Joel Plaskett And In-Flight Safety Win Three East Coast Music Awards

This year's East Coast Music Awards show was filled with traditional, folk, alternative rock, jazz, country music and trailer trash. The Trailer Park Boys (outfitted in their fluorescent prison suits) kicked off the event by crashing a beaten-up old car into Halifax's Metro Centre. Bubbles (Mike Smith), Ricky (Robb Wells) and Julian (John Paul Tremblay) hosted the event for the second time, and the trio wreaked havoc and stupidity in their typical white-trash fashion.

Homegrown heroes The Joel Plaskett Emergency carried three awards home: best DVD for Make A Little Noise; SOCAN songwriter of the year; and top single for "Nowhere With You."

"Thanks to Ian McGettigan, everyone who played on the album, MapleMusic, Mike Campbell, Sheri Jones, friends and family," said Plaskett. "A special thanks to my wife Rebecca, 'cause she was the one who said, 'Joel, I want to go nowhere with you.' She deserves half of the royalties."

Other triple winners were In-Flight Safety, whose The Coast Is Clear full-length debut was honoured as the best group, Rising Star and alternative recording. Multi-instrumentalist JP Cormier and country crooner George Canyon also left with three awards. Cormier won for bluegrass, folk and instrumental recording of the year. Canyon was named entertainer of the year for the third consecutive time, and he also received prizes for country recording and video.

Halifax's beloved adoptee, Jill Barber, was decked out in her Sunday finest (an Audrey Hepburn-inspired black dress and cowboy boots) and was the belle of the ball. Her warm smile and brown eyes sparkled as she accepted the FACTOR recording of the year award and female solo recording title for For All Time.

"Am I blushing?" Barber gushed. "It's really a big honour, too, but it's not really a competition out east. I feel really comfortable and at home here in Halifax. I also feel like I have such tremendous support, it would be so hard to leave."

Ex-pat east coasters Sloan took home rock recording of the year for Never Hear The End Of It. Chris Murphy flew in from his not-so glamorous life in Toronto to accept the award.

"I take every opportunity I can to come back here," said Murphy. "But it's not like I'm hanging out with the stars in L.A. or anything like that. I live in Toronto, I have a house, but I have a tenant and we have mice, so it's not exactly the lap of luxury."

Next year's 20th ECMA celebration event will be held for the first time in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

Here are the winners:

Entertainer: George Canyon
FACTOR Recording: For All Time (Jill Barber)
Female Solo Recording: For All Time (Jill Barber)
Group Recording: The Coast is Clear (In-Flight Safety)
Male Solo Recording: Ron Hynes (Ron Hynes)
Rising Star Recording: The Coast is Clear (In-Flight Safety)
Single: "Nowhere With You" (Joel Plaskett Emergency)
Songwriter: Joel Plaskett for "Nowhere With You" (performed by Joel Plaskett Emergency)
Video: Drinkin' Thinkin' (George Canyon)
DVD: Make A Little Noise (Joel Plaskett Emergency)
African-Canadian Recording: Scotia Mix Vol. 1 (Jamie Sparks)
Alternative Recording: The Coast Is Clear (In-Flight Safety)
Bluegrass Recording: Take Five...A Banjo Collection (JP Cormier)
Blues Recording: Weight Of The World (John Campbelljohn)
Children's Recording: Anne And Gilbert (The Cast Of Anne And Gilbert)
Classical Recording: Extase (Measha Bruggergosman)
Country Recording: Somebody Wrote Love (George Canyon)
Francophone Recording: Pied-A-Terre (Blou)
Folk Recording: Looking Back — Volume 2: The Songs (JP Cormier)
Gospel Recording: I Love You So (The LaPointes)
Instrumental Recording: Looking Back — Volume 1: The Instrumentals (JP Cormier)
Jazz Recording: Crocus (Duane Andrews)
Pop Recording: Bring On The Storm (Charlie A'Court)
Rap/Hip-Hop Single: "Find Out" (Classified)
Rock Recording: Never Hear The End Of It (Sloan)
Roots/Traditional Group Recording: El Viento Flamenco In Concert (El Viento Flamenco)
Roots/Traditional Solo Recording: Yours Truly (Natalie MacMaster)
Urban Single: "All I Need" (Jamie Sparks)