With four nominations each, Ontario’s 15-piece Lemon Bucket Orkestra, fiddler Jaron Freeman-Fox & The Opposite of Everything, and multiple Juno award-winning singer-songwriter David Francey are the top nominees vying for 2013 Canadian Folk Music Awards that are slated to be presented during a gala event at the University of Calgary Theatre in Calgary, Alberta, Nov. 10.

cfma-web-englishThe Canadian Folk Music Awards were established ten years ago to bring greater exposure to the breadth and depth of Canadian folk music, celebrating and promoting it in all its forms. Outstanding achievements will be recognized in 19 categories, while Unsung Hero and Folk Music Canada’s Innovator Award recipients will be named in October. Seventy artists and groups from eight provinces and two territories in Canada were announced as nominees during a songwriters’ circle-style news conference in downtown Calgary last week.

“This year’s nominated artists are all marked by a startling enthusiasm,” says Grit Laskin, president of the Canadian Folk Music Awards. “We’ve got Appalachian dulcimers, five-stringed violins, punk-inspired folk, classical-inspired folk, Irish hand drums, Iraqi oud fusionists, world-renowned step-dancers, and heart-wrenching songwriters – all of whom are releasing and performing some of Canada’s best folk music.”

Benoit Bourque of La Bottine Souriante, and formerly of Le Vent du Nord and Matapat, joins the CBC’s Shelagh Rogers in hosting the bilingual gala awards presentation that marks the culmination of a CFMA weekend that begins on Nov. 8 and will feature performances by Amelia Curran, James Keelaghan, Oh My Darling, and Oscar Lopez, among others. Tickets for the gala show are available to the public for $40 and may be purchased by calling (403) 220-7202 or by logging-on to ucalgary.ca/tickets/.

A complete list of 2013 Canadian Folk Music Awards nominees follows, while more information may be found online at folkawards.ca.

Young Performer of the Year:
Rebecca Lappa for Avant Garden
Ten Strings and A Goat Skin for Corbeau
Keiffer Mclean for Keiffer McLean
Sydney Delong for My Vow To You
Kierah for Stonemason’s Daughter
.
New/Emerging Artist of the Year:
Ashley Condon for This Great Compromise
Lemon Bucket Orkestra for Lume, Lume
Mo Kenney for Mo Kenney
Ten Strings And A Goat Skin for Corbeau
Trent Severn for Trent Severn

Pushing The Boundaries
(celebrating innovation in creating new folk sounds):
Kevin Breit for Field Recording
Jaron Freeman Fox & The Opposite of Everything for Jaron Freeman Fox & The Opposite of Everything
New Country Rehab for Ghost of Your Charms
Orchid Ensemble for Life Death Tears Dream
Wilderness of Manitoba for Island of Echoes

English Songwriter of the Year:
David Francey for So Say We All
Old Man Luedecke for Tender is the Night
Lynn Miles for Downpour
Justin Rutledge for Valleyheart
John Wort Hannam for Brambles and Thorns

French Songwriter of the Year:
Chantal Archambault for Les Élans
Louis Jean Cormier for Le treizième étage
Catherine Durand for Les murs blancs du Nord
Alexis Normand for Mirador
Dany Placard for Démon vert

Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year:
Don Amero for Heart On My Sleeve
Diem Lafortune for Beauty and Hard Times
Nancy Mike of The Jerry Cans for Nunavuttitut
Kristi Lane Sinclair for The Sea Alone
Vince Fontaine of Indian City for Supernation

World Solo Artist of the Year
:
Aviva Chernick for When I Arrived You Were Already There
Alex Cuba for Ruido En El Sistema
Lenka Lichtenberg for Embrace
Jorge Miguel for Guitarra Flamenca/Flamenco Guitar
Sora for Scorpion Moon

World Group of the Year
:
Njacko Backo & Kalimba Kalimba for Ici Bas, Rien N’est Impossible
David Buchbinder & Odessa/Havana for Walk to the Sea
Lemon Bucket Orkestra for Lume, Lume
Jaron Freeman Fox & The Opposite of Everything for Jaron Freeman Fox
& The Opposite of Everything

Jaffa Road for Where The Light Gets In

Traditional Album of the Year:
Long Gone Out West Blues by Pharis Romero and Jason Romero
Lume, Lume by Lemon Bucket Orkestra
Mosaïk by Vishtèn
Seinn by Mary Jane Lamond and Wendy MacIsaac
Tune Tramp by Erynn Marshall

Traditional Singer of the Year:
Natalie Edelson of The Blue Warblers for Birds
Ian Bell for Forget Me Not, When Far Away
Ken Whiteley for The Light Of Christmas
Pharis Romero for Long Gone Out West Blues
Mary Jane Lamond for Seinn

Contemporary Album of the Year:
Downpour by Lynn Miles
Rise by Annabelle Chvostek
So Say We All by David Francey
These Wilder Things by Ruth Moody
Valleyheart by Justin Rutledge

Contemporary Singer of the Year:
Stephen Fearing for Between Hurricanes
Old Man Luedecke for Tender is the Night
Justin Rutledge for Valleyheart
Ian Sherwood for Live At The Hive
John Wort Hannam for Brambles And Thorns

Vocal Group of the Year:
Dawn and Marra for Teaspoons and Tablespoons
Good Lovelies for Live at Revolution
Trent Severn for Trent Severn
The Sweet Lowdown for May
Wilderness of Manitoba for Island of Echoes

Ensemble of the Year:
Genticorum for Enregistré Live
Good Lovelies for Live at Revolution
Mary Jane Lamond and Wendy MacIsaac for Seinn
Corin Raymond & The Sundowners for Paper Nickels
Vishtèn for Mosaïk

Solo Artist of the Year:
Maria Dunn for Piece By Piece
Stephen Fearing for Between Hurricanes
David Francey for So Say We All
Lynn Miles for Downpour
John Wort Hannam for Brambles And Thorns

Children’s Album of the Year:
Always Be A Unicorn by Helen Austin
Pickin’ in the Garden by The Funky Mamas
Throw a Penny in the Wishing Well by Jennifer Gasoi
Viva la Diva by Madame Diva
What’s the Big Idea ?!? by Gary Rasberry

Producer of the Year
:
David Francey for So Say We All
David Travers Smith for These Wilder Things by Ruth Moody and for Jaron Freeman Fox and The Opposite of Everything
Jory Nash for Little Pilgrim
Rick Scott for The Great Gazzoon A Tall Tale With Tunes & Turbulence
Steve Dawson for Brother Sinner & The Whale by Kelly Joe Phelps and for I Hear The Wind In The Wires by Jim Byrnes