Well, I can’t believe it. No wait. I can. There’s a little Seagull Pewter trophy shaped like a treble clef sitting on my mantlepeice.

The Divorcees, recently back from The East Coast Music Awards, have won an award for Country Album Of The Year 2010 for our latest release, “Last Of The Free Men”.

It’s wonderful to receive one of these awards, due in large part to the fact that many East Coast Music Association delegates are our peers.

The ECMA’s are a celebration of East Coast talent - from the very celtic to the very loud and everything in between. Imagine all your musical brothers and sisters congregating in the party capital of the Maritimes - Sydney Nova Scotia - and you can readily picture just how big a celebration the ECMA’s are. It’s a fantastic event, both for fans of East Coast music and for the people in the business as well.

Moncton was in luck this year, with bands like The Motorleague winning two awards and our good fiddlin’ friend Sam Robichaud winning one as well. Also, many of our friends - like In Flight Safety and Joel Plaskett, for example - took multiple awards. We couldn’t be happier about that.

We were in the running with folks we respect a great deal - hard-working guys like JD Clarke, Rik Reese and Neon Highway, Melanie Morgan and George Canyon. It’s one thing to be in the running with the elite of the elite. It’s another thing altogether to be nominated alongside musicians that easily work and tour as hard as you, if not harder. So we are truly grateful and very appreciative of both the nomination and the award.

Also, to be handed your award with a generous hug from our good friend Gordie Johnson is almost as thrilling as winning the award itself.

Now that my head is somewhat clearer from four straight days of revelry, we wanted to thank a whole wack of people for helping us win Country Album Of The Year. They are:
Shelly Nordstrom (who arranges bringing in Export delegates to the ECMA’s)
Serge Samson (our rep at Hay Sale Records)
Josh Finlayson (our producer)
Terry Sawchuk (not the hockey player, heh - the fella who mixed our album)
Aaron Holmberg (a great, great engineer)
Nathan Jones and The Postman Studios
Chris Smith (album design and photography)
XL96 and Choix 99.9 (two great Moncton Country stations)
Tracy Petukhov (owner of Plan B and The Divorcees ‘Mom’)
Murielle Savoie (from NB’s MID funding program)
FACTOR
Samantha Robichaud
Gordie Johnson
Tim Hardy (our trusty east coaster with SOCAN)
SSI Audio
Robbie (our favorite soundman)
all the hard working guys at Moncton’s Long and McQuade
The CBC (including their “Heartland” tv show)
The Atlantic Film Festival
Troy Greencorn and the fine folks at Stan Fest
Will Foster and Peavey Electronics
Bruce Morel (who’s been in our corner more than once)
Jean Surrette and the staff of Music New Brunswick
Ray Legere (for the great fiddles and mandolin on the album)
Coco McGraw (a great pedal steel player)
Angela Desvaux (who sang beautifully on “After The Storm”)
Ooooole Doolang (aka Duane Kelly - for great preproduction)
our loving, patient partners - Lisa Roy, Jocelyne Vautour, and Melanie Cassidy
our families for helping in any way they could
our many many friends
many, many bands we call friends
The Grass Mountain Hobos (for the moonshine and the Hank III rendition at the hotel)
Plan B - The Divorcees favorite watering hole
Darrin Muck at Molson
Merle Haggard
Willie, Waylon, and The Boys
John R Cash
Jack Daniels

…and a special holler goes to our wonderful fans and supporters at the Merritt Desert Inn, The Can Ho’, Saxby’s, Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club, and every great honky tonk across this great land.
Lastly, we’d like to thank…well…you! Yeah, you! For being intersted in us, for coming to our shows, for believing in us, and for keeping good ole outlaw country alive. We salute you!

Very Best,

Alex Madsen

The Divorcees

Hey folks - just an update to let you know that everyone can vote for The Divorcees for the East Coast Music Awards Fan Choice Award for 2010. The awards ceremony and conference will be held in Sydney, NS March 4-7th. You’ll be able to watch the broadcast on the 7th live over the internet from the Bell Aliant site.
Please click on the link and choose the Fan Choice Award link to vote for The Divorcees - and feel free to spread the word to your friends (you can use the share buttons below to facebook, twitter, etc.). We could really use your support.
Also, if you or someone you know is an ECMA member, please consider voting for The Divorcees for Country Recording of the Year, as well as Entertainer of the Year.
Lastly, we’ve hit our 1000 fan members target of our facebook music page a week early - YEEHAW! Keep spreading the word amongst your friends and family.

Thanks so much for all your help - Divorcees fans are the best. We couldn’t do it without you.

ECMA Fan Choice Voting Portal

“Born Ready” and “Last of the Free Men” - recorded live at the Paragon Theater for the Halifax Pop Explosion - check ‘em out in the “Videos” section.

Hey y’all! Serge here from Hay Sale Records; the boys’ record label. Maybe it’s the holiday cheer setting in (more likely it’s the fact that the only boxes under the tree belong in the warehouse), but we are having our first X-mas sale!

All Hay Sale titles, including both Divorcees titles are now marked down to $5!!!

This offer will last for a limited time only, so head over to our online store and pick up a stocking stuffer for those little lovable haters of modern-garbage-that-passes-for-country in your life.

Pricing applies to mail-order sales of physical discs only – not downloads from online retailers.

No angry mail re punk – “I don’t wanna hear it!!! None of your Bullshit..I don’t wanna hear it! Aaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh SHUT UP!”

Hi Folks,

Well, it’s been an exciting couple of months here in Divorcees-land!

This week, our drummer-at-arms Brock Gallant and his lovely wife Melanie welcomed their son Everett into the world. We’re happy to say that Everett will be spoiled rotten by his crazy, no-good, outlaw uncles! And we’ve never seen Brock with bigger smile on his face. Something tells us a drumming dynasty has been born.

It’s not secret to many Divorcees fans that our not-so-secret weapon in the band is our absolutely hellacious bass player, Denis “TurTle” Arsenault. And much to our suprise and satisfaction, Canadian Musican Magazine has noticed it, too. Click on the link below and turn to page 46 for a great piece on Turt’s world-class bass playing, and enjoy!

http://www.canadianmusician.com/online/index.php

Contrary to common belief, there are actually some of us in the band that are married - one of them being Brock and now…as of this fall, our multi-instrumentist and guitar wizard Danny Roy has officially tied the knot with his long-time partner, Lisa Rotter (who, by the way, sings like a bird). We couldn’t be happier for him, and boy, you oughtta see a wedding that’s graced by The Divorcees. That’s one long, long, LONG party.

Just when you think the news couldn’t get any better, it does - in the form of two nominations for the band at the 2010 East Coast Music Awards in Sydney, NS. We’re up for both Country Album Of The Year (Last Of The Free Men), and for Entertainer Of The Year. We’re sharing the nominee list with some great artists such as George Canyon, Melanie Morgan, JD Clarke, and our buds Neon Highway. We’re thrilled to be in such great company and are looking forward to being a part of the festivities!

Stay tuned for more Divorcees goodness in the new year…and have a good one.

Giver!

P.S. Check out the new review from Italy’s rootshighway.it:

http://www.rootshighway.it/outsiders/divorcees.htm