FOLK MUSIC SCENE IN SPOTLIGHT
ONTARIO ARTISTS BIG WINNER S AT CANADIAN AWARDS
This country’s folk music industry may have come to the music’s unofficial home this year to celebrate, but Calgary musicians were shut out of the awards part of the party.
In fact, by the time the ninth annual Canadian Folk Music Awards wrapped up on Sunday night with a gala show at the University of Calgary’s University Theatre, all of the 19 awards were heading out of Alberta to their winners’ home provinces spread across the country and even into Nunavut.
Overall, almost half of the awards wound up back in Ontario, with nine being earned by seven acts or artists from that region.
Leading the way were Toronto groups The Good Lovelies and Jaron Freeman-Fox & The Opposite of Everything, who each claimed a pair of prizes.
The Lovelies, a trio featuring Kerri Ough, Caroline Brooks and Sue Passmore, earned Ensemble of the Year and Vocal Group of the Year titles on the strength of their release Live At Revolution.
Fellow Hogtown crew The Opposite of Everything, led by violinist-composer Freeman-Fox, captured Instrumental Group of the Year and the Pushing the Boundaries awards. In a little crosscountry collaboration, they also helped B.C.’s David Travers-Smith win Producer of the Year honours, for the work the Victoriabased producer did on their eponymous release as well as that on West Coast artist Ruth Moody’s album These Wilder Things.
Other notable winners Sunday night, during the show which was hosted by CBC Radio personality Shelagh Rogers and musician Benoit Bourque, include: Toronto singersongwriter Justin Rutledge, whose Valleyheart took Contemporary Album of the Year; Ottawa’s Lynn Miles, named Solo Artist of the Year; New/Emerging Artist of the Year Mo Kenney from Nova Scotia; and Cape Breton duo Mary Jane Lamond and Wendy MacIsaac, who won Traditional Album of the Year for their release Seinn.
The awards gala, which featured performances from notable folk acts including veteran Calgary duo Oscar Lopez and the now Ontario-based James Keelaghan, capped off three days of performances and workshops around the city.
It was the first time the roaming Canadian Folk Music Awards were held in Calgary, with it being seen as a natural fit, considering the city’s thriving folk club scene and a wealth of talent that regularly stocks those seven clubs as well as the numerous other folk-- friendly venues in the area.
For a complete list of winners go to folkawards.ca.