The Canadian Country Music Association Awards revealed their nominees today, and fan favourites Dallas Smith, Jess Moskaluke, Dean Brody, Brett Kissel, Lindi Ortega and more are all on the ballots, along with rising stars like Meghan Patrick and JoJo Mason.
Find out all the nominees below, and get ready for the Sept. 10 awards in Saskatoon, Sask., by reliving some performances from the 2016 awards, below. Stay tuned to CBCMusic.ca/CCMAs for complete coverage of the awards, and stories leading up to the big day.
Album of the year
Beautiful Freakshow, Dean Brody
Dear Life, High Valley
Game On, James Barker Band
Grace & Grit, Meghan Patrick
Side Effects, Dallas Smith
Apple Music Fans' Choice Award
Gord Bamford
Dean Brody
Chad Brownlee
High Valley
Dallas Smith
Female artist of the year
Alee
Lindsay Ell
Madeline Merlo
Jess Moskaluke
Meghan Patrick
Male artist of the year
Gord Bamford
Chad Brownlee
Tim Hicks
Brett Kissel
Aaron Pritchett
Dallas Smith
Group or duo of the year
Codl Creek County
High Valley
James Baker Band
The Road Hammers
The Washboard Union
Roots artist or group of the year
The Lovelocks
Jessica Mitchell
Lindi Ortega
JJ Shiplett
The Washboard Union
Rising Star
Dan Davidson
Aaron Goodvin
James Barker Band
JoJo Mason
Meghan Patrick
Single of the year
"Autograph," Dallas Smith
"Cool With That," Brett Kissel
"Lawn Chair Lazy," James Barker Band
"Take Me Home," Jess Moskaluke
"Time," Dean Brody
Video of the year
"Chills," James Barker Band
"I Didn't Fall in Love With Your Hair," Brett Kissel
"That's When You Know," Chris Buck Band feat. Kira Isabella
"Time," Dean Brody
"When a Momma's Boy Meets a Daddy's Girl," Aaron Pritchett
Songwriter(s) of the year
James Barker, Gavin Slate, Travis Wood, Donovan Woods: "Chills" (performed by James Barker Band)
Ted Hewitt, Brett Kissel, Phil O'Donnell: "Cool With That" (performed by Brett Kissel)
Clayton Bellamy, Dan Davidson: "Found" (performed by Dan Davidson)
Dean Brody: "Time" (performed by Dean Brody)
Patricia Conroy, Jessica Mitchell, David Thomson: "Workin' on Whiskey" (performed by Jessica Mitchell)
Interactive artist or group of the year
Shae Dupuy
Tim Hicks
Hunter Brothers
Brett Kissel
Wes Mack
Bass player of the year
Chris Byrne
Lisa Dodd
Justin Kudding
James Murdoch
Travis Switzer
Drummer of the year
Jimmy Boudreau
Ben Bradley
Jayson Brinkworth
Rich DaSilva
Chad Melchert
Fiddle player of the year
Denis Dufresne
Shane Guse
Julie Kennedy
Mike Sanyshyn
Tyler Vollrath
Guitar player of the year
Derek Caven
Ryan Davidson
Matt McKay
Darren Savard
Brennan Wall
Keyboard player of the year
Scott Galloway
Mike Little
Bart McKay
Carly McKillip
Special instrument player of the year
Denis Dufresne (banjo)
Shane Guse (mandolin)
Tyler Vollrath (mandolin)
Steel guitar player of the year
John Ellis
Smokey Fennell
Mitch Jay
Doug Johnson
Scott Smith
Music director of the year (large market)
Larry Donohue, CFCW, Edmonton
Steph Hansen, CKRY-FM/CISN-FM, Calgary/Edmonton
Amanda Kingsland, CKBY-FM, Ottawa
Brittany Thompson, CKKL-FM, Ottawa
Peter Walker, CJKX-FM, Oshawa, Ont.
Music director of the year (medium/small market)
Shilo Bellis, CJXL-FM, Moncton
Paul Ferguson, CHCQ-FM, Belleville, Ont.
Cal Gratton, CJVR-FM, Melfort, Sask.
Roo Phelps, CIGV-FM, Kelowna, B.C.
Brendan Seeley, CKGY-FM, Red Deer, Alta.
