Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Singer of the Year

The Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Singer of the Year is an annual music award, presented by the Canadian Folk Music Awards to honour the best vocal performances in contemporary folk music by Canadian artists.

2000s

Year	Nominee	Album	Ref
2005 1st Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Lynn Miles	Love Sweet Love	[1]
	Dave Gunning	Two Bit World	[2]
	John Wort Hannam	Dynamite and Dozers
	Connie Kaldor	Sky with Nothing to Get in the Way
	Gordie Sampson	Sunburn
2006 2nd Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Jim Byrnes	House of Refuge	[3]
	Bruce Cockburn	Life Short Call Now	[4]
	Stephen Fearing	Yellowjacket
	Lennie Gallant	When We Get There
	Ron Hynes	Ron Hynes
2007 3rd Canadian Folk Music Awards
	David Francey	Right of Passage	[5]
	Jill Barber	For All Time	[6]
	Bruce Cockburn	Life Short Call Now
	Jeremy Fisher	Goodbye Blue Monday
	T. Nile	At My Table
	Dawn Tyler Watson	En Duo
2008 4th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Tannis Slimmon	Lucky Blue	[7]
	Dave Carroll	Perfect Blue	[8]
	Rita Chiarelli	Uptown Goes Downtown
	Amos Garrett	Get Way Back: A Tribute to Percy Mayfield
	Wyckham Porteous	3AM
2009 5th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Jim Byrnes	My Walking Stick	[9]
	Marianne Girard	Pirate Days	[10]
	Melissa McClelland	Victoria Day
	Jessica Rhaye	Good Things
	Suzie Vinnick	Happy Here

2010s

Year	Nominee	Album	Ref
2010 6th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Rose Cousins	The Send Off	[11]
	James Keelaghan	House of Cards
	Lynn Miles	Black Flowers Volume 1 & 2
	Nathan Rogers	The Gauntlet
	Justin Rutledge	The Early Widows
2011 7th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Suzie Vinnick	Me 'n' Mabel	[12]
	Matthew Barber	Matthew Barber	[13]
	Bruce Cockburn	Small Source of Comfort
	Cat Jahnke	The Stories are Taking Their Toll
	David Myles	Live at the Carleton
2012 8th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Rose Cousins	We Have Made a Spark	[14]
	Craig Cardiff	Floods and Fires
	Geraldine Hollett	Row Upon Row of the People They Know
	Keri Latimer	Crowsfeet and Greyskull
	Catherine MacLellan	Silhouette
2013 9th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Ian Sherwood	Live at the Hive	[15]
	Stephen Fearing	Between Hurricanes	[16]
	John Wort Hannam	Brambles and Thorns
	Old Man Luedecke	Tender Is the Night
	Justin Rutledge	Valleyheart
2014 10th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Matt Andersen	Weightless	[17]
	Del Barber	Prairieography	[18]
	Matthew Barber	Big Romance
	James Keelaghan	History
	Jadea Kelly	Clover
2015 11th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Amelia Curran	They Promised You Mercy	[19]
	Peter Katz	We Are the Reckoning	[20]
	Sarah MacDougall	Grand Canyon
	Catherine MacLellan	The Raven's Sun
	Jory Nash	The Many Hats of Jory Nash
2016 12th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Jadea Kelly	Love & Lust	[21]
	Matt Andersen	Honest Man	[22]
	Megan Bonnell	Magnolia
	Danny Michel	Matadora
	William Prince	Earthly Days
2017 13th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Stephen Fearing	Every Soul's a Sailor	[23]
	Coco Love Alcorn	Wonderland	[24]
	Abigail Lapell	Hide Nor Hair
	Lisa LeBlanc	Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen?
	Oh Susanna	A Girl in Teen City
2018 14th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Rob Lutes	Walk in the Dark	[25]
	Kellie Loder	Benefit of the Doubt	[26]
	Catherine MacLellan	If It's Alright With You: The Songs of Gene MacLellan
	Dylan Menzie	As the Clock Rewinds
	Dana Wylie	The Earth That You're Made Of

2020s

Year	Nominee	Album	Ref
2020 15th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Matt Andersen	Halfway Home By Morning	[27]
	Jenn Grant	Love, Inevitable	[28]
	Dave Gunning	Up Against the Sky
	Lydia Persaud	Let Me Show You
	Andrea Ramolo	Homage
2021 16th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Coco Love Alcorn	Rebirth	[29]
	Basia Bulat	Are You in Love?	[30]
	Tim Chaisson	Yours to Break
	Catherine MacLellan	Coyote
	William Prince	Reliever
2022 17th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Rob Lutes	Come Around	[31]
	Kelly Bado	Hey Terre	[32]
	Craig Cardiff	All This Time Running
	Denise Flack	Good Water
	Terra Spencer	Chasing Rabbits
2023 18th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Kyle McKearney	Down-Home	[33]
	Barney Bentall	Cosmic Dreamer	[34]
	Boy Golden	Church of Better Daze
	Angelique Francis	Long River
	Ken Yates	Cerulean
2024 19th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Suzie Vinnick	Fall Back Home	[35]
	Kaeley Jade	Turpentine	[36]
	Joe Nolan	Lost Verses
	Terra Spencer	Old News
	Julian Taylor	Beyond the Reservoir
2025 20th Canadian Folk Music Awards
	Jeffery Straker	Great Big Sky	[37]
	Derina Harvey	Waves of Home	[38]
	Camille Intson	Poems in the Ashes
	Ndidi Onukwulu	Simple Songs for Complicated Times
	Esther Wheaton	Foul Weather Friends

