Countdown to the CMAO Awards – Q&A with Runaway Angel

By: Jenna Melanson

With six days remaining until the 2015 CMAO Awards, we have decided to do a countdown of sorts by posting a feature a day with one of the amazing nominees from this year! Yesterday was our first Q&A, which was with Country superstar, Michelle Wright. Today is going to be just as good, as I had the chance to ask Cadence Grace (Runaway Angel) a few questions.

If you’re unaware of this talented trio, here’s your chance to learn more about these rising stars. The band is nominated in multiple categories this year, such as “Single Of The Year” and “Group or Duo Of The Year” to name a few. Be sure to head over to their social networking sites to find out all you can about them, you won’t regret it.

As a country musician, being nominated at the CMAO awards is such a huge accomplishment, how did you feel when you found out you were nominated?

We were extremely excited and surprised. We’re still a pretty new group and to get that nod from our peers that we’re doing a good job and are on the right path really means a lot to us. We were ecstatic!

There’s a CMAO Conference Showcase on Sunday, May 24th called “The ‘New Faces, Going Places’ Showcase”, which is to help new Ontario talent get noticed, can you suggest an up & coming country star that you think we should all check out?

We’re excited to see the acts playing at the showcase this year! We showcased at the conference last year and definitely feel like it was a great opportunity for exposure and development. An up and coming country star we all really dig right now is Genevieve Fisher, She’s got great tunes and an amazing voice and her personality is just so down to earth and sweet. Definitely check her out!

Another exciting conference panel taking place is “The Write Stuff – A Songwriters Super Session”, can you give us the scoop on your songwriting sessions? What is your songwriting process like? 

 

Our songwriting process varies on who we we are co-writing with (or if we are co-writing at all). We save up our ideas and keep voice memos for melody ideas and lyrics/hook ideas for sessions and then just go in with some ideas to toss around. Whatever sticks for all of us in a strong sense is what we go with. Sometimes we start with a really loose concept like with Run Angel Run, where we knew we wanted to write a song with that title, and wanted an anthemic feeling, and sometimes it’s really specific and we come in with a full chorus or fleshed out concept.

If you were asked to give a rising Country artist some advice, what would that advice be?

Be strong, be ready to work, wait and watch everything that’s going on around you because it’s important to learn as much as you can. Knowledge is empowerment in this industry. Be who you are and stick to your guns, don’t change because you think you need to or people want you to. Know that it takes a lot of time and money to get anywhere in the business and be prepared to spend it. Do it for the right reasons, because you love it and it connects with your soul. Network, Network, Network!!

One thing that is a major marketing innovation these days is social media, making it possible for artists to connect with their fans by a simple touch of the keyboard. Do you feel this is a vital tool that all artists should partake in?

Absolutely. Social media gives people the ability to connect with you on a person to person basis and maybe receive a direct response, retweet, like etc. This was never possible before in music and it’s creates a connection between fans and music creators that we believe is really driving the industry right now. We are avid fans of social media and we work really hard to communicate with our fans, create engaging content and make people feel like we are as accessible as artists can be in the social realm.

There are many exciting performances taking place this year at the CMAO Awards Show, which are you most looking forward to? Current line-up includes: Autumn Hill, Beverley Mahood, Deric Ruttan Jason Blaine Jason McCoy, Leah Daniels, Lindsay Broughton, Russell DeCarle, Tebey, The Western Swing Authority and Tim Hicks

We’re really excited to see all of them! It’s impossible to pick a favourite from such a stellar list of performers. We loved Jason Mccoy’s hosting last year so definitely looking forward to some more laughs!

Is there anything you’d like to say to your fans?

Thank you thank you thank YOU! Without you we would not be US. We are really looking forward to sharing this journey with you while we continue to grow as a group and show the world what Runaway Angel is all about.

Connect with Runaway Angel:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RunawayAngelMusic

Twitter: https://twitter.com/runaway_angel