Booking agency of the year
The Feldman Agency
Invictus Entertainment Group
Paquin Artists Agency
Sakamoto Agency
United Talent Agency
Country club of the year
Boots & Bourbon Saloon, Toronto
Cook County Saloon, Edmonton
Cowboys Dance Hall, Calgary
Knoxville's Tavern, Edmonton
Ranchman's Cookhouse and Dancehall, Calgary
Country festival, fair or exhibition of the year
Boots and Hearts Music Festival, Oro-Medonte, Ont.
Big Valley Jamboree, Camrose, Alta.
Calgary Stampede, Calgary
Cavendish Beach Music Festival, Cavendish, P.E.I.
Rockin' River Country MusicFest, Merritt, B.C.
Country music program or special of the year
Brett Kissel, Home Movie (Corus Entertainment)
Canadian Coast to Coast (Fabmar Communications)
Chevy Top 20 Countdown (Corus Entertainment)
Coors Banquet One Horse Town (Corus Entertainment)
The Casey Clarke Show with Roo Phelps (Casey Clarke Productions)
Management company of the year
Chief Music Management
Gold & GOld Productions Ltd.
Invictus Entertainment Group
MDM Recordings Inc.
RGK Entertainment Group Inc.
Music publshing company of the year
ole
Royalty Music Publishing Inc.
Sony/ATV Music Publishing Canada
Universal Music Publishing Canada
Warner/Chappell Music Canada
Record company of the year
MDM Recordings Inc.
ole red dot
Open Road Recordings Inc.
Sony Music Entertainment (Canada) Inc.
Warner Music Canada
Record company person of the year
Steve Coady, Warner Music Canada
Warren Copnick, Sony Music Entertainment (Canada) Inc.
Mike Denney, MDM Recordings Inc.
Ron Kitchener, Open Road Recordings, Inc.
Louis O'Reilly, Big Star Recordings Inc.
Recording package of the year
Dean Brody, Beautiful Freakshow (design team: Mitchell Nevins; photography: Phil Crozier)
Doc Walker, Echo Road: The Best of Doc Walker (design team: Mitchell Nevins)
Tim Hicks, Shake These Walls (design team: Mitchell Nevins; photography: Phil Crozier)
JJ Shiplett, Something to Believe In (design team: Janelle Shiplett; photography: Brent Mykytyshyn, Ari Heinikainen, Mike Peleshok
Madeline Merlo, War Paint (design team: Mitchell Nevins, Madeline Merlo)
Recording studio of the year
Bark McKay Productions, Saskatoon, Sask.
Barrytone Studios, St. Clements, Ont.
MCC Recording Studio, Calgary
OCL Studios, Chestermire, Alta.
Revolution Recording, Toronto
Record producer(s) of the year
Chris Baseford, Vince GIll, Jeff Johnson, Chad Kroeger, Carly McKillip, Justin Niebank (Grace & Grit, Meghan Patrick)
Scott Cooke (The Score, Aaron Pritchett)
Scott Cooke, Ben Glover, Mitch Merrett (Hearts on Fire, Chad Brownlee)
Joey Moi (Side Effects, Dallas Smith)
Phil O'Donnell (Tin Roof, Gord Bamford)
Retailer of the year
Apple Canada
Spotify Canada Inc.
Sunrise Records
Walmart Canada
Ron Sakamoto talent buyer or promoter of the year
Kelly Berehulka, Casinos of Winnipeg
Paul Biro, Sakamoto Agency
Jim Cressman, Invictus Entertainment Group
Adam Oppenheim, Stampede Entertainment Inc.
Emmanuel Patterson, Live Nation Entertainment
Video director of the year
Stephano Barberis (videos: "I Hate You For It," Chad Brownlee; "One Little Kiss," Dallas Smith; "Red Dress," JoJo Mason; "Somethin' we Shouldn't Do," Chad Brownlee; "Summer Girl," Bucko & Toad; "Time," Dean Brody)
Emma Higgins (video: "Still Loving You," Meghan Patrick)
Ben Knechtel (videos: "Chills," James Barker Band; "Cool With That," Brett Kissel; "Drive Me Away," Jess Moskaluke; "Elevator," Jess Moskaluke; "Every Week's Got a Friday," High Valley; "Starts With a Girl," David James)
Travis Nesbitt (video: "Found," Dan Davidson)
Joel Stewart (video: "I Didn't Fall in Love With Your Hair," Brett Kissel
More to explore:
Brett Kissel: the story behind his songs
Terri Clark's essential country songs