Nominees revealed for Sask. Music Awards
Amy Nelson has been spending a fair bit of time in Australia these days, but she was glad to be home on Wednesday.
The Regina country singer-songwriter was among the nominees announced for the 2019 Saskatchewan Music Awards, which will be awarded in Saskatoon later this month.
“I’m excited. … And anytime you’re nominated for something, it’s a nice way to recognize people for how hard they’re working,” said Nelson, who is one of five nominees for country artist of the year.
“And there’s tons of artists out there that maybe weren’t even in the category that are working hard.”
The purpose of founding the awards in 2018, said Saskmusic executive director Mike Dawson, was to celebrate “all the great things artists are doing” in Saskatchewan.
The second annual awards ceremony will be a continuation of that.
“We want to recognize everyone, because everyone’s doing really great work,” said Dawson. “It does give us an opportunity to share a lot of stories, a lot of great things that are happening with artists, whether they’re winners or not in the province.”
Nelson had a big summer in 2019, touring Australia for the 10th time and winning the CKRM Proudly Saskatchewan contest — which saw her perform at Country Thunder and have the opportunity to record with Open Road Recordings, home to artists like the Hunter Brothers and Dean Brody.
There are a few repeat nominees among the 13 categories announced Wednesday at The Artesian.
Saskatoon indie-rock trio Close Talker — which is about to begin a North American tour (and had a cross-canada tour earlier this year for its unique 3D-360 headphone concert) — is up for alternative artist of the year (which it won last year), rock/pop artist of the year, and producer of the year.
Reignwolf, fronted by Saskatoon expat Jordan Cook, is nominated in the former two categories.
Duchess of Dub is up for electronic artist of the year and Indigenous artist of the year. Eekwol and T-rhyme are nominated in the latter category, too, and for hip-hop artist of the year.
Mario Lepage’s name appears in five awards categories: He’s up for producer of the year; his band Ponteix is nominated for rock/pop artist of the year and alternative artist of the year; and, Dylan Hryciuk of Versa Films is twice nominated for creating two Ponteix music videos (“Petite Fleur” and “Faux Pas”).
Music video of the year is a new category.
The awards are “pretty special,” said Nelson. “It’s celebrating all of Saskatchewan, all genres. And I think there’s some really phenomenal things happening in the music (industry), coming from people from Saskatchewan.”
The Saskatchewan Music Awards party takes place in Saskatoon at the Broadway Theatre on Nov. 28, 7 p.m.
Tickets are available through veryprairie.ca.
Last year’s ceremony was in Regina. Dawson said the eventual goal is bring the celebration to other communities in the province.
“It’s definitely a hope that we can use it as an opportunity to celebrate what’s happening in the province, all over the province,” said Dawson.