Comox singer snags award
Big Little Lions takes ensemble-of-year honour at Edmonton gala
A duo featuring Comox Valley singer-songwriter Helen Austin was the lone B.C. winner during the Canadian Folk Music Awards gala held Sunday at Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre.
Big Little Lions, a folk combo featuring the Juno Award-winning Austin and U.S. singer-songwriter Paul Otten, earned ensemble of the year for A Little Frayed, A Little Torn. It was a rare bright spot for B.C. at the annual awards show, whose big provincial winners — Newfoundland and Ontario — took home five awards apiece.
Amelia Curran (contemporary singer and English songwriter of the year), Catherine MacLellan (contemporary album and solo artist of the year) and Kiran Ahluwalia (world solo artist of the year) were among the big winners.
Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish from Long Point First Nation in Winneway, Que., who perform as Digging Roots, won aboriginal songwriter for their album For the Light, while Nova Scotia husbandand-wife fiddle duo Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy won the instrumental group of the year for One.
Newfoundland’s Matthew Byrne was awarded traditional album of the year for Hearts & Heroes and Quebec’s Michael Jerome Browne won traditional singer of the year for his 1920s blues-inspired album, Sliding Delta.
The new/emerging artist of the year went to Ontario’s The Young Novelists, while The Lemon Bucket Orkestra was named world group of the year. Children’s album of the year went to The Swinging Belles, for More Sheep, Less Sleep.
Louis-Jean Cormier was honoured with the French songwriter of the year award, while renowned Ontario guitarist Kevin Breit won the Pushing the Boundaries award for his album Ernesto & Delilah.