Rube & Rake earned the Songwriter of the Year honour, presented by SOCAN, at the 2022 East Coast Music Awards. David Myles and Vanessa Thomas, SOCAN Vice President, Member & Industry Relations, presented the duo with their trophy at the awards show – held before a live audience for the first time in three years– on Thursday, May 5, 2022, at The Aitken University Centre in Fredericton, N.B. (A second round of awards were presented at a gala that closed the awards week, in the same venue, on Sunday, May 8, 2022.)
Hillsburn led the award count with three, for Group, Album, and Pop Recording of the Year, the latter two for their Slipping Away record. The Song of the Year Award was a tie, between Breagh Isabel, for “Girlfriends,” and Dylan Menzie, for “A Heart That Doesn’t Want Mine.” Amy Brandon won Classical Composer of the Year, and the Francophone Recording of the Year was Chloé Breault’s Plage des morons. Mi’kmaw fiddler Morgan Toney won the Indigenous Artist of the Year Award.
The May 5 ceremony was hosted by Maestro Fresh Wes, who’s recently moved from Toronto to Saint John, N.B. The evening included live performances from several nominees, and special guest performances by Lisa LeBlanc and Patsy Gallant. There was also a tribute to Acadian songwriting, as the group 1755 performed their newly-inducted Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame song, “Le monde a bien changé.”