Hamilton Blues Lovers: Arrogant Worms

Nominees for the 2026 Canadian Folk Music Awards were recently announced and a few local acts were part of that prestigious list. The award ceremony will take place April 9-12, 2026 in Calgary.

You can see the nominee announcement below.

Links: CFMA, More CFMA Stories, Video above courtesy of prixfolkawards

Below is a complete list of nominees. Local artists are bolded

Contemporary Album of the Year

Contemporary Singer of the Year

Ensemble of the Year

Single of the Year

Stan Rogers Traditional Singer of the Year

Vocal Group of the Year

Album Artwork of the Year

Kevin Hutchings - Halcyon Days (Lisa Dickson - artist, Richard Boudreau - designer)
Nastasia Y - Kyiv Soul (BRATY Art )
Oktoecho - Saimaniq Sivumut (Ulaayu Pilurtuut - artist, Caroline Marcant designer)
Ru Rose - Revival (Ru Rose)
The Arrogant Worms - Canadian Famous (Jeff May)

Children’s Album of the Year

English Songwriter(s) of the Year

French Songwriter(s) of the Year

Global Roots Album of the Year

Indigenous Songwriter(s) of the Year

Instrumental Composer(s) of the Year

Instrumental Group of the Year

Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year

New Artist(s) of the Year

Oliver Schroer Pushing the Boundaries

Producer(s) of the Year

Solo Artist of the Year

Traditional Album of the Year

Young Performer(s) of the Year

Links: CFMA, More CFMA Stories

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It turns out that 2012 was an incredible year for local music. Many of our local performers received some well-deserved recognition and there was a ton of great local shows to enjoy.

One of the biggest local newsmakers this year was bluesman Harrison Kennedy. He seems to have been nominated for everything in 2012: Hamilton Music Awards, Blues Music Awards, Maple Blues Awards, Junos. The musician earned an HMA and later in 2013, we should find out if Harrison will win the others (Good luck!). Also this year, fans were treated to his incredible Shame the Devil CD, he worked with Shakura S'Aida on Time ..., which ended up on Saturday Night Blues' Top 10 list of 2012, and had one of the best tracks on the Santa's Got Mojo 2 compilation.

Steve Strongman also made a major splash in 2012 with the release of his acoustic CD, A Natural Fact. The disc's producer, Rob Szabo won a Canadian Folk Music Award for his work on it and the disc was nominated for a 2013 Maple Blues Award (Steve won the MBA for guitarist of the year in early 2012). On top of all that, A Natural Fact was on Saturday Night Blues' Top 10 list. Also in 2012, he played on one of the initial episodes of Ensemble and performed at the Blues With a Feeling Gala,

On a sad note, we also lost a number of talented musicians such as Larry Coad, Steve Didemus, Levon Helm (the Band), Earl Scruggs, Davy Jones (Monkees), and Etta James. Our condolences to all their fans, friends, and family.

Most popular blog posts of 2012:

Other 2012 Highlights

Cable 14 starts a brand new all-music television show, Ensemble
Sonny Del-Rio Earns Diamond Jubilee Medal
New John Elllison autobiography
John Ellison receives John C Holland Award

Top 3 YouTube Videos

Links: Chuck Jackson, More Downchild Stories

Links: Arrogant Worms, More Arrogant Worms Stories

Links: Barn Katz - More Barn Katz Stories

Here's to an ever better 2013!!!!

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