Netty Mac Train & Music News: January 2012

Netty Mac Milestone - Association of Country Music of Alberta nominations for Female Artist of the Year and Fan Choice of the Year, 2011. What an honor to make it to the top 4 in the Female Artist Category! I am blown away by the talent in Alberta and am proud to be a part of the community and camaraderie of the ACMA!!

The ACMA Awards were a HUGE success last night. It is extremely impressive to me in consideration that this was the 1st Annual Awards show; you would not have thought it was the first go-round if you were in attendance. From the ambiance of the room to the table placements (I came home with a very kewl ornamental cowboy hat with ACMA on it) to the fantastic catering to the stage sound & lighting to the inspiring and educational speeches from guest speakers.

I do understand that the success of the evening took many volunteers and a visionary Board of Directors, however my hat goes off to Marcie Schultz-Hanson. Marcie was (in my humble opinion) the pillar of the evenings' success and I can tell you that this sentiment came up often in my conversations with many. Her commitment to the event and focus on details (both big and small) and managing Artist inquires, signing up members, taking table seating requests.....the list goes on and on. Marcie, you ROCKED!! On behalf of myself and the many Artists I spoke to last night, thank you so much for your efforts, thank you to the volunteers and to the tireless efforts of the Board Members to provide a first class awards show; we sincerely appreciate your making the evening a GALA that I (and I am confidant all of the Association Members in attendance) all walked away from with pride to be a member.

So here are my highlights of my evening....

The wonderland Mr. Shane Chisholm won ACMA Male Artist of the Year. I remember the first time I heard Shane sing at the Ranchmans a few years ago- I was completely blown away. His voice is unlike no other and he has a stage presence that captivates and draws you in like a winning lottery ticket! Seriously!! If you have not yet experienced one of Shane's shows, I highly recommend it. Shane also has CCMA Noms to his credit. I think that one of the kewlest things about Shane is that he converted a gas tank to a Bass! Smokin' Bass player to boot!! Check it out for yourself:

ACMA Group or Duo of the Year went to The Traveling Mabels. Talk about a boat-load of talent right there folks!! These girlz are not only extremely gifted, but are also genuine free-spirited gals that are FUN-NEEE! I have had the privilege of watching 2 of their shows and neither was any like the other! Comedic, moving and powerful lyrics with harmonies that knock your sox off!! Eva, Lana and Suzanne are a trio that is a must see!! Check out their website bio's, it definitely speaks to the infinite talent you will witness at one of their shows!! I found this video of the girls. It speaks to everything I just said in a nutshell - a song about a dog! Really? lol Love Button required here!!!

The Traveling Mabels 2011 ACMA Awards

ACMA Female Artist of the Year went to Tenille. I had never heard of Tenille before however I can guarantee you we see much of her in the country music headlines! I don't mind losing to this gal one bit! She performed at the show and I'll tell you, her captivating expression in her guitar playing and ability to incorporate the dynamics between her lyrics and guitar to suck you right in to FEEL her message blew me away! What an amazing Artist, I am proud to get to be in the same category as Tenille and look forward to watching one of her shows in the near future. Here is her video and it just happens to be the song she played last night. LOVE LOVE the line 'pictures on a crooked wall'. When I first heard the lyrics last night all I thought of was 'brilliant!!!...now why the heck didn't I think of that!" LOL LOL

Tenille Live at 2011 ACMA Awards

ACMA Fan Choice of the Year went to Myrol. This group is a mother and daughter duo, Joanne and Haley Myrol. I am certain we will be hearing a great deal about this duo - I like their classic style. Check out their vid - funny, they mention a town called Medicine Hat in the song - that is where I was born!!

