Canada's Party Band: Trooper
For decades, Trooper has been known as 'Canada's Greatest Party Band.' Formed in Vancouver, their straightforward, feel-good rock produced a string of hits in the 70s that are now Canadian classics, including 'Raise a Little Hell,' 'We're Here for a Good Time (Not a Long Time),' and 'The Boys in the Bright White Sports Car.' #Canada #Trooper #ClassicRock #CanadianMusic 🇨🇦
Joni Mitchell: A Canadian Songbird 🎶
Joni Mitchell, born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, is one of Canada's most influential songwriters and musicians. From 'Big Yellow Taxi' to 'Both Sides, Now,' her introspective lyrics and unique vocal style have captivated audiences for decades. A true Canadian icon! 🇨🇦 Explore her discography! 🇨🇦 #Canada #JoniMitchell #CanadianMusic #Songwriter
Neil Young: A Canadian Rock Icon 🎸
Neil Young, born in Toronto in 1945, is a legendary Canadian singer-songwriter whose career spans six decades. With his raw, emotional voice & bold artistic choices, Young shaped both folk & rock music with hits like “Heart of Gold” and “Old Man.” He’s also a vocal advocate for social and environmental causes. 🇨🇦 One of Canada’s most influential musical exports. #Canada #NeilYoung #CanadianMusic #RockMusic #FolkRock
cootie catcher – Ontario
https://wgom.org/2026/06/18/cootie-catcher-ontario/Carly Rae Jepsen – Call Me Maybe
Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2011 mega-hit 'Call Me Maybe' sold over 18 million copies worldwide and earned the 2013 #JUNO for Single of the Year. The song exploded in popularity after meme-worthy covers by Justin Bieber and friends, and it became a defining sound of early 2010s pop culture. 🇨🇦 #Canada #CarlyRaeJepsen #CallMeMaybe #JUNO #ViralHit #CanadianMusic #Music
Glenn Gould: More Than Just a Pianist 🎹
Glenn Gould, born in Toronto, was a Canadian pianist, writer, composer, and broadcaster! 🇨🇦 Renowned for his interpretations of Bach, Gould challenged conventional performance practices. Did you know he stopped giving public concerts at age 31 to focus on recording? A true original! #GlennGould #CanadianMusic #Bach
Bruce Cockburn: Lyrical Genius and Activist 📜
Bruce Cockburn’s lyrics have walked the line between poetic & political.
Since the '70s, the #Canadian singer-songwriter has woven environmentalism, spirituality, & human rights into intricate arrangements. With tracks like If I Had a Rocket Launcher & Lovers in a Dangerous Time, he shaped folk-rock into a vehicle for both introspection and action. 🇨🇦 #Canada #BruceCockburn #CanadianMusic #FolkRock
OMG, I did not expect that intro! 😂
Rush - "Tom Sawyer"
Ruth B: From Vine to Global Stage 🌟
Ruth B., born Ruth Berhe in Edmonton, Alberta, is a Canadian singer-songwriter who rose to fame on Vine. Her debut single 'Lost Boy' became a viral hit. Her fame happened so fast! From Alberta to the stars! Another Canadian star! 🇨🇦 #Canada #RuthB #CanadianMusic #PopMusic
Ron Sexsmith Sings “God Loves Everyone”
Listen to this track by soulful Canadian singer-songwriter with higher things on his mind, Ron Sexsmith. It’ s “God Loves Everyone”, a contemplative deep cut from his 2002 record Cobblestone Runway, his sixth album. At this point in his career, Sexsmith was looking to go beyond the barriers of his folk-rock singer-songwriter sound he’d crafted on his first few records with Mitchell Froom in the producer’s chair and later with Steve Earle and Ray Kennedy. The trick was to find a way to make an album in a different way than before to find a path to a new sound.
Cobblestone Runway found him working with a new producer, Martin Terefe, who applies programmed elements and other more electronic production flourishes to give the album a more European feel than Sexsmith’s previous work. Ron laid down his voice and guitar in solo sessions in London, providing the foundation for rhythm tracks and other layers on top. Terefe sent Sexsmith the rough mixes while Sexsmith was still touring his previous album, 2001’s excellent Blue Boy.
This methodology to make the new album was slightly uncomfortable for the songwriter at first. But it resulted in a tastefully balanced and texturally varied Ron Sexsmith record that saw him level up as a writer and recording artist. It sounds different enough from past releases to not to be jarring, but new enough to sound fresh. In fact, Cobblestone Runway serves to mark a new era, with many of the songs being among the best ones he’s recorded to date.
“God Loves Everyone” stands out as a load bearing song on this front in particularly effective ways. For one thing, this cut captures one of his career-best vocal performances. Another strength is the song’s hymn-like melody that remains to be one of his finest. Like so many of his compositions, this tune sounds like it could be traced to musical origins that are far older than they really are. A third strength is the arrangement. Sexsmith’s voice and acoustic guitar are at centre stage, joined by warm and wistful strings that help to accentuate the emotional gravity of the lyrics without being syrupy or overwrought.
The soothing quality of “God Loves Everyone” and many others on the record are come by honestly. The song and the album came out of a challenging period of transition for Ron Sexsmith on several levels. He struggled with a marital breakdown. His relationship with his label had come to an end. And by this time, he was beginning to feel like it was a case of always the bridesmaid and never the bride when it came to radio play and greater international recognition.
Singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith in 2006. image: Masao NakagamiThis need for more exposure and greater career traction wasn’t about fame and fortune. Ron Sexsmith wanted what all artists want; to connect with a wider audience with as much honesty and consistency as was possible. He also wanted to continue writing material that kept him striving for the good and the hopeful instead of finding him stuck in his personal struggles and perceived career doldrums.
In many ways, “God Loves Everyone” does just that, plus quite a bit extra. It’s a song of optimism and great warmth that also deals in a topic that’s wrapped up in a lot of cultural baggage. Its message is a seemingly straightforward plea to see the commonalities between people while also acknowledging that our differences are no bad thing either. Yet this song is more sophisticated than that sentiment suggests. Without saying as much directly, the song also suggests its opposite position on the value of human worth as represented by more traditional interpretations of the person of God.
Historically speaking, God and the structures of organized religion have been used as a tool for fear and control by those in power. They’ve been in place to make those not favoured by authoritarian hierarchies subject to oppression and violence with justifications built right in. In this, the person of God was created in the image of those who cling to political power at any cost and who control the wealth that finances the mechanisms that shape society in their favour and keeps things as they are.
“God Loves Everyone” is a bold and powerful statement that stands in direct opposition to this. On the surface, it’s a kind of universalist hymn. But in its openness and its inclusivity, it is more than just a call for peace and unity. As gentle as it is, it is also defiant against those aforementioned hierarchies designed to divide instead of unite.
Oh, the killer in his cell
The atheist as well
The pure of heart
And the wild at heart
All worthy of its grace
It’s written in the face
Of everyone
God loves everyone
~ “God Loves Everyone” by Ron Sexsmith
In this song, God doesn’t sit above us on high. They’re like the air from room to room. God surrounds us all in love whether living, dead, queer, or straight. It welcomes souls of every faith and no faith and with no threat of hell to extort us into returning that love.
In its small way, “God Loves Everyone” is socially radical. It reclaims the personhood of God not as an authoritarian tyrant who seeks to subjugate and condemn us for disbelief but as a force that binds us all together in acceptance and love, no matter who we are. It or They or She love us like a mother loves her son. Even this language stands in opposition to the patriarchal structures around which reinforced images and concepts of God are based.
Having said all that, “God Loves Everyone” is not an incendiary song that rages against authoritarianism and patriarchy. Primarily, it’s a song of comfort for listeners and also one of self-comfort in a sometimes painful and uncertain world. This is a version of God as the writer hopes God to be. It springs from Sexsmith’s own impulses to celebrate love that can exist between people in a way that’s inclusive and not exclusionary, unconditional and not laced with ulterior motives.
“God Loves Everyone” is a prayer Ron Sexsmith is letting us listeners into. It’s about never losing the thread that binds us all; our intrinsic value as human beings as we all take the bumpy ride down the cobblestone runway of existence.
Ron Sexsmith is an active singer-songwriter today. You can learn more about how he made the Cobblestone Runway album right here at ronsexsmith.com
For more on Ron Sexsmith’s music, check out this list of 20 Great Ron Sexsmith songs, also written by your humble host.
Enjoy!
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