George
Canyon's dream year tough to beat as country awards approach
George Canyon performs in this 2005 file photo. (CP Archive/Jacques
Boissinot)
JUDY MONCHUK
CALGARY
(CP) - George Canyon says he has zero chance of picking up hardware
at Monday's Canadian Country Music Awards.
Others
would be hard pressed to bet against the Nova Scotia-born singer,
who has exploded into Canada's music psyche since finishing
second on Nashville Star, a country version of American Idol.
It's been a wild ride for the lantern-jawed Canyon, who is up
for five awards, including the fans' choice as entertainer of
the year.
Canyon
uses the word "surreal" a lot as he talks about the
whirlwind year which included touring with superstar Tim McGraw,
winning a Juno for best country recording over Shania Twain
and being named top entertainer at the East Coast Music Awards.
"I'm
going way above what I could ever dream," said Canyon,
who is up for top album, male artist, single and song for My
Name, a touching ballad about the pain caused by a miscarriage,
co-written with Cape Breton's Gordie Sampson.
Canyon's
traditional country sound will be buttressed by the trucker-loving
country rock that brought six nominations each to Jason McCoy's
Road Hammers and host Paul Brandt.
The
Road Hammers, singer-songwriter McCoy's foray into boisterous
southern-flavoured driving music, garnered nominations for best
group, album, single, video and song of the years as well as
rising star.
In
understated cowboy style, Canyon says while he'd be shocked
to win anything, he admits the pinnacle would be capturing the
entertainer award. To do that, he'd have to knock off the exuberant
Terri Clark, who has won the award an unprecedented five times,
including the last four years in a row.
The
native of Medicine Hat, Alta., is up for three awards, including
top female artist and best video for the cheeky Girls Lie Too.
"If
I won, I'd probably go unconscious," deadpanned Canyon
from Orangeville, Ont., where he's shooting a Christmas special
that will air on CMT. "Which would be bad, because then
there would be no acceptance speech."
Singer-songwriter
Carolyn Dawn Johnson of Deadwood, Alta., has four nominations,
as do the Poverty Plainsmen of Tilston, Man., and Edmonton roots
rockers the Corb Lund Band.
The
awards show will be held at Calgary's Pengrowth Saddledome and
shown live on CBC. It's also being broadcast to audiences in
the U.S. and Australia.
A
staggering six stages will allow for more performances and spontaneity.
"It's
a lot more scattered and responsive and there's a lot more room
for me to completely screw up," laughed Brandt, who will
host the awards for the sixth time.
"There's
going to be a lot of energy because of the way it's set up,"
said Brandt. "They've turned the Saddledome into a giant
projection screen so the visual aspect will be very impressive
and the amount of music we'll be able to play for the audience
will be unmatched."
Officials
say a labour dispute that has seen the public broadcaster's
5,500 unionized employees locked out since mid-August will not
have an impact on the show, since it's an independent production.
The
show will include a tribute to Alberta's centennial, capped
off by Brandt singing Alberta Bound, a tune he wrote three years
ago sitting by a fireplace during a spring snowfall.
"All
the things I love about Alberta just fell out - it took about
15 minutes to write," laughed Brandt, who performed the
song for the Queen during the royal visit in May.
He
was worried it would have limited appeal outside the province,
but that hasn't been the case.
"Alberta
is kind of an icon to a lot of people, it's kind of the last
frontier. It's still the Wild West in a lot of ways and a lot
of people identify with it in a lot of ways."
Country
superstars McGraw, Twain, Toby Keith, Keith Urban and Gretchen
Wilson are competing for the top-selling album.
©
The Canadian Press, 2005