Myrol Live at 2011 ACMA Awards

Thank you so very much to our Hosts for the evening - CCMA Group of the Year Award Winners Hey Romeo. They did an excellent job as our MC's for the evening and put on a killer performance to close the awards. I especially enjoyed Darren's sense of humor and found that he had me laughing from the tummy quite often. They are a blast to watch perform, I can definitely see why the CCMA - they are a very engaging group. This is one of the songs they played for us:

VERY HUGE congratulations to Harris Dvorkin - for the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award!! Harris is the owner of the Ranchmas Cookhouse and Dancehall. The passion and dedication of Mr. Dvorkin has facilitated his club with bragging rights of being the most successful and longstanding Country club in Canada. His commitment to Country Music and support of live music has spanned decades. I really enjoyed his stories of the good old days. In particular the part where Calgary used to have a law where cowboy hats were not allowed where liquor was sold and if so, the liquor license could be revoked. Really? I would love to sit down with Mr. Dvorkin and a nice aged bottle of single malt for a few hrs and just listen to all of his stories!!

A special thank you to KixxSin for hosting the After-Party Jam. I LOVE these guyz!!! I have never seen their show but can guarantee I WILL as soon as possible. You gotta love a Band whose motto is when the Band KixxSin the Party Kixx Ass. Really? I am so down with their bold realism. You get what you see and I gravitate to that energy!! They played a song and I have to tell you; even today I just can't get the lic out my head: "We're from Al-Freacken-Berta!" Wow, it is one heck of a hook. The way they sing it though is what makes the hook. I truly can't get the darn song out of my head. Unfortunately I couldn't find it, so here is one of the other songs they played :

My highlight of the evening was Mr. R. Harland Smith. He is the founder of Royalty Records and he is blessed with a music career/history spanning over 4 decades. Harland gave a speech that stopped the house! He was awe inspiring and challenged me (okay all of us, but I truly felt as though he was talking just to me!) to "tell my heart to tell my voice to sing what I feel" and to "tell my heart to tell my fingers to play the notes I feel".... His message was to be true to your art and be yourself! Fantastic message in a day an age where labels predominately require a change in one form or another to make the Artist a 'marketable commodity'. Harland's words were so refreshing for me. His words cut right into my core and I am so honored to get to have experienced his speech!

He also did something that I have never seen before on a Awards Show and that was pick up a guitar and play right there at the podium! Sweet! He played George Jones' song 'Whose Gonna Fill Their Shoes'. Harland's' message was also an attestation to Georges' song in that everyone in that room was a representative of the future of country music - WE were filling their shoes! This hit me hard as I did not look at my career as 'filling' shoes. I truly do hope that they release the recording of his speech (they did have video cameras going - so all hope may not be lost). I would listen to Harland's speech last night any time the music business knocks me sideways (and unfortunately it does indeed happen). My expression to describe the music industry (and song that I wrote) is that it is a dog-eat-dog world and we all have milk-bone underwear! For those of you that do not experience the other side of the stage - this expression is an understatement! lol I am not being pessimistic, nor negative. You have heard my music therefore you know: I am real and call a spade a spade, I shoot from the hip like John Wayne and rarely add flowers or sugar-coating..... the music industry IS a whole world of its own (AND I love it!).... Harland, you truly inspired me! You moved me in a way that no mentor, research, hands on experience, learning tool, article, video, or how-to has ever moved me when it comes to my music and/or career. You truly touched my life with your amazing speech. Thank you so very much. YOU ROCKED MY WORLD!

It was a HUGE evening for me and I have far too many take-aways to mention as this blog is ALREADY a book! (and oops - however it was unavoidable.) If you got this far in reading, thank you so much!! Thank you to the fans for all of your support and messages, you all made me a winner before I even hit Red Deer! (for those of you outside of Canada, this is not an animal - this is the name of the City where the Awards were held! lol lol)

You all make me feel like an award winner and I am perpetually blown away by your emails. I do always look forward to hearing from you and please take the time to contact the Award winners and listen to their music. Kudo's to you for supporting live music and INDIE music - we all just don't start our careers with a Record label - it is folks like YOU that keep the Netty Mac Train chuggin!!!

Super-SPECIAL thank you so much to J Lowe for being my ROCK, my biggest Fan, my sound tech and road crew manager, always on The Netty Mac Train AND HUGE THANX BUNCHES for taking all of the amazing photo's that I have placed in my Blog today. xo

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