There is no more fitting place for a country music singer to learn that he won a national award than sitting in a tractor during seeding.
But that is just where Drew Gregory was when The Mail called to congratulate him on winning the country music category of the Canadian Songwriting Competition.
Gregory, of Standard Alberta, collaborated with Ontario-based singer-songwriter Shae Dupuy and Mike Little, who plays piano for George Canyon, on the song “Wishing On You.”
“That’s pretty cool,” said a surprised Gregory.
He explains he and Shae have written together a couple of times.
“Mike Little is from Alberta and she was out here working with him, and that’s how I was introduced to her,” explains Gregory. “He (Little) played on my last album and he brought her in and we wrote a good one.”
The song has been published on Dupuy’s debut EP called Brave, which was released in November of last year, and she also released a video for the song.
“It is a female song, coming from the perspective of a girl that gets stood up by a guy,” he said. “I was happy to see it is on her latest album, I got it in the mail a couple months ago.
Gregory continues to make his mark on the country music scene. In 2015, he was named the Alberta Country Music Association Male Artist of the Year and last year was awarded the album of the year for his EP, “I Was There.” He continues to work on new music and is planning to get out in front of fans.
“I have been working on new music. I was out in Ontario working with a guy named Jason Barry, who I worked with on my last album and putting some new songs together and we hope to get them out soon,” he said. “And we are working on a crazy summer of shows to keep me busy.”
Of course, after seeding is finished.
“I usually take May and September off for seeding and harvest.”
The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) sponsor the Canadian Songwriting Contest. Category winners received $250 cash, a Noize Factory Studio recording of one single with a studio engineer, and entertainment accounting consultation session with This is The Deal Inc. and a subscription to Canadian Music Magazine.
