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Aaron Pritchett
He’s has been a household name in Canadian Country music for 20 years, but when Aaron Pritchett hits the stage, he does so with the energy and intensity of an artist fresh on the scene. Yet despite being known for his dynamic, even raucous, live shows, it’s the classically country gentleman inside of Pritchett that’s made him a fan favourite – and a staying force in Canadian country – for more than two decades. With 13 Top Ten hits under hits under his belt [buckle], Pritchett has made a career of seamlessly moving from good ol’ boy anthems like “Hold My Beer” to pop-tinged party pleasers like “Worth a Shot” to heart-string pulling ballads like “Warm Safe Place”. He could have stopped when he had enough to fill a Greatest Hits album – which he did in 2015 – but instead he followed it up with several more including his 2019 #1 single, “Better When I Do”. Throughout it, Pritchett has racked up more than 30 Juno, CCMA, WCMA and BCCMA nominations including multiple wins for Entertainer of the Year, Male Vocalist of the Year and a CCMA SOCAN Songwriter of the Year award. With his writing, Pritchett continues to push the boundaries of the country genre. And while he refuses to be pigeon-holed, staying grounded in his roots is one thing he insists on.
Matt Lang
In early 2018, Matt Lang journeyed to Nashville to record his first English-language album, and at that time, he didn’t speak a word of English. The album, a result of that trip, quickly shot to #1 on the iTunes Country Album chart for multiple weeks in 2019 and included the singles ‘Love Me Some You’ and ‘My Final Pour,’ and has exceeded 15 million collective streams to date. Proudly from Maniwaki, QC, Matt has always wanted to bring Nashville to Québec. From 2018 to 2020, Matt performed over 150 live shows to ever-growing audiences. Matt and his band have also performed at the prestigious C2C Festival in Berlin just days before the beginning of the pandemic. His warm and powerful voice, combined with his impressive live show, quickly got him noticed by the Canadian country music community in English Canada. In September 2019, Matt won the national SiriusXM Top of the Country contest, three awards at Québec’s Country Gala, SOCAN’s Country Music Award and received his first ADISQ nomination for English Album of the Year. In June 2020, Matt released his second English album, More, which had 4 singles reach the Top 20 at Canadian country radio including his popular “Getcha” and “In a Bar”. That same year, Matt received his first CCMA nomination in the Rising Star Category and an ADISQ nomination for Live Show of the Year. Matt is back on the road in Canada after a stop in the UK for the Boots and Buckle Festival, and recently opened for Luke Combs at Festival d’Été de Québec in front of over 80,000 people. Matt is currently hard at work on his next album, due out next year.
Cory Marks
In 2019, Billboard deemed Cory Marks’ top 10 Rock radio single “Outlaws and Outsiders” (which features country music icon Travis Tritt, Ivan Moody of Five Finger DeathPunch, and Mick Mars of Motley Crue; and debuted at #1 on the Top Rock and Hard Rock digital sales charts, hit #6 on the US Country Music sales chart, and #3 at Rock radio in Germany) the “hit that couldn’t be confined”. The same statement could be said about Cory himself, who has exploded onto airwaves and tour stages over the past few years, establishing himself as a forefather of the popular Country Rock Fusion sound that has become so popular with artists like Hardy, Bailey Zimmerman and Brantley Gilbert storming the charts in 2022 and 2023. Mixing the storytelling tradition of country music and the loud, unapologetic sounds of heavy rock; Cory’s music blasts with an aggressive, soulful edge. 2020 saw the release of his critically acclaimed debut album WHO I AM – spawning fan favorites like “Devil’s Grin” and “Blame It On The Double”. In 2021 Cory released his complimentary EPs “Nashville Nights” and “Nashville Mornings” and in 2022 Cory released his rock-focused “I Rise” EP on the heels of his feature-film debut in “The Retaliators” with Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach, and labelmates Five Finger Death Punch, The HU, and Eva Under Fire. Despite his recent achievement of eclipsing 210 million career streams, a Platinum certification in his home country of Canada for “Outlaws & Outsiders” (which has also earned him his first US Gold single), and becoming the first ever Canadian country artist to have a Top 10 single on US Rock radio, Cory remains grounded and grateful. Rooted in the influence of his hometown in North Bay, Ontario, where he grew up surrounded by its salt-of-the-earth residents, Cory is undoubtedly himself, not just as a musician, but as a person. He continues to be influenced by the acts that drew him to writing and performing in the first place: Bryan Adams, Eric Church, Deep Purple, Rush, Ozzy Osbourne, Brad Paisley and most notably Merle Haggard, who Cory embodies in his own 21st century way.