As we prepare to say goodbye to another year I want to take a minute to look back at 2014 and share a glimpse of the year that’s ahead. It’s no secret that 2014 brought with it it’s own set of challenges and at one point the future of Sound Check was even questionable. Even though in 2014 Sound Check had already been in existence for about 3 years it would be a year of change, in late 2013 I made the decision to split from the Ottawa Citizen and go completely independent. It was a risky move but time would tell whether or not it would be successful. It was also a year of uncertainty, with job opportunities declining in the spring almost as fast as the snow was melting the future of Sound Check became questionable. Sound Check has been a labour of love for the past few years and unfortunately love can’t pay the bills or the expenses we have to travel to and cover the events that makeup the foundation of the blog.
The dark clouds hung low for much of the spring until a conversation with Corey Kelly in the spring gave a glimpse of possible brighter days ahead. Corey was a country music fan, a self described country music junkie, who was already attending most of the events that we covered or wanted to cover. He had mentioned that he was interested in getting his feet wet as a blogger and then possibly starting his own blog. Knowing that my summer festival commitments would be very difficult to honour I asked Corey if he would be interested in coming on board to help out for the summer, specifically with Boots and Hearts. The idea was the Corey would cover Boots and Hearts and get his feet wet as a blogger and then we would take it from there. The rest, as they say, is history and bringing Corey on will go down as my best decision of 2014. It was a combination of his location in the GTA and his country music addiction that made Corey the key driving force behind Sound Check over the past few months.
We go into 2015 with new relationships with some of the biggest record labels in North America including Big Machine, Universal and Sony to name just a few. We’ve developed great relationships with companies like Open Road Recordings, Royalty Records and MDM Recordings. We continue to build new relationships with festivals such as Cavendish Beach Country Music Festival and strengthen our existing relationships with events like Boots and Hearts and Ottawa Bluesfest. In mid-November I brought on a writer in Alberta, coincidentally also named Alberta. The plan is to use Alberta to tap into some of the major events happening out west and possibly even out east this summer considering she hails from the Moncton area. Hopefully this will open the doors to more regular opportunities outside of Ontario, I personally covered the Calgary Stampede in 2013.
Here are my highlights of 2014:
Emma “The One” Peckford
Favourite story – covering both the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist competition as well as the Ottawa Bluesfest She’s the One Female Emerging Artist competition. As part of my feature of each of the contestants I got to know some incredible young talent. My highlight of both was covering the actual She’s The One competition at Boots and Hearts and being able to announce that young Emma Peckford of Corner Brook, NFLD was chosen the winner out of a field of 12 extremely talented ladies from every genre of music.
Bobby Wills, Brea Lawrenson and Abby Stewart
Favourite Festival – Calabogie Country Music Festival, got to hang with Brea Lawrenson, meet Bobby Wills (great guy), Abby Stewart for the first time (had featured her a few times prior to the event) and got to hang out backstage and reconnect with Amanda Wilkinson of the Small Town Pistols (had met her, Tyler and their dad, aka The Wilkinson’s, about 15 years ago at North Bay Heritage Festival). The venue was perfect, the sound was amazing and the entertainment was first class! Really hope that Bogie Country returns in 2015.
Dierks Bentley and Tim Hicks getting Sideways in Ottawa during the Riser Tour on December 2
Jason McCoy and Clayton Bellamy goofing around on stage
Favourite Concert Tour – With thanks to Open Road Recordings I managed to get in and cover two major concert tours in one week and they, like in Corey’s year in review, tie for favourite show of the year. The two events were, of course, Bands on The Run featuring The Road Hammers, Doc Walker and Blackjack Billy and Dierks Bentley’s Riser Tour featuring Tim Hicks and Randy Houser.
Favourite Venue - Although I haven’t managed to get out to many shows at the Joshua Bates Centre this year I managed to see Dave Gunning there in the spring and Brett Kissel there in the of fall 2013. I’ve attended concerts and events at venues all over the world and you’ll be hard pressed to find a more intimate venue than the Joshua Bates Centre in Athens, Ontario.
Abby Stewart
Artist to Watch - Thanks to events like the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artist competition and She’s the One at Bluesfest I’ve gotten to know a great number of artists that are getting ready to break out into something special. One artist stands out out of all of them and she has been making an impression on the music industry and gaining new fans all across Ontario over the past few years. She’s none other than Kingston’s own Abby Stewart. At 13 Abby may only have a few singles in wide release but in her career to date she has performed on stage with Dean Brody and most recently opened for Dan + Shay and Hunter Hayes. My gut tells me that 2015 is going to be a great year for young Abby and I fully expect to start seeing her name on the ballots for the CMAO and the CCMAs before the end of the decade.
Midnight Shine
Band to Watch – Midnight Shine – right from when I first found these guys from Northern Ontario by chance last March to the release of the sophomore album, Northern Man, this fall I knew these guys had something special. If some of the large festivals in Southern Ontario recognize that too 2015 could be a big year for these guys.
Tim Hicks sets the pace for Tuesday night #RiserTour stop in Ottawa
Artist of the Year – Tim Hicks. Without question every time I see Tim he’s getting better and he’s a class act too. Can’t wait to see what the thunder brings in 2015!
Single of the Year – With so much amazing music from far and wide this past year the one song that I still consistently turn up in the car is “Here Comes the Thunder” by Tim Hicks
Favorite Moment - We were nominated for the Great Canadian Weblog Awards…we didn’t make the short list but we were thrilled that someone liked us enough to nominate us.
2014 by the numbers
Top story: Florida Georgia Line coming to a new Boots and Hearts Venue
Top artist feature: Getting to know Emma Peckford
Most Popular #SoundOff contender: “MUD” – The Road Hammers, honourable mention to Abby Stewart’s – “Broken Home”.
Number of readers: 60K+ (not bad considering we haven’t spent any money on advertising)
Social Reach (Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc): 5K+ per day! (100% organic, aka no money spent)
That’s it for 2014, have a safe and happy New Year’s Eve. Watch for my look ahead to 2015 coming up in the next few days! Huge thanks to Corey for his work over the past few months and of course to all of our partners who allow us to do what we love!