SOCAN members Danny Michel and Ken Yates each claimed two honours at the 2017 Canadian Folk Music Awards, held Nov. 19, 2017, at the Bronson Centre in Ottawa.
Michel earned the Oliver Schroer Pushing The Boundaries Award, and he and collaborator Rob Carli were also named Producers of the Year, both for their work on Michel’s album Khlebnikov. The album was written, and its basic “bed” tracks were recorded, during an Arctic expedition aboard a Russian icebreaker of the same name, at the invitation of astronaut Chris Hadfield.
Michel’s fellow singer-songwriter Ken Yates captured the Best New/Emerging Songwriter honour, as well as the English Songwriter of the Year Award, both for his second full-length album, Huntsville.
Luc de Larochellière won the French Songwriter of the Year award, for his album Autre Monde, while Chelsea June and Jaaji Okpik – better known as the duo Twin Flames – won the award for Aboriginal Songwriters of the Year, for their album Signal Fire.
For more information, and a full list of nominees and winners, visit the CFMAs website.