2015 Canadian Folk Music Awards Presented

The 11th annual Canadian Folk Music Awards were presented in Edmonton, Alberta on Sunday evening, Nov. 8, and streamed live online via Concert Window. Winners for 2015 were named in 19 categories, while an Unsung Hero Award recipient was also honored during a bilingual gala & reception at the Citadel Theatre.

The always entertaining, genial and witty Quebecois folk artist Benoit Bourque and noted singer-songwriter Connie Kaldor hosted the gala event that also featured performances by Melisande, Pharis and Jason Romero, Jeffery Straker, Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra, Trent Severn and John Wort Hannam. The event marked the culmination of an awards weekend that began on Nov. 6 and included showcases by nominees

The Canadian Folk Music Awards were established in 2005 to bring greater exposure to the breadth and depth of Canadian folk music — celebrating and promoting it in all its forms. As previously reported on AcousticMusicScene.com, this year’s nominees were announced Sept. 9 during a first-ever National Strum at Edmonton City Hall. The city’s folk community gathered together there to perform East Coast singer-songwriter Dave Gunning’s “These Hands,” a song of celebration and of recognition that everyone can be a hero of the human kind. A video featuring Gunning and a number of other artists singing verses of the song was screened during the awards gala.

Catherine MacLellan, a Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (PEI)-based singer-songwriter, was named Solo Artist of the Year, while her latest release, The Raven’s Sun was recognized as the Contemporary Album of the Year. Amelia Curran of St. John’s, Newfoundland, bested MacLellan and three other nominees for Contemporary Singer of the Year and also was named English Songwriter of the Year in recognition of her album, They Promised You Mercy.

Quebec’s Louis-Jean Cormier was named French Songwriter of the Year for Les grandes arteres, while Raven Kanatakta and Shoshone Kish from Long Point First Nation in Winneway, Quebec, were honored with The Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year award for Digging Roots’ album, For The Light. “Our families and our communities have been at the core of making this politically charged music for maybe 10 years now,” said Kish in accepting the award. “I’m hoping that this is a moment of change for this country and, hopefully, the future looks bright.”

Quebec’s Michael Jerome Browne was named Traditional Singer of the Year for his 1920s’ blues-inspired Sliding Delta, while Newfoundland’s Matthew Byrne’s Hearts & Heroes was recognized as the Traditional Album of the Year. Toronto-based The Young Novelists, featuring recent Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award recipient Graydon James and his wife, Laura Spink, was named New/Emerging Artist of the Year for Made Us Strangers. Big Little Lions, a folk group featuring Juno Award-winning Comox Valley, British Columbia-based singer-songwriter Helen Austin and U.S.-based singer-songwriter Paul Otten, was named Ensemble of the Year for A Little Frayed, A Little Torn. While citing the challenge of collaborating with someone across the miles and the border, Austin, in accepting the award, said: “Working with Paul is just the best musical experience I’ve ever had.”

St John’s, Newfoundland’s Fortunate Ones were, indeed, fortunate to earn Vocal Group of the Year honors for The Bliss in a category that also featured such gifted artists as Good Lovelies, Pharis & Jason Romero and The Young Novelists.

Nova Scotia-based husband-and-wife fiddle and step-dancing duo Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy were named Instrumental Group of the Year for One, while Ontario’s Adrianna Ciccone received Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year honors for The Back of Winter. Lemon Bucket Orchestra (Moorka) was named World Group of the Year, while Kirasn Ahluwalia (Sanata: Stillness) was honored as World Solo Artist of the Year. Rebecca Lappa of Edmonton was named Young Performer of the Year for Tattered Rose. Newfoundland’s The Swinging Belles received the Children’s Album of the Year award for More Sheep, Less Sleep. PEI’s Daniel Ledwell was named Producer of the Year for Compostela, an album by his wife, Jenn Grant. Acclaimed Ontario-based guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Breit received the Oliver Schroer Pushing the Boundaries Award.

One of the evening’s most touching moments was the presentation of the somewhat ironically named Unsung Hero Award, recognizing exceptional contributions to the promotion, preservation and presentation of Canadian folk, roots and world music, to Arthur McGregor by his daughter Hannah. One of the founders of the Canadian Folk Music Awards, McGregor resigned from the CFMA board last year and also established the Ottawa Folklore Centre, a much-loved music store and school that closed recently after 38 years in operation. Calling the awards a catalyst in helping to bring his life back into balance, McGregor invited everyone to join him in singing “Circle of Song,” a celebratory number by Tony Turner, a former Canadian civil servant who drew national and international attention earlier this year when he was suspended from his job for writing and performing “Harperman.” That song was sung by many during rallies against Canada’s former longtime Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, whose government was ousted in the recent Canadian national elections.

More information on the awards may be found at www.folkawards.ca.