Winners of this year’s Canadian Folk Music Awards were recognized at a bilingual, celebratory and music-filled event hosted by Benoit Bourque and Chelsey June (of the duo Twin Flames) during the CFMA 2023 Awards Weekend, March 31-April 2, in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Alberta-based singer-songwriter John Wort Hannam picked up two awards (Contemporary Album of the Year and Solo Artist of the Year for his album Long Haul). So too did Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves (Traditional Album of the Year and Instrumental Group of the Year for Hurricane Clarice) and Toronto-based, genre bending global roots music instrumental group Sultans of String (Global Roots Album of the Year for Sanctuary and Producers of the Year – Chris McKhool and John “Beetle” Bailey). A number of other artists received awards as well.
John Wort Hannan, who previously received a Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Folk Album of the Year, is an acclaimed folk and roots artist who has also been a winner in the prestigious Kerrville New Folk Competition, a three-time grand-prize winner in the Calgary Folk Festival Songwriting Competition (2004, 2007, 2009), the Gold (top) winner in the Folk/Acoustic Category in the 34th Annual Mid-Atlantic Song Contest (2018), and a CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award recipient. The troubadour, whose songs often focus on life in Western Canada and the human experience as seen through the eyes of working people has performed throughout North America and beyond – including during the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London, UK. Long Haul is Wort Hannam’s eighth studio album.
Here’s a link to the official video for the title track of John Wort Hannam’s album, Long Haul:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj9cpSFdIJs.
Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves are a banjo and fiddle duo and are leading players in today’s young generation of roots musicians. Although they have been performing together for several years, de Groot is also known for her intricate clawhammer banjo work with Bruce Molsky, while Hargreaves has accompanied Laurie Lewis and David Rawlings with her powerhouse fiddling and teaches bluegrass fiddle at UNC-Chapel Hill. Hurricane Clarice is the duo’s second album. Blending old and new, its musical repertoire comes from field recordings, old hymns and LPs, as well as modern literary sources and their own original compositions.
Here’s a link to view a video of Allison DeGroot & Tatiana Hargreaves performing tunes from Hurricane Clarice: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QzPI7Q5h04.
Sultans of String’s wide-ranging musical palette features elements of Spanish flamenco, Celtic reels, Django-inspired jazz, Arabic, Cuban, and South Asian rhythms, and more. Like Wort Hannam, Sultans of String also was honored for its eighth album during the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Released in November 2021, Sanctuary is the second installment in the band’s Refugee Project, which violinist and bandleader Chris McKhool says is “centered around the positive contributions of refugees and new immigrants to Canada” and tells the story of how to communicate with others through the global language of music. McKhool received a 2021 CFMA as Producer of the Year for its predecessor, Refugee. According to McKhool, Sanctuary’s 11 songs speak to the challenges facing the world’s displaced people – their stories, their songs, their persistence, and their humanity.
Here’s a link to view the official trailer for a film about The Refugee Project that screened during the Canadian Folk Music Awards weekend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvVe90RJwb4.
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. This year’s 104 nominees spanned the country from Leader, Saskatchewan to Papineauville, Quebec, and from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia to Fredericton, New Brunswick. They were chosen for each category via two-stage jury process. More than 100 jurors, located across Canada and representing all of its official provinces, territories and languages determine the recipients in each category.
A complete list of winners in the 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards nominees follows, while
more information may be found online at folkawards.ca.
Children’s Album of the Year / Album jeunesse de l’année
Folk For Little Folk Volume 1 (Gordie Crazylegs MacKeeman)
Contemporary Album of the Year / Album contemporain de l’année
Long Haul (John Wort Hannam)
Contemporary Singer of the Year / Chanteur contemporain de l’année
Kyle McKearney (Down-Home)
English Songwriter(s) / Auteur compositeur(s) anglophone
Abigail Lapell (Stolen Time)
Ensemble of the Year / Groupe de l’année
The Slocan Ramblers (Up the Hill and Through the Fog)
French Songwriter(s) of the Year / Auteur-compositeur(s) francophone de l’année
Geneviève Roberge-Bouchard & Alain Barbeau (J’attends encore)
Global Roots Album of the Year / Album traditions du monde de l’année
Sanctuary (Sultans of String)
Indigenous Songwriter(s) of the Year / Auteur compositeur(s) autochtone de l’année
Amanda Rheaume (The Spaces In Between)
Instrumental Group of the Year / Groupe instrumental de l’année
Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves (Hurricane Clarice)
Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year / Instrumentiste solo de l’année
Waymzy (Inchoate)
New/Emerging Artist(s) of the Year / Artiste(s) de la relève de l’année
RedFox (Stranger Love)
Oliver Schroer Pushing the Boundaries Award / Prix Innovation musicale Oliver Schroer
Transcestral (Oktoécho)
Producer(s) of the Year / Réalisateur(s) de l’année
Chris McKhool & John ‘Beetle’ Bailey (Sanctuary – Sultans of String)
Single of the Year / Monoplage de l’année
“Sing Me A Song” (William Prince and Serena Ryder)
Solo Artist of the Year / Artiste solo de l’année
John Wort Hannam (Long Haul)
Traditional Album of the Year/ Album traditionnel de l’année
Hurricane Clarice (Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves)
Traditional Singer of the Year / Chanteur traditionnel de l’année
Lizzy Hoyt (The Parting Glass)
Vocal Group of the Year / Groupe vocal de l’année
The McDades (The Empress)
Young Performer(s) of the Year / Jeune artiste(s) de l’année
Fiddelium (Fiddelium)
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