Clark, Smith, and Ramsey join earlier announced acts Keith Urban, Lindsay Ell, and High Valley at CCMA Awards

The stage at FirstOntario Centre is heating up! Today the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) announced their second round of talent for the 2018 CCMA Awards. Both 2018 Hall of Fame inductee Terri Clark and multi-platinum award-winning artist Dallas Smith have been announced as performers while country music’s newest viral sensation Mason Ramsey has been confirmed to make his first official television appearance in Canada on the CCMA Awards stage. These three celebrated artists will join previously announced talent Keith Urban, Lindsay Ell and High Valley as a part of the Award show’s nationwide broadcast, from FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, ON, on Sunday, September 9, live in all time zones on CBC and at cbcmusic.ca/ccmas at 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT).

19-time CCMA Award winner Terri Clark is no stranger to the CCMA Awards show stage. This year Clark will not only be performing, she’ll also arrive in Hamilton to celebrate her 2018 induction into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. Selling more than 5 million albums worldwide, Clark holds the title for most wins of the coveted CCMA Fans’ Choice Award (8-time winner) and is currently touring across Canada.  Her most recent single “One Drink Ago,” a duet with Dallas Smith, is currently Top 5 at Canadian country radio.

Multiple JUNO and CCMA Award winner Dallas Smith will hit the stage for the second consecutive year at the 2018 CCMA Awards. Recently scoring his fifth No. 1 and fourth consecutive chart-topper with “Sleepin’ Around,” Smith is the first and only Canadian country artist to have four consecutive No. 1 singles from the same album. A Platinum and GOLD selling artist, Smith is also the only Canadian artist to have 18 consecutive singles peak in the Top 10 of the Country Airplay chart in the Nielsen BDS era (22 years). With his current single “One Drink Ago” currently sitting in the Top 5, it is anticipated that Smith will be releasing new music in advance of his Awards show performance.

11-year old Internet sensation, Mason Ramsey, will be making a special appearance in Hamilton this September. Recorded singing Hank Williams Sr.’s “Lovesick Blues” at a Walmart in Illinois,  the rising star’s original video earned more than 20 million views in its first week and has surpassed 40 million views since then. After signing with Big Loud and Atlantic Records as the youngest major label Country artist since Billy Gilman, Ramsey debuted his first hit single “Famous.” Reaching No.1 on iTunes Country Songs chart and top-charted as No.1 on global streaming Country song on Spotify, “Famous” laid the foundation for the release of Ramsey’s second single — his cover of “Lovesick Blues.”

Tickets to the 2018 CCMA Awards are now on-sale. Single tickets and packages are available for purchase in-person at the FirstOntario Centre Box Office and online at ticketmaster.ca with $1 of each ticket sale going directly to MusiCounts in support of their year-round music initiatives.

Orest Dorosh

I shoot live music performances and concerts. I love the excitement of entering a venue, knowing that I’ll be photographing a concert and enjoying the energy of the crowd. There’s nothing like being in a venue and looking at the expressions on the faces of people who are all transfixed by the talent onstage. I shoot about 120 shows each year, averaging 2 bands per show, as well as several all-day and weekend festivals in and around Southern Ontario. From the large venues to very small ones, bright lights or barely lit stages, I hope that my photos capture the enjoyment the artists have in doing what they love to do.

www.frontrow-pics.com