Red soil songbirds
Rose Cousins, Kinley Dowling and Jenn Grant
– all from P.E.I. – were recognized for their work of the past year, on a show that brought together performers from all over Atlantic Canada to mark 30 years of the ECMAS.
Talent raised on the rich, red soil of Prince Edward Island was in the spotlight at the 2018 East Coast Music Awards gala on Thursday night at Halifax’s Scotiabank Centre.
Rose Cousins, Kinley Dowling and Jenn Grant were all recognized for their superior work of the past year, on a show that brought together performers from all over Atlantic Canada to celebrate 30 years of the ECMA’S ongoing efforts to support and promote music from the region.
In all, 13 awards were handed out during the ceremony — wittily hosted by another islander, Charlottetownborn Jonathan Torrens — which was to include performances by Nova Scotian acts the Barra Macneils, Neon Dreams, Port Cities, Makayla Lynn, Universal Soul and Classified, Newfoundland’s the Once and P.E.I. folk trio the East Pointers.
No stranger to the ECMA stage, Cousins saw her latest release Natural Conclusion named album of the year, while its song Grace earned the song of the year
Previously nominated for an American Grammy Award in the best engineered, non- classical category, Natural Conclusion is Cousins’ first collaboration with Los Angeles-based producer Joe Henry, whose credits include work with Aimee Mann, Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint and Bonnie Raitt.
A past collaborator with Cousins, and former member of Newfoundland’s Hey Rosetta!, violinist and vocalist Dowling stepped into the spotlight last year with her solo debut Letters Never Sent, released under the name KINLEY. Its blend of acoustic and electronic sounds, and songs delivered like personal diary entries, was chosen for Rising Star Recording of the Year, and the stand-out track Microphone was voted the Fans’ Choice Video of the Year.
The powerful #Metoo anthem and its accompanying video were created to shed light on a sexual assault that took place when Dowling was in her teens, which she describes in the clip’s opening monologue, shot in stark black and white by P. E. I. filmmaker Jenna Macmillan. Calling out her assailant in the lyrics, Dowling calls on others to continue the conversation and end the silence that too often surrounds the issue.
Completing Thursday night’s P.E.I. connection, Dowling plays viola and violin on Grant’s Paradise, which was named pop album of the year, one of six categories in which it was featured. Produced by her husband Daniel Ledwell at their home studio in Lake Echo, the record enhances Grant’s silky blend of folk and pop with R&B grooves and ’80s-style synths in a critically acclaimed collection that she toured across Canada last year, from Toronto’s storied Massey Hall to Inuksuk High School in Iqualuit.
Now in its third year, the Bucky Adams Memorial Award — which replaced African-canadian recording of the year — was presented to New Brunswick born, Nova Scotia-based soprano Measha Brueggergosman, who also was to perform on the show. In 2017, Brueggergosman released Songs of Freedom, featuring fellow ECMA nominee the Nova Scotia Mass Choir, a collection of American spirituals closely associated with the civil rights movement. The album was also accompanied by a four- part documentary series which aired on Vision TV.
Icons of East Coast music were also recognized on Thurs- day night, as Canadian indie rock mainstays Sloan received the ECMA Directors’ Special Achievement Award, and Cape Breton-born blues rocker Matt Minglewood won the vote for Fans’ Choice Entertainer of the Year. Combining four unique songwriting voices into one cohesive whole for over 25 years, Sloan performed music from its brand new release Sloan 12 before doing double duty with a ECMA Rock Showcase set immediately afterwards at the Marquee Ballroom.
Sloan’s fellow 1990s Halifax pop explosion survivor Joel Plaskett earned the songwriter of the year award, most recently for his duo project Solidarity, written and recorded with his dad, Lunenburg folk luminary Bill Plaskett. He was also to perform with his band the Joel Plaskett Emergency, pointing the way towards getting back to rock and roll basics on his next project.
Hip hop was also an important part of the awards gala, with performers City Natives and Quake Matthews also earning trophies, for indigenous artist of the year and rap/hip-hop recording of the year, respectively. With members hailing from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, City Natives have been steadily building a crossCanada fanbase thanks to steady touring and the insistent beats on its 2017 release Dream Catchers.
Matthews’ win for his expansive release Celebrate the Struggle caps a busy year for the Fairview MC, who was selected for the Allan Slaight Juno Master Class program at this year’s Juno Awards in Vancouver, bringing him face-to-face with some of the top figures in the Canadian music industry.
French-speaking artists were represented as well on Thursday night. Jacques Jacobus, from the pioneer Acadian hip-hop group Radio Radio, picked up Francophone recording of the year for Le retour de Jacobus, while New Brunswick improvisational ensemble Les Paiens’ Carte noire was named group recording of the year.
The ECMA Festival and Conference celebrations continue through the weekend, with multiple showcases in venues around Halifax, a sold-out SOCAN Songwriters’ Circle and the benefit ECMA Cup hockey game on Sunday afternoon at the Dartmouth 4 Pad Arena, and the ECMA Music and Industry Awards ceremony on Sunday night at the Marriott Harbourfront Hotel.