By David MacDonald
david@peicanada.com

Eastern PEI musicians were well-represented at the recent Music PEI awards, with several acts receiving well-deserved trophies.
One of those performers is Amanda Jackson, a Souris area native who currently lives near Wood Islands. She’s the lead singer of the five-piece blues outfit Bad Habits, who won the Bell Aliant Weekend Warrior of the Year award for their extensive and tireless performing schedule.
Ms Jackson has been busy since joining the band several months ago. The band has performed on stages across the Island, playing close to 15 gigs in December alone, and have also performed at benefits and other events.
“We’ve played three gigs a week sometimes,” Ms Jackson said. “We started to become quite in demand. You do it because you love it - everyone in the band is just super committed.”
The award is even more significant since it was voted on by the public. Ms Jackson said she’s proud of the band’s efforts and feels the award was well-deserved.
“It spoke volumes to us. Our fan base really responded to that. It feels good that the fans appreciate what you’re doing.”
Ms Jackson, a former member of the Waterman Blues Band, said this new band is “really powerful,” high energy band. The group is preparing to record its first CD, and is currently looking for a local studio to record it in with the plan for the final product to be released this spring.
The band has enough songs to record three albums but are only picking the best for the upcoming CD, she said. She said the band wants to keep the CD “as real” as their popular live performances.
“You really need that experience - you need to build up your fan base and get a lot of stage experience.”
While Ms Jackson has been a singer all her life, she said her style has changed over the years to the point where her voice is well-suited for the pain and heartbreak that comes with any good blues song. She names such legendary performers as B B King and Etta James as blues singers who “seasoned with age.”
“I didn’t have the same vocal I had 10 years ago,” Ms Jackson said. “As I get older, it’s like wine and cheese, it gets better with age. I’m glad I got years under my belt. The voice gets cracked and scratched - that is what the blues is all about.”
Another well-known eastern PEI performer, Tim Chaisson, won this year’s Spincourt Touring Artist of the Year award along with his band Morning Fold.
Mr Chaisson is a multiple Music PEI award winner but feels this particular award means a little more, noting the amount of touring the band has done in Canada and abroad. They recently opened for an Australian act in that continent, performing in front of 500 to 1,000 per night, and have also toured the United States.
The sponsor of the award is Spincourt, a radio tracking service that has already worked with Mr Chaisson and Morning Fold in releasing their songs Slipping Away and Broken Hearted Beat to radio stations across the country. The winner of this award receives a $3,000 radio tracking package from the company.
“When we release our new album, Spincourt will release songs across the country for free,” Mr Chaisson said.
Even in the age of the Internet, radio play is still critical to performers such as Mr Chaisson as they build a career.
“For radio stations to start picking us up is pretty cool,” he said. “A radio presence draws more people to the shows. It’s not as intensive as a few years ago but people still listen to the radio, so it’s still important.”
Mr Chaisson and Morning Fold will begin recording a new album in Toronto this March.
The group’s success has continued thanks to two recent East Coast Music Awards nominations for Fan’s Choice Entertainer of the Year and Fan’s Choice Video of the Year. Those awards will be handed out April 11 to 15 in Moncton.
Iona native Kelley Mooney won Country Recording of the Year thanks to her album Tomorrow, which was nominated for three awards.
“It was a big deal. I think it was an important award to win - my focus is country so to be awarded that particular award is pretty meaningful.”
Ms Mooney has sold nearly 1,000 copies of her album since its release in June, and the response has been so overwhelming that the country music performer has already ordered another 1,000 copies.
She credits the Internet for her recent success, with copies of her CD being sold across North America as well as France and Japan. As well, her version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah received more than 389,000 views on YouTube, and it was also played on a Holland radio station. All of this is definitely a change from when she released a cassette of her music back in 1990.
“If it wasn’t for something like the Internet, I wouldn’t be ordering another 1,000 CDs, I’d tell you that,” Ms Mooney said.
Ms Mooney hopes to record another album next year. In the meantime, she’ll be performing a Country Showcase at the East Coast Music Awards being held in Moncton this April. She’s also hoping to expand her career horizons beyond PEI by applying for a showcase with The Billy Block Show in Nashville.  

Photo: Amanda Jackson, lead singer for Bad Habits was among the winners from eastern PEI at the Music PEI Awards ceremony. Darrell Theriault photo