Covering the local music scene for more than two years now, the thought has struck me that a comparison can be made to breweries.

Think of your favourite brew by a major label, and then by a mirco brewery?

In a taste test, some might even prefer a micro-brewed beer even though it couldn’t even begin to compare with its major brewery counterpart in terms of sales and profits earned.

I found the same thing with the local artists I’ve had the privilege to listen to now for a couple of years.

Many of their CDs have confidently crept from my work file into my regular collection.

Among them are:

• Norm Hacking, who sadly passed away last November. I had started on a Hacking phase before his untimely death at 52, mostly his Skysongs (a wonderful sampling of his music) and One Voice, which was actually a tribute album made by his adoring peers, including one of my favourite artists of all time, Michael P Smith from Chicago;

• East York’s Mandy Lagan. She’s actually a neighbour and friend, and her Versus CD is now available on iTunes but will be officially released with an official Hugh’s Room send-off on May 1, 2008. The album is very much for adults although its theme is childhood which is looked at through the timeless poetry of Robert Louis Stevenson (best known as the author of Treasure Island). Add consistently strong and imaginative songwriting and performing from start to finish by Lagan and her collaborators, which include some of Toronto’s finest musicians (including this year Juno nominee David Occhipinti), and the result is a unique, inspired work of art.

• Riverdale’s Gregg Lawless: his most recent CD, Something Beautiful from 2004 is, indeed, Something Beautiful. This CD, I think took some time, to implant itself, but once it did it was hard for many of the songs to get out of my head, especially Fallin’ All Over You which I always seem to whistle for a couple of days after I hear it. It’s got ‘hit’ written all over it. Many artists are inspired by the Beatles but few can harness this admiration as well as Lawless.

• Peter Verity and Paul Grady from East York; and Brian Gladstone from North York. The fact that these artists are grouped together (and Norm Hacking would fit comfortably with this group) absolutely does not mean they take second fiddle. Their most recent CDs have all equally had lots of play in my house. The albums are, respectively, Sometimes a Journey; A Song for Paddy Clarke; and A Time For New Beginnings. All are compelling storytellers, Verity a little more Lightfoot inspired, Grady a little more Maritime inspired; and Gladstone a little more Prine inspired. All uniquely original.