CCMA Awards, photo by Brea Lawrenson
It was a night to celebrate the greatest in Canadian Country Music which capped off a week of similar celebration all around Edmonton, Alberta.
Our own Brea Lawrenson was in Edmonton for this year’s festivities and did a phenomenal job with her all-star coverage through her first ever video blog. We’re proud of you Brea, keep up the great work and very soon you too will be crossing that stage with your own CCMA Award.
The 2014 Canadian Country Music Association® (CCMA®) Awards Show, hosted by Jann Arden and Rick Mercer, celebrated eight CCMA Award categories in a televised ceremony, live from Rexall Place in Edmonton. The 2014 CCMA Awards Show was broadcast across Canada on CBC-TV at 8:00pm (8:30pm NT) and 10:00pm EST on CMT (Canada).
Crowd favorite Gord Bamford took home awards for both Male Artist of the Year and Single of the Year for his song, “When Your Lips Are So Close.”Jess Moskaluke and Tim Hicks both won their first CCMA Awards: Moskaluke for Female Artist of the Year and Hicks for CCMA Rising Star Award.
Johnny Reid won his fifth Fans’ Choice Award and Dean Brody won his third Album of the Year award, for Crop Circles. Amanda Wilkinson, and brother Tyler, Small Town Pistols, accepted the award for Group or Duo of the Year, and Brett Kissel took home the award for CMT Video of the Year for “3-2-1”.
The 2014 CCMA Awards Show brought together a wide array of Canadian country music’s brightest stars and included performances by Jess Moskaluke;Tim Hicks; Dallas Smith; Kira Isabella; Gord Bamford; Terri Clark; Paul Brandt with MacKenzie Porter and Lindsay Ell; Dean Brody and Brett Kissel. The show opened with a high energy collaboration featuring The Road Hammers, Paul Brandt, George Canyon and Tom Cochrane. Co-host Jann Ardenalso performed alongside Autumn Hill.
International country acts Dierks Bentley and Little Big Town also performed their songs of the summer: “Drunk on a Plane” and “Day Drinking”.
The winners that were announced on the show are as follows:
Fans’ Choice Award
Johnny Reid
Single of the Year
“When Your Lips Are So Close” – Gord Bamford
Album of the Year
Crop Circles – Dean Brody
CMT Video of the Year
“3-2-1” – Brett Kissel
Female Artist of the Year
Jess Moskaluke
Male Artist of the Year
Gord Bamford
Group or Duo of the Year
Small Town Pistols
Rising Star
Tim Hicks
Winners that were announced at earlier award galas held over the course of country music week are as follows:
CCMA INDUSTRY LUNCH & AWARDS
Album Design of the Year
Crop Circles (Dean Brody) Design Team: Kristin Barlowe/Mitchell Nevins
Booking Agency of the Year
The Agency Group
Country Club of the Year
Cook County Saloon – Edmonton, AB
Country Festival, Fair, or Exhibition of the Year
Boots and Hearts Music Festival – Bowmanville, ON
Country Music Program or Special of the Year
Gord Bamford: Christmas in Canada – CMT
Management Company of the Year
RGK Entertainment Group Inc.
Music Director of the Year – Major Market
Scott Phillips – CKRY-FM, Calgary/CISN-FM, Edmonton
Music Director of the Year – Secondary Market
Paul Ferguson – CHCQ-FM – CHCQ-FM, Belleville, ON
On-air Personalities of the Year – Major Market
Toff & Melissa – KX 94.7 FM, Hamilton, ON
On-air Personalities of the Year – Secondary Market
Jack & Carey, KICX 106, Orillia, ON
Record Producer(s) of the Year
Joey Moi (Album: Tippin’ Point EP, Artist: Dallas Smith)
Recording Studio of the Year
MCC Recordings Studio – Calgary, AB
Retailer of the Year
iTunes Canada
Video Director of the Year
Stephano Barberis
(Artist: Gord Bamford, Video: When Your Lips Are So Close; Artist: Dallas Smith, Video: Nothing But Summer; Artist: Dallas Smith, Video: Tippin’ Point)
CCMA AWARDS OF ACHIEVEMENT
2014 Slaight Music Humanitarian Award
Beverley Mahood
Hank Smith Award of Excellence
Deane Cameron
Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame Artist Inductee
Wendell Ferguson
Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame Stan Klees Builder Award – Builder Inductee
Ron Sakamoto
CCMA GALA DINNER AND AWARDS
2014 Discovery Program Award
The Lovelocks
Songwriter(s) of the Year
Mine Would Be You (Written By: Jessi Alexander, Connie Harrington, Deric Ruttan; Performed By: Blake Shelton)
Roots Artist or Group of the Year
Lindi Ortega
Interactive Artist of the Year
Brett Kissel
Top Selling Album of the Year
Here’s to the Good Times by Florida Georgia Line
Top Selling Canadian Album of the Year
A Christmas Gift to You by Johnny Reid
Ron Sakamoto Talent Buyer or Promoter of the Year
Jim Cressman – Invictus Entertainment Group
Music Publishing Company of the Year
ole
Record Company of the Year
Open Road Recordings Inc.
Record Company Person of the Year
Mike Denney – MDM Recordings Inc.
Radio Station of the Year – Major Market
CKRY FM – Country 105; Calgary, AB
Radio Station of the Year – Secondary Market
CJXX FM – Big Country 93.1; Grand Prairie, AB
CCMA ALL STAR BAND AWARDS
Bass
Travis Switzer
Drums
Chad Melchert
Fiddle
Shane Guse
Guitar
Darren Savard
Keyboards
Bart McKay
Special Instrument
Tyler Vollrath (Mandolin)
Steel Guitar
Ed (Peewee Charles) Ringwald
Our heartfelt congratulations go out to all of the winners. We’ve gotten to know many of you over the past year and look forward to working with more over you in the coming year. We hope to come to Halifax next September (2015) so we can celebrate with you in person. For more information on the Canadian Country Music Association visit their website www.ccma.org.
We got to know even more of Canada’s country artists over the past week thanks to a new Twitter initiative that has crossed the border into Canada #CCMChat (Canadian Country Music Chat), just lookup that hashtag on Twitter for details on the next featured artist and the time and date of the next live chat. Watch for interviews coming up in the next few weeks with artists including Tristan Horncastle, Tenille, The Orchard and many more!!