# 2023 Canadian Country Music Awards

The 2023 Canadian Country Music Awards, honouring achievements in Canadian country music, were presented on September 16, 2023, at the FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario. For the first time in 25 years they were broadcast by CTV instead of Global, under a new content partnership with Bell Media which included a listener contest on the Pure Country radio network to win tickets to attend the event.
The ceremony was hosted by country duo The Reklaws. Performers included Sam Hunt, Jade Eagleson, James Barker Band, Dean Brody, Carly Pearce, Josh Ross, Dallas Smith, Train and Tenille Townes.
Nominees were announced on July 13. Jade Eagleson and Tenille Townes tied for the most awards, with each artist winning three.

## Nominees and winners
### Music

| Entertainer of the Year | Album of the Year |
| Jade Eagleson Dean Brody Dallas Smith Tenille Townes Shania Twain | Tim & the Glory Boys, Tim & The Glory Boys Shawn Austin, Planes Don't Wait Tim Hicks, Talk to Time Andrew Hyatt, Four Good Years The Reklaws, Good Ol’ Days |
| Male Artist of the Year | Female Artist of the Year |
| Jade Eagleson Dean Brody Brett Kissel Josh Ross Dallas Smith | Tenille Townes Tenille Arts Lindsay Ell MacKenzie Porter Shania Twain |
| Group or Duo of the Year | Musical Collaboration of the Year |
| James Barker Band High Valley Hunter Brothers The Reklaws Tim & the Glory Boys | High Valley with Alison Krauss, "Do This Life" The Reklaws feat. Jake Owen, "11 Beers" Gord Bamford feat. Terri Clark, "I Ain't Drunk" Tyler Joe Miller and Matt Lang, "Never Met a Beer" Dallas Smith and MacKenzie Porter, "One Too" |
| Breakthrough Artist or Group of the Year | Fans' Choice |
| Josh Ross Dax Nate Haller Griffen Palmer Orville Peck | James Barker Band Dean Brody Jade Eagleson Tim Hicks High Valley Brett Kissel The Reklaws Josh Ross Dallas Smith Tenille Townes |
| Alternative Country Album of the Year | Single of the Year |
| Kyle McKearney, A Traveler's Lament Jason Benoit, Time Traveller The Bros. Landreth, Come Morning Mallory Johnson, Surprise Party Whitehorse, I'm Not Crying, You’re Crying | Lindsay Ell, "Right on Time" Dean Brody, "Where'd You Learn How to Do That" James Barker Band, "Wastin' Whiskey" Tyler Joe Miller, "Wild As Her" The Reklaws feat. Jake Owen, "11 Beers" Josh Ross, "On a Different Night" |
| Songwriter of the Year | Video of the Year |
| Bryan Adams, Daniel Tashian, Tenille Townes, Kate York — Tenille Townes feat. Bryan Adams, "The Thing That Wrecks You" Kelly Archer, Danick Dupelle, Tyler Joe Miller — Tyler Joe Miller, "Back to Drinkin' Whiskey" Rodney Clawson, Tim Neufeld, Allen Salmon — Tim & the Glory Boys, "Float" Trannie Anderson, Matt McGinn, Jake Mitchell, Meghan Patrick — Meghan Patrick, "Greatest Show on Dirt" Josh Ross, Mason Thornley — Josh Ross, "Trouble" | Tim & the Glory Boys, "Float" Dallas Smith and MacKenzie Porter, "One Too" Jade Eagleson, "She Don't Know" Tenille Townes feat. Bryan Adams, "The Thing That Wrecks You" Josh Ross, "Trouble" |
| Top Selling Canadian Album of the Year | Top Selling Canadian Single of the Year |
| The Reklaws, Good Ol' Days | Dax, "Dear Alcohol" |
| Guitar Player of the Year | Bass Player of the Year |
| Brennan Wall Jeff Brown Ryan Davidson Johnny Gasparic Chad Murphy | Justin Kudding Lisa Dodd Watts Lisa Jacobs Mark Rynkun Holt Stuart Hitchcox |
| Steel Guitar Player of the Year | Drummer of the Year |
| Doug Johnson Chris Altmann Michael Eckert Marcus Ramsay | Rich DaSilva Matthew Atkins Flavio Cirillo Brendan Lyons Greg Williamson |
| Fiddle Player of the Year | Keyboard Player of the Year |
| Julie Kennedy Tyler Beckett Denis Dufresne Ben Rutz Mike Sanyshyn | Brendan Waters Matt Koebel Brendon Schmidt Scott Wilkinson |
| Specialty Instrument Player of the Year | Top Selling International Album |
| Mitch Jay Johnny Gasparic Shane Guse | Morgan Wallen, One Thing at a Time |

