A Message from the President (September 2017)

Most of the CMAOntario Board of Directors and many of our members attended the 2017 CCMA Country Music Week held in Saskatoon this past week. The weekend was full of great events and performances. Highlights included the opening reception and Discovery Showcase (with Danielle Bourjeaurd, Jesse Gold, Steph La Rochelle and special guest Eric Ethridge) and the songwriting sessions, which featured a number of our own: Andrew Hyatt, Jason Blaine, The Lovelocks, Patrick Ballantyne, Buck Twenty, Deric Ruttan, James Barker (James Barker Band), Gavin Slate, David Leask and Jessica Mitchell.

Another sold-out Legends show, hosted by Deric Ruttan and Cal Gratton, blew everyone away with stand-out performances.

The CCMA Industry Lunch and Awards honoured Ontarians Paul Ferguson, CHCQ-FM, Belleville with Music Director of the Year – Medium and Small Market; Amanda Kingsland, CKBY-FM, Ottawa with Music Director of the Year – Large Market; and Shane Guse, Fiddle Player of the Year for the fifth year in a row. Congratulations everyone – well done.

The CCMA Gala Dinner, hosted by Jason McCoy, included another “everyone on their feet” after Jessica Mitchell’s unbelievable acoustic performance. Congrats to Ontario Award winners: Mike Denney, MDM, Record Company Person of the Year; Warner Music, Record Company of the Year; and Boots & Hearts, Country Festival, Fair or Exhibition of the Year.

To Meghan Patrick, Female Artist of the Year and Rising Star – we love you girl!

You can visit (thesource@ccma.org) for a complete list of winners.

We would also like to congratulate the CCMA Board of Directors and Staff on an amazing awards show – best to date!

CMAOntario Vice-President Steve Kassey and Executive Director Verle Mobbs and I met with President Arron Rigden of the SCMA (Saskatchewan Country Music Association) and President David Wills of the BCCMA (British Columbia Country Music Association) over the weekend and discussed some potentially new opportunities for all of our members. More information to come!

Speaking of opportunities, we have opened talks with some Franco-Ontarian artists from the Ottawa area to explore how CMAOntario can include and serve this community. If there are members who perform in French, please let us know; we would love to hear from you – info@cmaontario.ca

If all of the above isn’t enough to celebrate already, a huge shout-out goes to Tebey for his co-write “Somebody Else Will” (Justin Moore) – a #1 Single on the Billboard and MediaBase US Radio Airplay Charts. Amazing!

And, from a wonderful group of applicants, our jury of music industry professionals selected Johnson Crook to perform at Lucknow’s Music in the Fields. Well done, JC!

From all of us at the Board, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

Sincerely,

Catherine Faint
President