WARNER MUSIC CANADA ARTISTS TAKE HOME 9 CCMA AWARDS

WARNER MUSIC CANADA ARTISTS TAKE HOME 9 CCMA AWARDS

Brett Kissel Gets The Call Four Times Including Male Artist of the Year and Fans’ Choice Award

Monday, September 12, 2016 – The 2016 Canadian Country Music Association Awards were held in London, Ontario this past weekend in what turned out to be a banner year for Warner Music Canada.  On Sunday, September 11, at a jammed Budweiser Gardens, three Warner artists (Brett Kissel, The Washboard Union and High Valley) were called to the podium to accept four awards between them on the nationally broadcast show.  Both Kissel and The Washboard Union also won awards during Saturday night’s pre-broadcast awards presentation.

 On Sunday night’s show, Brett Kissel was the night’s big winner, taking home the coveted awards for Male Artist of the Year and the Fans’ Choice Award presented by SiriusXM.  On Saturday night, Brett won his third consecutive Interactive Artist of the Year.  Brett also joined Mickey Jack Cones and Bart Mckay in winning the Producers of the Year award while Patrick Duffy and Juan Lezica combined to win Recording Package of the Year for their design of Brett’s sophomore major label release, Pick me Up.

 The wins cap off an incredible 12 months for Brett since the release of release Pick Me Up.  The album spawned the gold single “Airwaves” as well as the chart topping singles, “Cool With That” and “Pick Me Up.”  During the CCMA broadcast, Brett and his band performed an emotional rendition of the new single “I Didn’t Fall In Love With Your Hair,” Brett’s tribute to his mother, a cancer survivor. In October, Brett will be awarded the 2016 Allan Slaight Honour at the Canada's Walk of Fame induction ceremony. The Allan Slaight Honour recognizes young, inspirational Canadians who have achieved international success in the music industry. Kissel will be honoured alongside this year’s Walk of Fame inductees and will also be featured on the televised special. Past winners include Drake, The Weeknd and Shawn Mendes.

 Vancouver-based The Washboard Union had their own breakout weekend winning the Rising Star award on broadcast night after having been named Roots Artist of the Year during the Saturday night ceremonies.  The Washboard Union  (Chris Duncombe, Aaron Grain and David Roberts) have been riding high on the success of two consecutive Top 10 radio hits (“Maybe It’s The Moonshine” and “Shot Of Glory”) from their Slaight Music / Warner Music Canada debut EP In My Bones.  The Washboard Union celebrated throughout the CCMA weekend in seeming non-stop frenzy of performances bringing the party right to the people of London, capped off by playing the CCMA Awards kick off concert being heading straight on to the John Deere Green Carpet to greet fans and media.


Alberta born and bred brothers Brad and Curtis Rempel of High Valley took to the stage on Sunday night to accept the band’s second consecutive win as Group or Duo of the Year.  High Valley also blew the roof off the arena performing their new Canadian-released single “Every Week’s Got A Friday.”  The new single was the most added track at Country radio and #2 most added track at all formats in Canada last week.  In the U.S., High Valley recently signed with Atlantic Records in Nashville who are enjoying great success with the track “Make You Mine,” which is about to enter the Top 30 of the airplay charts. “Make You Mine” was originally released in Canada in 2014 on the group’s independent album, Country Line.  The track enjoyed Top 5 radio success and was certified gold in Canada.

Warner Music Canada’s ninth CCMA Award was presented on Saturday night to the label’s Vice –President of Radio Promotion Steve Coady who was named Record Company Person of the Year.