Cape Bretoners among 2027 Canadian Folk Music Awards nominees as event bound for Glace Bay venue

Several Cape Bretoners will be vying for Canadian Folk Music Awards when the 2027 event makes its Cape Breton debut this coming spring.

Kimberley Fraser, Keltic Drive, Malcolm MacNeil, Victoria McDougall, Stephen Muise and the Men of the Deeps, and Carleton Stone are among 111 nominees up for various awards celebrating the breadth and depth of folk music from across Canada.

The four-night event is slated for April 8-11, to be held at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay.

Sydney Mines fiddler Fraser earned a nod for instrumental solo artist of the year for At This Moment.

Keltic Drive, a supergroup comprised of Fraser, Aaron C. Lewis, Em Dingwall and Lyndon MacKenzie, has been nominated for instrumental group of the year.

Malcolm MacNeil, from Cape Breton but now based in Halifax, is also up for instrumental solo artist of the year and the Oliver Schroer Pushing the Boundaries Award for his debut effort, The Bridge. Malcolm is son of Sheumas MacNeil from the Barra MacNeils.

Coxheath’s Victoria McDougall, currently studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston, received a young performer of the year nomination for what the awards team described as an untitled demo.

New Waterford’s Stephen Muise, along with The Men of the Deeps, are up for producer(s) of the year for Diamond Sunset — 60 Years of Song and Story.

And the dive bar-inspired song Lights, from Sydney’s Carleton Stone, earned a single of the year nod.

Le Vent du Nord (Quebec), Medusa Quartet (Toronto), The East Pointers (Prince Edward Island), and Veranda (Quebec) lead the list of 2027 CFMA nominees with four nominations each.

Other Nova Scotia nominees include Ella Gunning Parker (Halifax) and Lily Gunn (Annapolis Valley), each up for young performer of the year, as well as Halifax-based Moira & Claire’s sophomore indie folk-pop album, it’s all a mess!, which is nominated for contemporary album of the year.

The 2027 ceremony at the Savoy Theatre will feature four distinct concerts with awards presented at each, a range of public programming, private industry showcases, as well as continued focus on national and international export development.

The full lineup of performers for all concerts will be revealed in mid-January, according to a Canadian Folk Music Awards news release.

Wristbands for the event are now available at an early-bird rate of $75. More information on the wristbands purchase and the event itself can be found online at folkawards.ca.