Niagara’s Tim Hicks up for four Canadian Country Music Awards
Niagara Falls country star Tim Hicks is capping a big year with multiple nominations for the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) Awards.
Hicks is up for four awards at the Sept. 8 show in Calgary, including the biggest prize – Entertainer of the Year. He’ll be up against Paul Brandt, Brett Kissel, Dean Brody and Dallas Smith.
Hicks, who released his fourth album “New Tattoo” last June, is also nominated for Album of the Year, Apple Music Fans’ Choice and Male Artist of the Year.
Voting for the Fans’ Choice Award is now open at www.ccma.org/applemusicfanschoice
The singer has 11 previous nominations at the CCMAs, with one win in 2014 for Rising Star.
“New Tattoo” was also nominated for Country Album of the Year at the 2019 Juno Awards.
A former winner at the Niagara Music Awards, Hicks is humbled by all the national attention in recent years.
“It’s so exciting – it’s one of those things I never bank on, so when it happens it’s a great surprise,” he said when contacted Thursday. “It’s always nice to be recognized by your peers. Plus, Calgary is a fantastic city, so you know it’s gonna be a great time.”
Brett Kissel and the James Barker Band led all artists with five nominations each. Hicks, The Reklaws, Paul Brandt, Tenille Townes, Dallas Smith and Lindsay Ell – whose duet with Hicks, “The Worst Kind,” appears on “New Tattoo” – followed with four apiece.
Hicks’ latest single, “What a Song Should Do,” topped the Canadian country radio charts in June.
The nominations come for what is, by Hicks’ own admission, his least country album.
During an interview with The Review last year, he described “New Tattoo” as a melting pot of his love for classic rock and pop growing up.
“I was challenging myself … what is country in this day and age, what is rock and roll? How do those two things meld? I listen to all kinds of stuff, from Led Zeppelin to Blue Rodeo, from Waylon Jennings to Guns ‘n Roses, so at some point all that’s got to come out.”
The CCMA awards will be broadcast Sept. 8 on Global starting at 9 p.m.