{"id":612530,"date":"2026-09-26T15:44:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T15:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612530\/"},"modified":"2026-09-26T15:44:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T15:44:22","slug":"club-wagon-creek-wants-fans-to-help-make-award-nominations-count-steinbachonline-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/612530\/","title":{"rendered":"Club Wagon Creek wants fans to help make award nominations count – SteinbachOnline.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Club Wagon Creek<\/a> thought last year\u2019s seven Manitoba Country Music Association<\/a> award nominations might have been a one-time thing.\u00a0Then the nominations<\/a> started rolling in again.<\/p>\n

The local band is once again well represented among the MCMA nominees, with recognition in several categories, including Group or Duo of the Year, Roots Artist, Duo or Group of the Year and Single of the Year for \u201cDeadwood.\u201d Bassist Jason Whitehead is also nominated for Bassist of the Year, while guitarist Max Dupas is up for Guitarist of the Year.<\/p>\n

For Whitehead and Zak Cudney, the nominations are exciting, but there is also a bit of disbelief.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year when we got nominated for seven, I thought that was just a flash in the pan,\u201d Cudney says. \u201cSo we were hoping for one this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

They even joke that one nomination would be enough to get them into the VIP area and \u201chang out with the cool kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, they find themselves with another collection of nominations.\u00a0Whitehead says being nominated for Bassist of the Year is surreal, especially given the other musicians in the category.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t know how the whole voting thing works, but I mean, I’m happy to be nominated,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Hear their fun conversation with Country 107 morning host Carly Koop.<\/p>\n

A parking ticket becomes an award nominee<\/p>\n

One of the biggest surprises for the band is \u201cDeadwood,\u201d which is nominated for Single of the Year.<\/p>\n

The song has a somewhat unlikely origin. Cudney says it is based on a real experience involving a parking ticket in Deadwood, South Dakota.\u00a0He still has the unpaid ticket.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have it on my shelf,\u201d Cudney says, adding that the ticket dates back about a decade.<\/p>\n

The story may be funny, but Whitehead believes the song connects with listeners because it is rooted in a real experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like songs that have a story to it,\u201d he adds. \u201cEspecially ones that are actually true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cudney says the song was also a departure from some of the band\u2019s previous material, with a heavier, punchier sound and a bit of humour.\u00a0That combination appears to have struck a chord with listeners.<\/p>\n

Finding their own sound<\/p>\n

Trying to fit Club Wagon Creek into one musical category is not easy, and the band is perfectly happy with that.<\/p>\n

After playing festivals this summer, Cudney says people struggled to describe the band’s sound, mentioning everything from outlaw rockabilly to folk. Whitehead\u00a0likes that listeners cannot easily put the band in a box.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not trying to be in a genre,\u201d he says. \u201cWe’re writing what we like to write.\u201d<\/p>\n

That approach has taken the band to festivals across the Prairies, where they have found themselves playing for crowds they had never seen before.<\/p>\n

Related Stories:<\/p>\n

More music on the way<\/p>\n

The band is carrying that momentum into the fall with more music on the way.<\/p>\n

Club Wagon Creek has been working on new songs, including \u201cHome,\u201d which Cudney says audiences have been responding strongly to since the band began playing it live. A music video for the song is also coming.<\/p>\n

The band recently released \u201cRun Away From You\u201d and continues to focus heavily on writing and recording.<\/p>\n

For Cudney and Whitehead, that creative work is at the heart of what Club Wagon Creek is about.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can’t stop writing,\u201d Cudney says.<\/p>\n

The band is also preparing for several fall shows, including an October 2 appearance at Osborne Taphouse, an October 9 show in Brandon and an October 23 appearance at Times Changed High & Lonesome Club.<\/p>\n

Cast your votes<\/p>\n

Now, Club Wagon Creek is asking its fans to get involved on another front.<\/p>\n

Voting for the 2026 Manitoba Country Music Awards<\/a> is now open, with public voting available in select categories. The MCMA says fans can vote through its website, while industry members have voting access to the industry categories.<\/p>\n

The awards are set for November 7 at Club Regent Casino and Event Centre in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n

For a band that once wondered whether its first wave of nominations was simply a flash in the pan, another round of MCMA recognition is already something worth celebrating.<\/p>\n

And for Club Wagon Creek fans, there is a chance to help make the band’s latest nominations count.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Club Wagon Creek thought last year\u2019s seven Manitoba Country Music Association award nominations might have been a one-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":612531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-612530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=612530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/612531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=612530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=612530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=612530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}