Hey folks, jD here. Give this episode a listen and then get cracking and submit and share your stories.

Celebrate this triumph with Justin, Craig, Kirk, and jD.

Join jD and Sara J for a weekly gab fest focusing on all things The Tragically Hip!

Ever wonder what really happens when I “tabulate the results using an abacus”?

This is The Abacus Files — eight straight minutes of pure, mystical nonsense pulled from the fever dream that is my creative process. A parade of psychic ferrets, deep-fried deep fryers, face bidets, kumquat bongs, and ceramic televangelists with spiderweb crowns — all gathered around one sacred desk to divine the true order of The Tragically Hip’s Top 40.

It’s equal parts séance, satire, and studio detritus — a love letter to the absurd rituals behind the show. Somewhere between noir and nostalgia, math and magic, you’ll find The Abacus Files: a companion piece to chaos, and maybe the most honest thing we’ve ever done.

So grab a candle that smells like nachos and regret. The spreadsheet gods demand tribute.

It is October 18 — twelve years have passed since Gord Downie released Secret Path, his beautiful and haunting tribute to Chanie Wenjack. Today we re-release the Secret Path episode of Discovering Downie to listen back through those ten songs with fresh ears, deep care, and respect.

We trace Secret Path’s journey: Gord’s shift to solo purpose, how each lyric sketches escape and absence, and how the album remains a bridge between grief and activism. In this intimate revisit, we unpack the poems, the illustrations, and the moments that still haunt us.

What to Expect:

• A song-by-song revisit: The Stranger, Swing Set, Seven Matches, I Will Not Be Struck, Son, Secret Path, Don’t Let This Touch You, Haunt Them, Haunt Them, Haunt Them, The Only Place To Be, Here, Here and Here
• Reflections on how Secret Path changed what we heard — and how we remember
• Insights into Gord’s vision, the artistic collaboration with Jeff Lemire, and the legacy of cultural reconciliation
• Moments of silence, of grief, and of renewed purpose

If this album shaped your heart — or you haven’t listened closely before — I invite you to enter its shadows with me and let Gord’s voice linger long after.

Enjoy this flashback to Fully & Completely as Greg and jD break down The Hip's 9th studio long play.

It is October 16. Five years ago today, Gord Downie’s final solo album — Away Is Mine — was released. It’s a double album: ten songs in electric form, ten more in acoustic. It’s the last time Gord ever sang into a mic.

Tonight, we re-release the Away Is Mine episode of Discovering Downie. We walk those songs again. This is a record born of love, mortality, and farewell.

During four days in July 2017, Gord and Josh Finlayson went into The Bathouse studio in Ontario and captured these final songs, knowing time was short.

They weren’t trying to make an album — they were trying to make a moment.

Join jD and Greg every week as they recap the song of the week by exploring the back catalogue of the Fully & Completely episodes