Matt Mays, Canyon, MacMaster to play ECMAs

Country star George Canyon, rock group Matt Mays & El Torpedo and fiddler Natalie MacMaster will all take the stage at the upcoming East Coast Music Awards.

Matt Mays & El Torpedo led a tight list of contenders, scoring five nominations, including best group, radio rock recording, album and single, as well as entertainerof the year the lone award determined by the public.

The band tied in nominations with their Nova Scotia colleagues the Trews. Quick on their heels were folk singer J.P. Cormier and singer-songwriters Lennie Gallant and Gordie Sampson with four nominations each.

Canyon, who shot to fame as a finalist on TV's Nashville Star and is nominated for three ECMAs, will also perform on the show, along with Gallant, Cormier, pop-rock group the Chucky Danger Band, rising rock band the Novaks and hip-hop artist Sko-Shun Tiez.

MacMaster will take part in a tribute to her uncle, Cape Breton fiddle legend Buddy MacMaster, who is this year's recipient of the ECMA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Hosted by TV's Trailer Park Boys this year, the annual Atlantic Canadian musical honours will be presented at the Charlottetown Civic Centre on Feb. 27. The gala will be broadcast nationally by CBC-TV.