Paris songwriter earns award nominations
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A Paris singer-songwriter is nominated for six independent music Golden Kayak Awards, including best male artist.
Neil w Young is also nominated for: best alternative song, Dreams in the Wind; best classic and progressive rock song, Rock This Place; best country song. Another Twenty Miles; best folk/acoustic rock/Americana song, 1959; and best miscellaneous song, The Promised Land of Paradise.
Golden Kayak Awards are presented by the International Academy of Independent Artists. Voting for the awards is done online by members and the winners will be known later this month.
“I’m truly honoured to be nominated by my peers at IndieMusicPeople.com in the IAIA Golden Kayak Awards for 2019 in six categories,” Young, 77, said in a prepared statement. “The songs nominated are from my Dreams In The Wind album released April 16, 2019.”
He said the album is dedicated to the late Carl Horton, a Hamilton-based pianist, songwriter and teacher, who died at age 57 in December 2017.
“Carl was in the studio recording tracks on my new album only a few days before he died,” Young said. “He had put down beautiful Grand piano, stings and Hammond organ tracks on For You, a song written by Paul Brandt and Steve Rosen from the movie, We Were Soldiers, that I had licensed to perform on my album.
“Carl’s work and contribution were responsible for raising the bar for me as a songwriter and recording artist.”
Young said he was stunned and saddened by his friend’s death.
“Carl loved the songs I had written for the album, especially There Won’t Be Any Arizona. It was his favourite and the last song on the album.”
The Dreams In the Wind album was produced by Ray Lyell and received support from creative and mixing engineer Trevor Titian and platinum artist John Wozniak, who added his engineering-mixing expertise to several songs, Young said.
Lyell was nominated for the most promising male vocalist award in 1989.
A lifelong resident of Brant County, Young is a graduate of the former Burford District High School. A retired businessman, hehas been a recording artist, songwriter and author for the past 14 years.
He has released five CDs, amassing 60 songs that can be found on his website at www.neilwyoung.com. He also had two novels released by Cavern of Dreams Publishing.
A two-time nominee for a Hamilton Music Award, Young has previously won three Golden Kayak Awards.
Young includes a lower case w in his name on promotional materials as part of his branding and to distinguish himself from Neil Young, the Canadian music icon.
Neil w Young is three years older than his better-known countryman and musician.
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