References

1. "Canada's Folk Music Awards begin a tradition". The Globe and Mail , December 12, 2005.
2. "Sampson, Nathan among inaugural folk nominees". Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune , November 4, 2005.
3. "Veteran Lang tops Canadian folk awards". CBC News, December 11, 2006.
4. "Wailin' Jennys, Madrigaia nominated for Canadian Folk Music Awards". CBC News, November 1, 2006.
5. Greg Quill, "Toronto roots musicians snag prizes". St. Catharines Standard , December 3, 2007.
6. "Bruce Cockburn up for 4 Canadian Folk Music Awards". CBC News, October 17, 2007.
7. "Late Toronto fiddler honoured at Folk Music Awards". CBC News Newfoundland and Labrador, November 24, 2008.
8. "Late fiddler Oliver Schroer leads Canadian Folk Music nominations". CBC News, October 8, 2008.
9. Lynn Saxberg, "Folk musicians honoured". Regina Leader-Post , November 23, 2009.
10. "Results 2009". Canadian Folk Music Awards.
11. "The Once wins big in Winnipeg". Ottawa Citizen , November 21, 2010.
12. David R. Rowat, "Suzie Vinnick". The Canadian Encyclopedia , March 17, 2013.
13. Michael Kornfeld, "Nominees Named for 2011 Canadian Folk Music Awards". Acoustic Music Scene, October 22, 2011.
14. "Canadian Folk Music Award winners". Roots Music Canada, November 21, 2012.
15. Brad Wheeler, "Good Lovelies among winners at Canadian Folk Music Awards". The Globe and Mail , November 11, 2013.
16. Michael Kornfeld, "Nominees Named for 2013 Canadian Folk Music Awards". Acoustic Music Scene, September 29, 2013.
17. Lynn Saxberg, "Ottawa singer-songwriter Amanda Rheaume among folk music award winners". Ottawa Citizen , November 30, 2014.
18. Lynn Saxberg, "Folkies set to honour their own". Ottawa Citizen , September 25, 2014.
19. "Canadian Folk Music Awards recipients announced in Edmonton". CBC News, November 9, 2015.
20. Michael Kornfeld, "Nominees Named for 2015 Canadian Folk Music Awards". Acoustic Music Scene, September 9, 2015.
21. "Rail yard labourer-turned-musician David Francey wins big at Canadian Folk Music Awards". Toronto Star , December 3, 2016.
22. Calum Slingerland, "Canadian Folk Music Awards Announce 2016 Winners". Exclaim! , December 4, 2016.
23. Sarah Greene, "Six highlights From the 2017 Canadian Folk Music Awards". Now , November 20, 2017.
24. Brock Thiessen, "Canadian Folk Music Awards Reveal 2017 Nominees". Exclaim! , September 21, 2017.
25. "The LYNNeS, Pharis Romero Win Multiple CFMAs". FYI Music News, December 3, 2018.
26. Michael Kornfeld, "Nominees Named for 2018 Canadian Folk Music Awards". Acoustic Music Scene, September 22, 2018.
27. Allie Gregory, "Here Are All the 2020 Canadian Folk Music Awards Winners". Exclaim! , April 5, 2020.
28. "Dave Gunning gets four nominations for Canadian Folk Music Awards". Halifax Chronicle-Herald , November 20, 2019.
29. "Pharis & Jason Romero Head CFMA Winners List". FYI Music News, April 11, 2021.
30. Brock Thiessen, "Canadian Folk Music Awards Unveil 2021 Nominees". Exclaim! , December 1, 2020.
31. Heather Kitching, "The Canadian Folk Music Awards 2022 – winners and highlights". Roots Music Canada, April 2, 2022.
32. Megan Lapierre, "Canadian Folk Music Awards Announce 2022 Nominees". Exclaim! , September 28, 2021.
33. "CFMAs Are Handed Out In Vancouver". FYI Music News, April 5, 2023.
34. Stephen Cooke, "Madison Violet, Shannon & Tony Quinn among 2023 Canadian Folk Music Award nominees". SaltWire Network , October 5, 2022.
35. Calum Slingerland, "Here are the 2024 Canadian Folk Music Awards Winners". Exclaim! , April 10, 2024.
36. Nika Petrosian, "Canadian Folk Music Awards Unveil 2024 Nominees". Exclaim! , October 18, 2023.
37. Kerry Doole, "Canadian Folk Music Awards Turn 20: Full Winners List". Billboard , April 8, 2025.
38. Heather Kitching, "Here are your nominees for the 2025 Canadian Folk Music Awards". Roots Music Canada, October 30, 2024.