Wins come in a flash for Petric

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/11/2021 (1665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Petric is having a November to remember.

The Transcona country group got their busy month off to a roaring start Saturday night by being the big winner at the Manitoba Country Music Awards, which were streamed live from the Metropolitan Entertainment Centre.

The band was nominated for 12 MCMAs and wound up winning four awards on the evening, including Album of the Year for their latest record, Flashbacks; Single of the Year for Kids; Video of the Year for All Who Wander, which they also performed live during the awards ceremony; and for Group or Duo of the Year.

Two of the band’s members, bassist Ben Mak-Wiebe and drummer Jon Plett, were also named to the MCMA’s all-star band for 2021.

The brothers Jason and Tom Petric formed Petric in 2014 and later added guitarist Jordan Day to form a trio. Mak-Wiebe and Plett have since joined earlier in 2021.

They continue their big November when they team up with fellow Canadian country artists Dean Brody and High Valley on a new single, When I Asked You To Dance, which comes out Nov. 15, and with a concert at the Canada Life Centre Nov. 20.

Flashbacks was supposed to be released early in 2020 and kickstart a heavy touring schedule for the rest of the year, but Petric’s first big show, a Feb. 29, 2020 date at the Burton Cummings Theatre, was their last, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instead, Flashbacks came out in January 2021, but the steady release of singles from the album over the past two years has helped Petric gain fans across Canada as well as Australia.

Desiree Dorion, who grew up a stone’s throw from the Dauphin Countryfest concert site and is a member of the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, won two awards on Saturday for Female Artist of the Year and Indigenous Country Music Award.

Winnipeg’s Don Amero, who co-hosted the ceremony with Stefan Richard of Winnipeg radio station Now Country 104.7, also won two MCMAs, for Male Artist of the Year and Interactive Artist of the Year.

Many of the nominees performed during the one-hour show, including Amero, who sang Nothing is Meaningless, his latest single and Kendra Kay, the Fans’ Choice Award winner, who performed the song Homegrown Heart, which she released in October.

Two Crows for Comfort, the Winnipeg duo of Erin Corbin and Cory Sulyma, won the MCMA for Roots Artist, Duo or Group of the Year and performed The Ballad of Giles Corey during the livestream.

Bruce Leperre, a radio DJ and program director who has promoted Manitoba country artists for many years, was named to the Manitoba Country Music Association hall of fame.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall