By
STEPHEN COOKE Entertainment Reporter
Diverse is the word that best describes the leading
winners at Sunday night’s 19th annual East
Coast Music Awards Gala in Halifax.
It
was a Nova Scotian four-way tie for first between
country, traditional and alternative rock as Pictou
County’s George Canyon, Cheticamp songwriter
and multi-instrumentalist JP Cormier and Halifax
bands In-Flight Safety and Joel Plaskett Emergency
took home three awards each.
The
prolific Cormier won awards for three different
albums. Looking Back: Volume 1 — The Instrumentals
was named instrumental recording of the year while
its sequel Looking Back: Volume 2 — The Songs
picked up folk recording of the year. His third
award, bluegrass recording of the year for Take
Five . . . A Banjo Collection, was handed out on
Saturday at the bluegrass showcase in the Port Royal
Room of the World Trade and Convention Centre.
It
was a busy ECMA weekend for Cormier, who remarked
in the media centre on his love of performing for
any audience, whether it’s for thousands at
a major folk festival, or roomful of fans at the
Doryman in Cheticamp.
"You
meet everybody on the way up that you meet on the
way down, so you should never stop doing what comes
naturally," said the towering performer. "If
what you do is entertaining people it doesn’t
matter if you’re making 50,000 or 250 bucks.
"I’m
always going to be playing places like that, because
there might come a day when that’s the only
jobs you can get."
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