By Sarah Wallace

Northern musician scores back-to-back SCMA wins

Apr 5, 2017 | 10:00 AM

He presented an award, performed his recent single on TV, was nominated for two awards and took home some hardware himself at this weekend’s Saskatchewan Country Music Awards (SCMA) in Saskatoon.

Northern Saskatchewan’s Roland Corrigal took home, for a second consecutive year, the Aboriginal Artist of the Year award.

“It feels like I’m doing the right thing, to have the music industry in this province recognize the hard work I’ve been doing and the effort I’ve been putting out,” Corrigal said.

He said being an artist and writing music can sometimes be discouraging because you need to put yourself out there and reach out for opportunities.

“One thing I tell youth, or anyone who wants to be an emerging artist, would be to take every ‘no’ as one ‘no’ less to a ‘yes’ and to just keep on trying,” he said.

SIGA

SIGA and Northern Lights Casino main sponsors of the 31st PAGC Fine Arts Festival

6h ago

Workplace incident

City of Prince Albert pleads guilty to workplace safety violation, handed fines

7h ago

Lighting it up

P.A.'s Zablocki leads Regina to victory on Day 4 at Esso Cup

Apr 24, 2024

He said getting a win like this is a career-booster because it can get him more exposure which can translate into more shows and funding. He said he’s learned you have to have a long-term plan in place as well, which for him includes working on new music following the release of his recent album in November.

Corrigal also performed his recent radio single “I Don’t Wanna Fight No More” at the awards. It was his first time performing on the televised portion of the SCMA, and he said it was an amazing experience.

“The nerves were kind of touch-and-go at first, but the big thing was I didn’t have a voice two days before from a cold, so I was very worried about that but it worked out great,” Corrigal said.

He also presented the award for Country Music Person of the Year. He it was a neat experience because at last year’s SCMA’s he got to see one of his friends take home the award and this year he was able to hand it out to another really good friend.

Corrigal was also nominated for the Emerging Artist Award and Album of the Year. He said he’s going to continue writing and performing for as long as he can. He encouraged people to keep trying the things they’re interested in and to not waste energy on the wrong things.

swallace@panow.com 

On Twitter: @sarahthesquid