With the release last week of the Country Music Association of Ontario’s final list of nominees for this year’s Ontario Country Music Awards, here’s a look at another category and bit of the history, specifically Roots Artist or Group of the Year.

This year’s nominees are: The Abrams; Jessica Mitchell; Kelly Prescott; The Redhill Valleys and Western Swing Authority. All of this year’s nominees have been nominated before and all but Kelly Prescott were nominated last year.

This award was introduced for the first time in the second year of the Ontario Country Music Awards. No solo artist has ever won it. The Abrams and Western Swing Authority hold the record with most wins at 2 each, and Western Swing Authority are the only artists to have repeat wins back-to-back (2014 and 2015). The Abrams won their second trophy in this category last year.

Here’s the complete list of previous winners: Western Swing Authority (2014, 2015); The Good Family (2016); The Abrams (2017); The Lovelocks (2018); and The Abrams (2019).

Congratulations and good luck to all of this year’s nominees.

The Country Music Association of Ontario Awards are scheduled for Oct. 4 in London.