Is musical talent in the Cape Breton Island Water? Families from here like the Rankins, MacMasters, the the Barra MacNeils, the Boudreaux…to name a few…
You’d also think so, from looking at the nominees for the East Coast Music Awards…including our local friend Angelo Spinazzola (nominated for 2 awards), Carmen Townsend who played at Cabot Shores at in 2005 for 2 awards; Cheryl Smith; Jimmy Rankin of Mabou for 8; Morgan Currie of the Mercato Group for festival software; ` Keith Mullins of Sydney for 3; ; bluesman Matt Anderson for 5;
Ones we are especially pulling for have connections to Cabot Shores…
Start with Jimmy Rankin–nominated for 8 awards–he’s also famous for being first cousin to Sara Rankin. Sara, puts together our newsletter and helps guide guests to the best of Cape Breton and she’s a talented Rankin in the graphics arts and says that Jimmy is not really that close a connection since Sara has 71 other first cousins!–Heather being my personal favorite. Heather also tours with the Rankin family and is co-owner with her sisters Raylene, Cookie and Genevieve , of the famous Red Shoe Pub in Mabou.
Angelo Spinazzola is a friend and great part of the St. Ann’s Bay community. His nominations are for his great new CD “Beautifully Imperfect” and the other for children’s recording of the year doing “First Nations Songwriting”. Angelo is a frequent visitor to Cabot Shores, having performed here as well as jamming below with our talented guests, here with John Griffith, of Leverett, Massachusetts. Angelo has a particular gift besides being a great singer, versatile instrumentalist and songwriter: he has an infectious enthusiasm about music, is a good teacher and appears occasionally in the community and shares his musical gifts at Kitchen Parties (including the the ones at the Gaelic Singers Hall in Breton Cove).
And special note: our favorite “House” Band is the Heartwood Slacks of Sydney. They’ve performed 3 concerts here since last year raising money for the Good Health Festival Society and really impressing our guests with their original mix of bluegrass and folk. They’ll be here at the Cabot Trail Blue Grass Festival this summer and they will be showcased at the East Coast Music awards this year.
Last year, Carmen Townsend was “discovered” by agents from Australia and completed a very successful tour “down under”.
Good luck to all the Cape Breton nominees as they appear in Moncton…