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<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a great feeling to know that the work that you put in and the time that you spend on something that you love is appreciated by people who love it just as much.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
The recognition comes amid a string of national successes for the Saskatchewan artist. Stumpf has landed back-to-back Top 10 hits on the Billboard Canada Country Airplay chart with Highway Money and Nobody Roads. His debut independent single, Drink Me a Lullaby, reached No. 1 on the Canadian Indie Country Countdown in 2023, while Highway Money has generated more than 3.4 million streams since its release through MDM Recordings.<\/p>\n
The road to national recognition, however, was years in the making.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was kind of a slow burn,\u201d Stumpf said.<\/p>\n
After releasing independent music that caught the attention of MDM Recordings, Stumpf signed with the label and spent more than a year building the foundation for his career before releasing Highway Money.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the time that we met to when we had put out Highway Money, all that time in between was spent doing all the back-end work\u2026getting the website set up, taking photos, going to Nashville and songwriting, going to the CCMAs and networking,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Prince Albert musician credits hard work, persistence and a supportive team for helping him reach this point. He has performed with the same band since first stepping onto a stage and said they have grown together throughout the journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a lot of time spent trying to hone my own craft,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Stumpf was named Saskatchewan Country Music Association Emerging Artist of the Year in 2024 and is also one of eight semifinalists in the 2026 SiriusXM Top of the Country competition. Along the way, he has toured and opened for major Canadian acts, including High Valley, while continuing to develop his songwriting through trips to Nashville.<\/p>\n
Despite the accolades, Stumpf remains grounded about what it takes for an artist from a smaller centre like Prince Albert to break through.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt takes hard work. It takes a lot of hard work \u2014 work that people don\u2019t see,\u201d he said. \u201cIt takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of love of doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also acknowledged that success sometimes includes an element of luck. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to be in front of the right people in the right setting at the right time. I worked very hard, but I was also very lucky and very fortunate. Those two things kind of have to come together,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Known for blending country and rock influences, Stumpf described his sound as \u201cmodern-era country rock.\u201d Whether he is writing feel-good anthems or more emotional tracks, his goal is to connect with listeners through shared experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it connects with people, it\u2019s always because they\u2019ve gone through something similar and can relate to those same emotions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The CCMA nominations carry special significance for the artist because one of the categories is decided by fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cI immediately called my mom and called my dad and told them that I got nominated,\u201d Stumpf said with a laugh. \u201cI\u2019m pretty sure my mom was crying on the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s CCMA Awards will be held in Saskatoon, giving Saskatchewan fans a chance to cheer on one of their own close to home.<\/p>\n
Stumpf said a win would be career-changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt absolutely opens a million different doors for me,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m so very, very grateful that I\u2019m even being acknowledged in this way, that my name is even being brought up in the same circles as everybody else who\u2019s nominated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, he plans to return to Nashville in August to continue writing new music and building on his recent success.<\/p>\n
And if he could offer advice to the younger version of himself who first picked up a guitar, it would be simple.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust keep doing what you\u2019re doing,\u201d Stumpf said. \u201cAnd don\u2019t ever listen to anybody who tells you you can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014<\/p>\n
panews@pattisonmedia.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cIt\u2019s hard to put into words,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a great feeling to know that the work…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":808361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-808360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}