Tenille Townes is once again the front-runner at the Canadian Country Music Association Awards, and that gives her another reason to come home to Alberta and see her family.
“Any time I get to hug the grandparents is pretty great,” said the Nashville-based singer-songwriter from Grande Prairie, who racked up seven nominations on Wednesday.
“It always feels good to touch down anywhere in Canada.”
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Townes inched ahead of fellow leading nominees for the awards show, which goes down in Calgary later this summer. Jade Eagleson, the Alberta-based singer raised in Bailieboro, Ont., holds six nods while the James Barker Band has five.
The categories where Townes will compete include single and music video of the year for her song “Girl Who Didn’t Care,” as well as album of the year for Masquerades, a project she penned during the isolation period of the pandemic.
“It definitely feels like pages of my journal,” she said.
“I couldn’t help the way that the songs were more reflective and coming out more personally this time around, which was kind of terrifying to share.”
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Townes also landed nods for female artist, songwriter, entertainer of the year and another for her country special “Christmas Time With Tenille Townes.”
The 28-year-old country singer is a favourite of the CCMA Awards and most recently led the nominees at the 2020 ceremony. She has nine CCMA trophies on her mantle.
Following closely behind on this year’s leaderboard is Eagleson whose six nominations include two in the single of the year category — for his solo track “All Night To Figure It Out” and for “More Drinkin’ Than Fishin’,” a collaboration with Dean Brody.
Brody and Brett Kissel each have four.
The CCMA Awards will take place Sept. 11 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary and are broadcast live on Global. In addition to Townes, performers include High Valley, MacKenzie Porter and 1990s boy band 98 Degrees, who will perform with Kissel on his new single “Ain’t the Same.”
For single of the year, the nominees are Townes, Eagleson’s two tracks, as well as Kissel for “Make A Life, Not A Living,” Aaron Goodvin for “Boy Like Me,” James Barker Band with “Over All Over Again” and Shawn Austin for “Tailgate to Heaven,” featuring Chris Lane.
Album of the year includes Gord Bamford’s Diamonds in a Whiskey Glass, Meghan Patrick’s Heart On My Glass, Jade Eagleson’s Honkytonk Revival, Don Amero’s Nothing is Meaningless, and Townes for Masquerades.
The artists competing for entertainer of the year are Kissel, James Barker Band, Tenille Arts, Dallas Smith, and Townes.
The CCMA Awards are voted upon by the membership.
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