a live act, with each set propelled by their palpable chemistry. On tour in Canada for the rest of 2017, Barenaked Ladies will bring their high-spirited live show to the US and UK in the spring. "The way you get to 29 years together is by really working at it, by listening to each other and respecting each other," says Robertson in reflecting on the longevity of the band. "When there's a struggle, you've got to take a step back and say, 'Whatever's squeaking in the cogs of this machine, let's work it out, because at the end of the day we get to play music every night and have all these people come out to sing along with us.'

The Sheepdogs are a Canadian classic rock band formed in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 2006. The group consists of lead singer and guitarist Ewan Currie, bass guitarist Ryan Gullen, drummer Sam Corbett, guitarist Jimmy Bowskill, and Shamus Currie, brother of lead singer Ewan Currie, playing trombone, keyboards, and tambourine. The Sheepdogs became the first unsigned band to make the cover of Rolling Stone in 2011 and have since grown to popularity in Canada and the United States. Frontman Ewan Currie describes the band's retro, guitar driven blues-rock style as "pure, simple, good-time music". Their distinctive sound has been called the "Guitar-mony" because of the use of harmonies in guitar solos and vocals.