Classified, Jeremy Dutcher lead nominations for East Coast Music Awards

CHARLOTTETOWN -- A rapper and singer-songwriter from Nova Scotia, along with Polaris prize winner Jeremy Dutcher of New Brunswick's Tobique First Nation, lead this year's nominations for the East Coast Music Awards.

Hip hop hitmaker Classified, of Enfield, N.S., leads the pack with seven nominations, while Halifax's Ben Caplan nabbed six nominations.

Dutcher, who was raised partly on the Tobique First Nation, picked up five nods.

Dutcher won the 2018 Polaris Music Prize last September for his album "Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa," which is performed in the Wolastoq language.

Indie rock groups the Fortunate Ones of St. John's, N.L., Hillsburn of Halifax, and Paper Lions of Charlottetown all received four nominations, while Halifax electronic pop group Neon Dreams also garnered four.

The awards will be handed out in Charlottetown from May 1 to 5.

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  Singer Jeremy Dutcher poses in Toronto on Tuesday, April 10, 2018. The singer is a member of the Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, and his new album "Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa" has him singing alongside music and vocals made on wax recordings 110 years ago in the now dying Wolastoq language. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young)