CCMA Award Winners – Recap
September 12, 2015
The Canadian Country Music Association® (CCMA®) announced the winners in over 20 award categories during the first of several award ceremonies to take place as a part of CCMA Music Week — CCMA Gala Dinner & Awards and the CCMA All-Star Band Awards took place at Halifax’s Casino Nova Scotia on Saturday, September 12th.
Presentations were made for the 2015 CCMA Awards of Achievement recipients. MusiCounts, were honoured with the the Slaight Music Humanitarian Award. MusiCounts’ mission is to ensure that children in Canada, regardless of socio-economic circumstances or cultural background, have access to a music program through their school. Robert Ott received the Leonard T. Rambeau International Award.
Dianne Leigh was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in the artist category, while Elizabeth Henning was posthumously honoured with the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame Stan Klees Builder Award. Both will join an incredible list of cherished artists and professionals who comprise the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
Among some of the many award winners this evening was Brett Kissel, who took home the award for Interactive Artist or Group of the Year, which he also won last year. Later that night, Lindi Ortega was named Roots Artist of the Year, a title she was also bestowed with in 2014. Gord Bamford, Buddy Owens and Phil O’Donnell took home the hardware for Songwriter(s) of the Year, with the hit “Where A Farm Used To Be”. Top Selling Canadian Album of the Year went to Yoan for his self-titled album, “Yoan”, and, with no surprise to anyone attending that night, Top Selling Album of the Year went to Luke Bryan for “Crash My Party.”
The CCMA Discovery Award went to BC’s Raquel Cole. The award is bestowed upon one of six finalists in the CCMA Discovery Program based upon compiled scores from several important aspects of the program: a panel interview, a written essay, and a showcase performance from Thursday night as part of Country Music Week. The CCMA Discovery Program was developed to educate and support Canadian country music artists in their pursuit of a career in the music industry.
Lastly, The CCMA All-Star Band Awards closed out the night at Casino Nova Scotia. Seven Awards were presented to a bevy of talented and deserving musicians from across the Canadian country music industry.
Award Winners from September 12th are as follows:
2015 CANADIAN COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES
ARTIST INDUCTEE
Dianne Leigh
STAN KLEES BUILDER AWARD – BUILDER INDUCTEE
Elizabeth “Ma” Henning
CCMA AWARDS OF ACHIEVEMENT
2015 SLAIGHT MUSIC HUMANITARIAN AWARD
MusiCounts
LEONARD T. RAMBEAU INTERNATIONAL AWARD
Robert Ott
ARTIST AWARDS
CCMA DISCOVERY AWARD
Raquel Cole
INTERACTIVE ARTIST OR GROUP OF THE YEAR
Brett Kissel
ROOTS ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Lindi Ortega
SONGWRITER(S) OF THE YEAR
Where A Farm Used To Be
(Written By: Gord Bamford, Buddy Owens, Phil O’Donnell, Performed By: Gord Bamford)
MUSICIAN AWARDS
All Star Band – BASS
Lisa Dodd
All Star Band – DRUMS
Chad Melchert
All Star Band – FIDDLE
Denis Dufresne
All Star Band – GUITAR
Ryan Davidson
All Star Band – KEYBOARDS
Tie: Mike Little/Bart McKay
All Star Band – SPECIAL INSTRUMENT
Robin Pelletier (Mandolin)
All Star Band – STEEL GUITAR
Ed (Peewee Charles) Ringwald
RADIO AWARDS
RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR – LARGE MARKET
KX 94.7, New Country FM – Hamilton, ON
RADIO STATION OF THE YEAR – MEDIUM OR SMALL MARKET
CKGY 95.5, KG Country – Red Deer, AB
INDUSTRY AWARDS
MUSIC PUBLISHING COMPANY OF THE YEAR
ole
RECORD COMPANY OF THE YEAR
MDM Recordings Inc.
RECORD COMPANY PERSON OF THE YEAR
Mike Denney – MDM Recordings Inc.
RON SAKAMOTO TALENT BUYER OR PROMOTER OF THE YEAR
Jim Cressman/ Rob Cyrynowski – Invictus Entertainment Group
TOP SELLING ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Crash My Party – Luke Bryan
TOP SELLING CANADIAN ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Yoan – Yoan
September 13, 2015
The 2015 Canadian Country Music Association® (CCMA®) Awards Show celebrated eight CCMA Award categories in a televised ceremony which took place at Scotiabank Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and was broadcast across Canada on both CBC-TV and CMT Canada, hosted by TV personality, Jessi Cruickshank.
The first award of the night, CCMA Fan’s Choice Award was presented to Johnny Reid . This was Reid’s sixth time winning this award. Gord Bamford took home CCMA Awards for both Male Artist of the Year and Single of the Year for his song, “Where A Farm Used To Be”. Bamford took home the hardware in 2014 as well. Another repeat winner this year was Jess Moskaluke, who was crowned Female Artist of the Year for the second consecutive year. High Valley was named Group or Duo of the Year while Madeline Merlo was bestowed with the Rising Star award. Atlantic Canadian fan-favourite, Dean Brody, took home the CCMA Award for Video of the Year while Dallas Smith took home the prestigious CCMA Award for Album of the Year.
The 2015 CCMA Awards Show did not disappoint audiences at Scotiabank Center, or at home with performances by some of of Canadian country music’s best, including Autumn Hill, Gord Bamford, Paul Brandt with Jess Moskaluke, Dean Brody, Tim Hicks, High Valley, Kira Isabella and MacKenzie Porter, Brett Kissel, Wes Mack, Steven Lee Olsen, Johnny Reid and Dallas Smith.
The highly anticipated International guests this year were Florida George Line who performed their hit song, “Anything Goes”, while Thomas Rhett sang his latest hit, #1 single, “Crash and Burn”.
Here is the full list of 2015 CCMA Award winners announced on the CCMA Awards Show:
FANS’ CHOICE AWARD
Johnny Reid
ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Lifted – Dallas Smith
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Jess Moskaluke
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Gord Bamford
GROUP OR DUO OF THE YEAR
High Valley
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Where A Farm Used To Be – Gord Bamford
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Upside Down – Dean Brody
RISING STAR
Madeline Merlo
** The 2016 CCMA Awards Show will take place in London, Ontario. Tickets will go on sale later this year.
Peace, Love & Music!
Sarah