BY RYAN WELLICOME
Lacombe Express
Country music star and Lacombe native Gord Bamford was awarded Album of the Year at this year’s Canadian Country Music Awards which was held on Sunday.
His April release Tin Roof reached number 16 on the Billboard Canadian Albums chart.
“(I’m) very proud to receive this reward and extremely humbled,” said Bamford. “It’s always an honour to get nominated and you only hope that every year you get to that spot. Album of the Year is a huge award to win as it’s the body of work that creates everything for your future.”
This is Bamford’s third win for the Album of the Year category with wins in 2010 and 2013 for the albums Day Job and Is it Friday Yet?, respectively.
For Bamford it has all been a bit of a blur. “Wow, I didn’t realize it was my third,” he said.
Despite the praise he received, he wished to thank the team behind him.
“It’s a huge achievement and it should be shared with the great team of people I am lucky to work with from producers to songwriters and musicians. I have a great management team of people I have known for a very long time and they don’t ever get enough credit. They are a huge piece of this achievement; so many thanks to them,” he said.
He also had others to thank for his success.
“Obviously my wife and children have made the biggest sacrifice of all with me being gone so much and chasing down my dreams,” he said. “There are many people that have played a roll in my success over many years. My management team works many hours a day as well and really have the toughest job. It’s lead by my best pal Brian Halbert and he has been unreal in every situation and really is a person that you can trust with all and any decisions.”
He also felt those that listen to his albums and buy tickets to his shows are important and deserve recognition.
“None of this dream works without the great fans of country music that have embraced my work for many years now,” he said. “I have a great job and I love making music but couldn’t do any of it without the fans.”
Bamford’s charity organization, The Gord Bamford Foundation, has raised million for children’s charities in Central Alberta and he said the organization provides him a source of pride.
“The charity work is what I am most proud of and we have a fantastic group of people that sit on our committee and I really appreciate their efforts.”
Bamford lives in Nashville with his family and is currently trying to give his music access to the American country music scene. Despite this, he said Canada remains a priority.
”We will be launching a very exciting program for smaller communities in the next few weeks that will find us continuing our charity work and bringing our shows to them,” he said. “Canada is always the priority for me.”
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