A few months ago, Stephen Spencer, a New York-based music professor from Ottawa, started posting videos on TikTok and Instagram accompanied by music he made with his three-year-old daughter. Their original songs include Apple Man, The Christmas Cat, and Funchy the Snowwoman. What started out as a fun project to share with his mom and her book club quickly became viral. Now, Stephen has amassed hundreds of thousands of followers and millions of views on his videos. He joins Tom Power to talk about the unexpected success of this project, the importance of truly listening to a child, and what it means to have “creative innocence.”

Next week, the Toronto indie band Good Kid is releasing their debut album, Can We Hang Out Sometime? They’ve built a massive online fanbase by embracing internet culture — from gaming streams to Discord communities — and letting fans help shape the band’s creative world. Nick Frosst and Jacob Tsafatinos of Good Kid join Tom Power to talk about the new album and how it came together. Nick is also the co-founder of one of Canada’s most important AI companies, so they share their thoughts about AI’s place in music and whether it’s changing how artists create.

Thirty years ago, legendary Cree playwright Tomson Highway wrote a musical called Rose that was never professionally produced, though it was occasionally staged by students. One of those productions took place at the University of Toronto, where singer and actor Patricia Cano played the lead. What began as a student-teacher relationship between Tomson and Patricia eventually grew into something more like family. Now, Rose is finally getting its first professional production at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, with Patricia once again in the starring role. Tomson and Patricia join guest host Garvia Bailey to share the story behind the musical and their decades-long creative partnership.