Sign up for the battlefordsNOW newsletter

Air Ronge man named Aboriginal country artist of the year

Apr 26, 2016 | 7:24 AM

Roland Corrigal is still soaking in the news that he is the 2015 Aboriginal Artist of the Year.

He was presented with the award last weekend during the Saskatchewan Country Music Awards (SCMA) gala in Saskatoon.

Corrigal said it is an unbelievable achievement. 

“Regardless if I won the award or not, I was going to keep on doing the music thing and it’s going to help me as a tool to get more exposure out there,” he said.

Corrigal’s passion for music started at an early age. He can still fondly recall listening to the radio at both his grandparents’ and his parents’ houses.

It did not take long for Corrigal to find his own talent. As a teenager he played the drums with a few bands including his father’s. He would eventually pick up a guitar and discover his love for song writing.

When asked where he draws his inspiration from, Corrigal said he writes what he knows.

“It comes from life experience. One of the songs I have written even came from a phrase I heard in the bar one night,” he said referring to is recording My Pretty Girl which has been gathering steam on the Canadian country music charts.

Corrigal is currently working on his album. He was given the opportunity at the SCMA’s to perform one of his newly written songs, I don’t want to fight anymore.

“It was the very first time it was performed live so I didn’t know how people were going to take it and one of the first comments I heard from somebody who was there was that it gave them goosebumps and I was like ‘yes, that’s what I was going for,’” Corrigal said adding he hoped to have the song ready to play on the radio by this summer.

The full interview with Corrigal will be featured this weekend during Meeting Ground on 900 CKBI.

 

nmaxwell@panow.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell