Fredericton artists shine at Music NB awards
The East Coast is the only region in Canada that has individual organizations that directly support their artists in each of its provinces. Music NB, like its sister organizations in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland, holds its own awards to highlight their own artists each year. The awards are the central element of Festival 506 and is accompanied by showcases and conferences to help as many artists as possible build on their industry chops.
This is viewed as the most important part of this annual gathering, because the goal is not to collect trophies, its to build a sustainable and profitable music scene.
Fredericton is where this scene thrives the most in New Brunswick, and that is shown through their list of nominees and winners from this year’s festival.
New Brunswick’s capital boasted the most artists nominated and the most nominated artist, The Hypochondriacs, with 6 total nominations, of which they won 4 including Album of the Year.
Speaking of which, locals The Olympic Symphonium and Joyful Noise were also up for the festivals top honor.
Electronic artist Wangled Teb represented the more niche part of Fredericton’s scene by winning Electronic Recording of the Year.
Fredericton’s music ecosystem runs deeper than just having talented artists. They also have a successful stage where they can thrive, The Capital Complex, who took home the honor of Venue of the Year.
It only makes sense that the top place to play would also be home to the Festival of the Year, which this year was the city’s mid-winter classic Shivering Songs.
Fredericton’s music landscape spreads further with its focus on education and engaging with the city’s youth to encourage the next generation of talent that will succeed the current. 
Funk artist Stephen Lewis and Eva George, one of the curators of the Charlotte Street Arts Centre, were both recognized this year for their initiatives in the education side of the music scene. George split the award with fellow nominee Sara Liptay.
Although they did not end up winning either of their nominated categories, it should be noted that the city’s campus radio station CHSR-FM was in the conversation for music business of the year and their manager Erin Bond was up for Industry Professional of the Year.
Fredericton also came close in another niche category as local punk rockers Deep Fryer were up for Loud Recording of the Year.
Even the awards the city has won don’t tell the full story. Festivals like Harvest Jazz and Blues, who’s line up this year included the likes of Alan Doyle and Sturgill Simpson, or the Living Roots Festival, an exponentially growing festival which started from scratch just a few years ago, are quality events that didn’t even make the shortlist this year.
Speaking of the latter, Roots and Soul Promotions has really broadened the options for both local and touring folk artists with regular weekly programming. 
They have also built up the reputation of their main venue, Grimross Brewing, to the point that it is just as much of a hot-spot to see music as the Capital Complex. This is all thanks to their founder Eddie Young, who is both making his name not only as a promoter, but an all-around industry professional. He recently took Colin Fowlie, a local solo artist, on his first tour outside New Brunswick and helped get his new EP “Harmony” up to #4 on the earshot.com national folk charts.
On the topic of touring, the ground covered by the punk trio Hard Charger is often glossed over due to their lowkey, do-it-yourself operations. Without the support of even an indie label they have managed to pull off multiple, extended tours in the United States, Europe and even Mexico. They have also garnered spots some of their genre’s top festivals with appearances at the Obscene Extreme Festival in blank and an upcoming slot at the highly touted Maryland Death Festival. The band also contributes to Fredericton’s list of venues, opening their jam space/home multiple times a month to put on shows for punk/metal and hard rock bands.
Putting the final piece of the puzzle into Fredericton’s music scene is the city’s own music/arts specific media outlet Grid City Magazine. Founder Matt Carter is one of the most active participants in the scene, writing, photographing and talking about it through his media outlet along with its other writers.
Fredericton’s artists have filled out most of the nooks and cranny’s in their scene and have the resources needed to release albums, plan tours and attract funding for their daily functions. This solid foundation allows Fredericton to draw in high caliber touring acts, draw larger crowds year after year at events both big and small and most of all it provides the training crowd for local artists to potentially make their passion into a sustainable career.