### Radio

| Radio Station of the Year, Large Market | Radio Station of the Year, Medium/Small Market |
| CJJR-FM — Vancouver, British Columbia CFCW — Calgary, Alberta CHKX-FM — Hamilton, Ontario CKDX-FM — London, Ontario CKKL-FM — Ottawa, Ontario | CHCQ-FM — Belleville, Ontario CJXL-FM — Moncton, New Brunswick CKGY-FM — Red Deer, Alberta CKLJ-FM — Olds, Alberta CKXC-FM — Kingston, Ontario |
| Radio Personality of the Year |
| Wendy Boomer, CKBY-FM Shannon Ella, Pure Country Paul McGuire, Stingray Radio Greg Shannon and Stella Stevens, CFCW Toff & Melissa, CHKX-FM |

### Industry

| Booking Agency of the Year | Country Club of the Year |
| Sakamoto Agency Action Entertainment Collaborative The Feldman Agency Invictus Entertainment Group Paquin Artists Agency | The King Eddy — Calgary, Alberta Cook County Saloon — Edmonton, Alberta Ranchman's Cookhouse and Dancehall — Calgary, Alberta Rock ‘N’ Horse Saloon — Toronto, Ontario |
| Country Festival, Fair or Exhibition of the Year | Country Music Program or Special of the year |
| Boots and Hearts Music Festival — Oro-Medonte, Ontario Big Valley Jamboree — Camrose, Alberta Calgary Stampede — Calgary, Alberta Cavendish Beach Music Festival — Cavendish, Prince Edward Island LASSO Montreal — Montreal, Quebec | Christmas Time with Tenille Townes 2022 (Sony Music Entertainment) Boomer's Canadian Club (Rogers Media) Canada’s Country Radio (Apple Music) The Road Less Travelled (Stingray Radio) A Washboard Union Christmas Special (syndicated) |
| Management Company of the Year | Music Publishing Company of the Year |
| The Core Entertainment Big Loud Management MDM Artist Management Services Simkin Artist Management Starseed Entertainment | Big Loud Publishing Anthem Entertainment Group Sony Music Publishing Universal Music Publishing Warner Chappell Music Canada |
| Record Company of the Year | Industry Person of the Year |
| Big Loud Records MDM Recordings Inc. Sony Music Entertainment (Canada) Inc. Universal Music Canada Warner Music Canada | Warren Copnick (Sony Music Entertainment (Canada) Inc) Paul Biro (Sakamoto Agency) Mike Denney (MDM Recordings Inc.) Brianne Deslippe (Big Loud Records) Amanda Kingsland (Universal Music Canada) |
| Creative Team or Director of the Year | Recording Studio of the Year |
| Austin Chaffe Devin Cooper, Chad Murphy Chris Doi, Roberta Landreth, Kyle McKearney, Jeff Ojeda Brandon Ferguson, Lloyd Norman Mitchell Nevins | MCC Recording Studio — Calgary, Alberta Barrytone Studios — Miramichi, New Brunswick Bart McKay Productions — Saskatoon, Saskatchewan OCL Studios — Chestermere, Alberta Revolution Recording — Toronto, Ontario |
| Record Producer of the Year | Retailer of the Year |
| Danick Dupelle — Tyler Joe Miller, "Back to Drinkin' Whiskey", "Never Met a Beer" Russell Broom, Kyle McKearney — Kyle McKearney, A Traveler's Lament Scott Cooke — Andrew Hyatt, Four Good Years Jeff Coplan, Deric Ruttan — Tim Hicks, Talk to Time Joey Moi — Dallas Smith and MacKenzie Porter, "One Too" | Spotify Apple Music Amazon Music |
| Talent Buyer or Promoter of the Year | Video Director of the Year |
| Brooke Dunford (Republic Live) Paul Biro (Sakamoto Agency) Dan Clapson (Blue Jay Sessions) Jim Cressman (Invictus Entertainment Group) Adam Oppenheim (Stampede Entertainment) | Travis Nesbitt AJ Astle Ben Knechtel Ryan Nolan OUDi (Crystal Leigh) |
| Innovative Campaign of the Year | Gary Slaight Music Humanitarian Award |
| “She Don't Know” Wedding Contest — Jade Eagleson “Let ‘Em Lie” Release Highlights — Kyle McKearney, Don Amero Mastering of “Master of Puppets” — Hailey Benedict “Surprise Party” Album Release — Mallory Johnson “What Colour You Drive” Content and Fan Contest — Hunter Brothers | Dean Brody — The Dean Brody Foundation |