Every November we present our annual Sounds of the City, where we celebrate local musicians. For our fifth edition, we’re focusing on the artists, venues, and organizations that bring live music to the masses. No stranger to the stage, singer-songwriter Rodney Brown talks to Tiffany Jarva about staying committed to his Northwestern Ontario roots. Plus, did you know Thunder Bay is Canada’s smallest city to have a fully professional orchestra? Ayano Hodouchi looks back as the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra celebrates 60 years of symphonic music. Also in the cover story, Sara Sadeghi Aval speaks to musicians about The Apollo and what impact the city’s long-running music venue has had on them, I chat with the organizers of the grassroots, family-friendly festival Live at the Bedrock, and we profile six musicians who you have to hear live. Keeping with our music theme, we go Eye to Eye with the MacDonald brothers from The Honest Heart Collective, film columnist Michael Sobota shares his favourite musicals, and the Northern Policy Institute examines the music industry in Thunder Bay during COVID-19.