Joel Plaskett Nominated For Eight ECMAs

The award nominations for Halifax singer-songwriter Joel Plaskett are piling up like cans of Keith's outside of a Dalhousie University dorm room.

Plaskett's ambitious triple album, Three, has already won two Canadian Folk Music Awards and four Music Nova Scotia awards. He's also been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, the ECHO Songwriting Award, a CBC Radio 3 Bucky Award and he's been included in CBC's Great Canadian Song Quest.

But that isn't all. Now, he's been nominated for an astounding eight East Coast Music Awards, including entertainer of the year, recording of the year and pop recording of the year. Three's lead single, the donair-sugary "Through And Through And Through," has been nominated as the year's best single and best video.

In other words, it's just another sleepy day in Dartmouth, N.S. for Plaskett.

Plenty of other familiar names show up in the list of nominations. Talented Halifax MC Classified and indie rock group In-Flight Safety are each vying for six awards and Amelia Curran is up for four, while Jenn Grant received three nods.

There's also plenty of promise coming from all the Maritime provinces, with Nova Scotia's Caledonia, New Brunswick's Sleepy Driver and P.E.I. group (and Two Hours Traffic side project) The Danks all nominated as rising stars.

You can see the full list of ECMA nominees here.

Here's a selection of nominees for 2009's East Coast Music Awards:

Entertainer Of The Year:
Classified
Dave Carroll
David Myles
Gypsophilia
In-Flight Safety
Joel Plaskett
The Divorcees

FACTOR Recording Of The Year:
Amelia Curran — Hunter, Hunter
Classified — Self Explanatory
Chris Kirby — Vampire Hotel
Dave Gunning — We're All Leaving
Duane Andrews — Raindrops
Jenn Grant — Echoes
Joel Plaskett — Three

Rising Star Recording Of The Year:
Caledonia — We Are America
Haunted Hearts — Thank You, Goodnight
Kim Wempe — Where I Need To Be
Share — Slumping in Your Murals
Sleepy Driver — Steady Now
The Danks — Are You Afraid Of The Danks

Alternative Recording Of The Year:
Caledonia — We Are America
In-Flight Safety — We Are An Empire, My Dear
Sleepy Driver — Steady Now
The Danks — Are You Afraid Of The Danks
The Easy Bleeders — The Easy Bleeders
The Slate Pacific — Safe Passage

Pop Recording Of The Year:
Jenn Grant — Echoes
Joel Plaskett — Three
Mel Keith & The Strombachs — Mel Keith & The Strombachs
Stephanie Mainville — Out Of Nowhere
Tim Chaisson and Morning Fold — Broken Hearted Beat
Two Hours Traffic — Territory

Rap/Hip-Hop Single Track Recording Of The Year:
Classified — "Anybody Listening"
Hotbox — "Knowledge Is Wealth," featuring Radar
Mischif — "C.B. Summer"
Mista Mack — "Gone With The Breeze," featuring Mischif
Shiest — "Nuttin New"
Three Sheet — "How It Goes"