The 27th Annual Eastern Canada Bluegrass Music Awards were held in Truro on October 22nd with a wonderful lineup of Maritime talent. Congratulations to all!
This year’s group winners in alphabetical order are:
This year’s individual winners in alphabetical order are:
MASTER AWARDS for being five-time winners in their categories were presented to Christal Thimbault – Fiddle Player and Serge Bernard – EMCEE.
Well if you’re Canadian, it’s relatively simple – just win the Eastern Canada Bluegrass Music Awards in the same category at least five times and voila, you’re a “Master”.
Masters are then no longer eligible to compete for the same honor. According to Dennis Moore, chairman of this year’s awards being held Saturday, “…this allows a chance for others to receive the awards.”
The Kruger Brothers will premiere Jens Kruger’s The Spirit of the Rockies August 25 at the Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta, Canada. The band, comprised of Jens Kruger, Uwe Kruger and Joel Landsburg, has become celebrated worldwide for its seamless fusions of jazz, classical, folk and bluegrass.
Commissioned by the Banff Centre, The Spirit Of The Rockies is a symphonic piece for chamber orchestra, guitar, bass, and banjo. The composition demonstrates not only Kruger’s talents as a composer, arranger and performer, but also his singular ability to combine seemingly disparate cultural and musical traditions within his work. In this performance the Kruger Brothers will be joined by the Banff Centre’s chamber musicians in residence.
Mountain Fever Records Releases Memories from
The Spinney Brothers
Mountain Fever Records is proud to release Memories, the latest project from The Spinney Brothers. The new CD has been shipped to radio programmers and retail outlets and is available worldwide today.
From the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, Canada, brothers Allan Spinney on guitar and vocals and Rick Spinney on banjo and vocals debuted their band in 1992, featuring a tight brother duet vocal style that was immediately recognized for its energetic and distinctive sound.
Since that time, the band has released 8CDs independently and are recipients of many Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Awards including 3-time Vocal Group of the Year.
Sample the Songs at the end of this post!
Song Originates from 1928! – Watch Video
The Steep Canyon Rangers have been honoring the Grateful Dead for some time with a very authentic yet still very bluegrass version of “Don’t Ease Me In”
Now they’ve created a video of the tune for entry into a contest sponsored by the website Dead.net called the Dead Covers Project.
We received a request for help from Melissa Sherman who represents the Canadian Bluegrass Band Hard Ryde. Melissa wrote: We had taped an NBC show here in Toronto called "Covert Affairs", we are playing an original song even, in a scene in this show, its a CSI type show. Would you be so kind as to announce that the US airing is coming up on Nov, 15th. They can't tell us when it will air in Canada and are hoping someone somewhere in the US could record it for us!
If you can help them out by recording the show for them, contact Melissa Sherman at: melissa@hardryde.ca
...More than 20 awards will be presented...The 27th Annual Eastern Canada Bluegrass Music Awards Show is set for Oct. 22, 7 p.m. at Cobequid Education Centre on Lorne St, in Truro. The event showcases ten Eastern Canada Bluegrass bands again this year: A New Shade of Blue, Bluegrass Diamonds, Bluegrass Tradition, Close To Home, The Douthwrights, Grassfire, Janet McGarry & Wildwood, Joe Casey & Westwind, New Ground and Shadow River. More than 20 awards will be presented. Following the show is an Award Winner's Reception. All tickets are reserved and for advance sale, $10 plus $2 handling, at TicketPro outlets, on line at www.ticketpro.ca or by calling 1-888-311-9090 to reserve by credit card. If there's any left, tickets are $14 at the door.
We are setting out for Canada a few times this year. I do love being there and of course, one of the members of the CLB (Jason Thomas) is a dual citizen. Whether you never considered bridging the gap or if you are a lover of Canadians - I encourage you to look at this beautiful piece.In the video: