Photo from Facebook/MacKenzie Porter Music (@darreneagles)

By Chris Brown

Four nominations total

MacKenzie Porter nominated for entertainer of the year at CCMAs

Sep 24, 2021 | 3:04 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – MacKenzie Porter’s entertainment career started in Medicine Hat and now it’s reached the pinnacle of Canadian country music.

Porter earned her first entertainer of the year nomination this week from the Canadian Country Music Association.

“I think I’m the second female ever to be nominated in that category,” she said from New York City. “It’s pretty cool to be considered maybe an entertainer that made some noise last year even during a pandemic.”

Also nominated are Dean Brody, Brett Kissel, The Reklaws and Dallas Smith.

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She said there’s a lot of entertainers in but “to be in that top five or six is just, I don’t know, a really, really good feeling. It’s like ‘OK cool, my hard work is paying off.'”

The entertainer of the year award is one of four CCMAs that she is up for at the awards to be handed out in November. She’s also up for the fans’ choice award, female artist of the year and video of the year, all of which she’s previously been nominated for.

Porter says the thrill of award nominations is the same as it was eight years ago when she was nominated for the CCMA rising star award.

“It still feels just as incredible and still just a massive compliment every time,” she says.

She was in New York with her brother and sister when she got news of the nominations and they celebrated with a Broadway show and drinks afterward.

“I had a glass of wine for each award so I was struggling the next day,” Porter laughed.

She’s been back playing live shows in the U.S. for a few weeks and says it’s “the best feeling” to be on stage again.

She says when the pandemic hit and everything was cancelled she became a bit different of a person because her whole life revolved around performing, travelling, touring and playing music.

“And then to not have that for like a year and a half and just be stuck at home I literally would be like ‘I don’t even remember that girl that was playing those shows.’ So to get back and feel who I really am feels really good.”

She says she’ll play Canada next year on a headlining tour and do a bunch of festivals and other shows opening for artists.

She’ll be back home too.

“Yes, I do have a show coming up in Medicine Hat,” she said.

CHAT 94.5’s Lance Doll nominated

MacKenzie Porter is not the only local story from the CCMA nominations.

Lance Doll is on the final ballot for music director of the year.

“This is a huge honour that is very hard to achieve in our industry, especially only a few years into the job of music director,” says program director Mike Doll. “This nomination is recognition of the relationships and respect that Lance has been able to build in Canadian country music in a relatively short time.”