PEI was in a history making place on Saturday night at the annual Canadian Folk Music Awards. For the first time in the history of the Folk Music Awards, PEI artists were nominated for a total of five awards at the annual presentation held this year in Ottawa. When the announcements were all done PEI brought home two awards! Congrats are in order for Catherine MacLellan for her win as solo Artist of the Year and Colette Cheverie for her win as Traditional Singer of the Year. Both are historic wins in terms PEI artists at the Folk Music Awards. Colette in another category and two members of the Lazy Jacks were also nominated in this groundbreaking year. We are very proud to be working with both our winning artists! Way to go ladies! Colette’s terrific first album is available from the Sandbar store in CD and Download formats. Check it out.

Congrats are also in order for all the Island acts who managed to score ECMA showcase gigs in Sydney NS March 4-7, 2010. Sandbar artists who will showcase include Andy Stevens, Catherine MacLellan, The Sidewalks, Meaghan Blanchard and Colette Cheverie.Other Island artists selected to showcase include Two Hours Traffic, Paper Lions, Milks & Rectangles, and Ladybird. Just added to the Discovery stage are two more Island artists, Intoxicado and Johnny Oliver while the Rising Star stage will feature the Grass Mountain Hobos.

ECMA 2010 will see the three provincial music associations combine their stages into one stage featuring at least 5 acts from each province over three nights. This is a departure from the previous three years when each province produced its own showcase stage. Novea Scotia has decided to do their own thing although they had originally opted in to the shared stage concept.  In 2008 in Fredericton NB the PEI stage featured 23 acts and in Corner Brook in 2009, there were 14 PEI acts showcasing on the provincial stage. Halifax in 2007 featured another fifteen acts. None of the acts selected for ECMA showcases will appear on the MIA stage in Sydney NS. My understanding is that at least  five additional acts will be selected by Music PEI for this MIA stage for a total of sixteen Island artists showcasing in Sydney NS at ECMA 2010. Also the MIA’s will be able to make recommendations for the awards show. This deal is for one year only. Things are expected to return to the original format of multiple MIA showcases in 2011 when the ECMAs return to PEI.

We expect the ECMA nominations will be announced at a press conference in Sydney NS in very early December ’09. Rumor has it will be December 2nd.

Catherine MacLellan continues with her busy fall schedule. She has just returned from Calgary AB where she showcased as part of the Capacoa conference. She flies to London England to begin a nine stop tour of the UK which  will see her play dates in Narbeth Wales, Bristol, Derby, Manchester, Ratlinghope Shropshire, Belper, Southend  Newcastle and London. She will then take a few days off and spend some time in Scotland getting in touch with her roots before returning home December 10th.

Catherine has also completed her song for CBC Song Quest. It’s a winner! Deadline for submitting the song to CBC is November 20th. The songs will be unveiled by CBC Radio to the public beginning Monday November 23rd. All thirteen finalists will be flown to Toronto for a concert at the Glenn Gould Theater on December 15th at which time the songs will be performed live and a grand winner will be announced.

She will be doing a Benefit Concert on December 17th in Wolfville NS for USC. Also appearing are Lennie Gallant, JP Cormier and Chuck & Albert. Another show to mark in your calendar is in Fredericton NB at the Charlotte Arts Center on Friday, January 22nd with Olympic Symphonium. Catherine will also be teaming up with Tanya Davis for their annual Mitten Time Revue in December. It will be December 19th in Halfax NS at Company House and December 20th at the Guild in Charlottetown PEI with the possibility of a second show being added at the Guild on December 21st. Stay tuned.

Just a reminder, that the new Sandbar podcast series should be up and available early in  2010 on the www.closetothecoastradio.com web site. Series one is now available from the site.

The Songwriters to Nashville initiative has been successfully completed. Four Island songwriters spent two weeks in Nashville. While there they were busy networking with other writers to develop future co-writing opportunities. They also performed at the legendary Puckett’s Grocery and gained some new fans. One in particular goes by the name of John Hiatt. The Islanders also found time to perform on the Billy Block television show from 12th and Porter. Meaghan and John also got to perform at the Bluebird Café as part of their songwriter open mic. John Connolly will be heading back to Nashville at the end of March 2010 to record a new album  after he finishes a stint in Banff AB finishing the work on his stage musical based on the life & times of Terry Fox.
He will be in Banff from January through March 2010. Here are the links to their appearances on the Billy Block Show at 12th and Porter on November 10, 2009:





Meaghan Blanchard has been selected as one of eight artists to perform in the New Songs, New Voices showcase at the Vancouver Olympics. Her show will be on Tuesday February 16th. The shows will be held at the Roundhouse with four artists per night.

Another major announcement concerning Meaghan and the Olympics will be made as part of a press conference in Vancouver on Tuesday November 24th. Stay tuned. And while we are on the subject you can look for an announcement soon on John Connolly and Catherine MacLellan at the Olympics.

New release to check out in the Sandbar store is Awakening from Andy Stevens. Coming soon, it follows a very successful CD launch at the Blue Olive in Saint John NB in October. Andy is currently on the road with his metal band We The Undersigned. Look for dates around the region in February 2010 to get a taste of his pop rock album Awakening.

Keep an eye out for free downloads from the Sandbar store. Coming soon! That’s all for now folks!!