BC's Pharis & Jason Romero lead with 4 nominations

Amelia Curran (NL), Fortunate Ones (NL), Jenn Grant (NS), Whitehorse (ON) & Catherine MacLellan (PEI) each receive 3 nominations

#CFMA2015 #StrumTogether

EDMONTON, September 9, 2015 - The first ever National Strum (#StrumTogether) was held at noon on September 9th at Edmonton's City Hall to celebrate and honour this year's nominees for the Canadian Folk Music Awards. With a choir comprised of fervent local songwriters coordinated by singer-songwriter and artist development expert Rhea March and Northern Lights Folk Club founder BillWerthmann, the Edmonton folk community came together to perform Dave Gunning's official song of celebration "These Hands" in front of a gathered crowd. Andy Frank, the Canadian Folk Music Awards' Project Director welcomed the crowd and announced the nineteen categories of nominees for the 11th annual Canadian Folk Music Awards (CFMA). Overall, 73 artists and groups were announced as Canadian Folk Music Awards nominees in 19 categories who hail from 9 provinces and 3 territories in Canada.

Known for their vibrant duets and handmade banjos, Horsefly, BC's Pharis and Jason Romero lead the pack with four nominations for their album A Wanderer I'll Stay. Their nominations include Traditional Album of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year, Traditional Singer of the Year (Pharis Romero), and Producer of the Year (Pharis and Jason Romero with David Travers-Smith).

Amelia Curran (St John's, NL), Fortunate Ones (St John's, NL), Jenn Grant (Lake Echo, NS), Whitehorse (Toronto, ON) and Catherine MacLellan (Charlottetown, PEI) each bring home 3 nominations for their music.

This year's youngest nominee is nine year old Vancouver Island artist Stella Swansonfor the album I'm Not A Bunny in the Children's Album of the Year Category. Inspired by Stella's pet bunny Romeo, the album was produced by Comox's Helen Austin, a previous Canadian Folk Music Award and Juno Award recipient and a nominee this year with her group Big Little Lions.

CFMA's host city of Edmonton has three local artists with nominations: Laura Vinson and Free Spirit, nominated for Aboriginal Songwriter of the Year, Lizzy Hoytnominated for Solo Artist of the Year and Rebecca Lappa who is nominated for Young Performer of the Year.

A quick look at the nominated artists by province and territory:

British Columbia: 16 nominations, 12 artists

Alberta: 4 nominations, 4 artists Saskatchewan: 1 nomination, 1 artist Manitoba: 4 nominations, 6 artists Ontario: 33 nominations, 25 artists Quebec: 14 nominations, 12 artists

Nova Scotia: 7 nominations, 4 artists Newfoundland: 11 nominations, 5 artists

Prince Edward Island: 3 nominations, 1 artist

Yukon: 1 nomination, 1 artist Northwest Territories: 1 nomination, 1 artist

Nunavut: 2 nominations, 1 artist

The 2015 CFMA weekend is being held in the vibrant city of Edmonton. It begins on November 6th and runs through to November 8th, culminating in the bilingual gala awards presentation at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. The gala event on November 8 is hosted by musicians Connie Kaldor and Benoit Bourque (La Bottine Souriante). Tickets for the gala are $48 (plus administrative fee of $2). Thursday and Friday evening showcase events are $25 per evening. Full purchase links are available at folkawards.ca.

The complete list of nominees and categories are below.

For a complete list of nominees by category: bit.ly/CFMA2015nomineesbycategory

For nominee artist bios incl. province and hometown: bit.ly/CFMA2015nomineebios

For high-resolution images of all this year's nominees: bit.ly/CFMA2015nomineephotos