Featured Industry Person ~ January 2021

If you're a multi-genre fan of music you have most likely heard of our January 2021 'INDUSTRY PERSON' of the month by name, through television or have seen him behind the scenes taking pictures at a music event over the last several years. Tim Deegan has an impressive media resume and is versed in all things photography and videography. 

Tim grew up in Oshawa, Ontario  and he attended O'Neill Collegiate and Vocational Institute. Tim joined a band during high school, which played handfuls of shows over southern Ontario during their high school years. After high school Tim went to Durham College to study fire fighting. After graduating from the fire fighting program Tim worked as a Fire Protection Officer at an automotive factory before deciding to go back to school.He moved to Kitchener and attended Conestoga College until his life took an unexpected turn when he decide to enter a contest to be Canada's Next MuchMusic VJ in 2006.

He quickly rose to fame as the heartthrob of the search. The Series which aired on Citytv,  set record ratings for a reality show in Canada. Leading the pack from the beginning as the fan favourite, it was no surprise that Tim won the contest. He spent the following years interviewing the biggest stars from movies, music, and television, from Justin Bieber, The Jonas Brothers, The Spice Girls to Jerry Seinfeld and Katy Perry. With literally thousands of hours of live and taped hosting under his belt, it's no wonder that he would have an instrumental role in some of Canada’s biggest event television, including hosting numerous shows including Much On Demand, Much Adrenaline, Much Take Over, New Years Eve on CityTV, the MuchMusic Video Awards, Live Earth, and MuchMusic’s 2010 Olympics coverage. His appearance on the 2011 and 2012 MMVAs had him trending worldwide on Twitter. 

Tim also hosted 'Rugged', an action sports show for Rogers Sportsnet. He toured all over North America Interviewing sports superstars like Carey Hart, Jesse James, Tony Hawk, and Travis Pastrana as well as trying each of the sports featured on the show. With experience in scripted and improvised programs, Tim thrives on spontaneity and excitement. His approachable and genuine personality reflects in his loyal fan base that stretches around the globe. 

Tim began his career working in front of the camera but quickly became interested in the creative process that happens behind the scenes. After being on countless music video sets, studying and researching music videos as part of his job, he began to develop an eye for behind the camera. 

Tim is now a director, videographer, and host who has worked with renowned artists and brands across the globe with his production company ' Deegan Digital '. Tim has directed and produced videos for both online and TV projects such as "Vlogumentry", campaigns for Coors, Contiki Tours, Womens Network, and multiple music videos which have received rotation on CMT. With years of experience working in live television creating unique, captivating, compelling content Tim truly understands what it takes to make a video stand out. 

His business resume includes doing corporate work for large companies like eOne Films, Corus, The Canadian Country Music Association, The Country Music Association of Ontario  & 360 Insights. He's also worked with artists Canadian country artists Leah Daniels, Eric Ethridge, Beverley Mahood, Kira Isabella, Robyn Ottolini, Kris Barclay, Jason Benoit, Nicole Rayy, Mike Robins and many more.

2020 had a lot of things come to a standstill in the music industry during the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic but it was one of Tim's busiest years yet! In the summer work began picking up again doing a lot of videos and video work jobs with strict protocols in place. On Thanksgiving weekend he married his best friend and the love of his life Canadian country music artist Leah Daniels. The 2 of them have purchased an old church this past year and in their free time have been fixing it as as their first home as husband and wife. We've enjoyed watching the progress on it through their socials!

Keep your eyes and ears open for big things coming in the new year from Tim & Deegan Digital as his business continues to expand and the music industry continues to takes notice of all of the contributions he makes in the music world! Thank you Tim for exemplifying such great work ethic & for your continual efforts to bring the very best to the Canadian country music industry.

We had originally considered this talented young man as a great choice for a monthly musician feature but once learning more about him and seeing how well rounded he is in the music industry he became an easy choice as December's 'INDUSTRY PERSON OF THE MONTH'.

Born in Thunder Bay Ontario, Aj Astle was surrounded by music from a young age. He began playing bass at age 12, which quickly developed into a full time passion as he was inspired by the classic rock bands his parents had listened to while he was growing up. By the age of 15 he began to play in local venues with different local bands and artists. He was fortunate enough to play full time in rock bands The Other Colour and Maraday Park. As he and his friends progressed through the music scene, they were offered many opening slots for large touring acts such as The Arkells, the Sheepdogs, Marianas Trench and Faber Drive. With actively playing roughly 100 shows a year, Aj honed his craft and decided to take his music career to the next step.

AJ’s time playing on the Thunder Bay scene encouraged him to pursue his career in music further and he decided to move to the big city of Toronto in 2011.He studied at Humber College and after years of hard work and dedication he completed and earned his Bachelor Of Music with Honours in 2016.While studying at college, AJ met singer & musician Mackenzie Leigh Meyer and talented guitarist Chris Bray and formed the country cover band “The Dukes”. With them all studying during the week and gigging on the weekends, they quickly sharpened their skills at country bars and clubs across Ontario.

Also during his time at college, AJ received his first camera as a gift from his father. Love for photography runs in his family and had been a passion of his grandfather’s. With photography as his initial focus, he quickly branched into videography after producing music videos for friends. In 2016, while working as an assistant engineer in the Humber studio, he decided to start Roadhouse Productions, a mobile recording studio co-founded by his good friend Jonathan Diano and Aj himself. Their company specializes in live off the floor recordings, videography, and photography.  They've quickly gotten their name out in the Canadian music industry and become a very popular videography and audio team that specializes in music videos, corporate, narrative, and creative filmmaking. Their aim is to create professional content for up and coming independant artists and musicians at reasonable prices. Aj explains, “We wanted to make sure the music and the artist always come first. Our first priority is to provide a service that helps the music and artist grow.”

Since then, Aj and Jonny have released more than 70 music videos and live off the floor audio/video sessions. Their professionalism has earned them rave reviews amongst their peers and word of mouth has kept them very busy especially in the Canadian country music world. Their work has garnered hundreds of thousands of views and even netted them awards and nominations. They were nominated for Country Music Association of Ontario Music Video Of The Year in 2018 for Kansas Stone’s “Blaze Of Nothing” and recently won this year’s 'Music Video Of The Year' at the Mississauga Music Awards for Elyse Saunders’s single “FREE”.

Aj is looking forward to ramping things up in 2020, balancing his video work with his musical endeavours. You can catch him playing alongside Canadian country artists such as Kansas Stone, Mackenzie Leigh Meyer,  Elyse Saunders, ᗷᖇIᗩᑎ ᒍOᕼᑎ ᕼᗩᖇᗯOOᗪ, Greg Williams, Jess and Tay Music, Suzi Kory as well as pop artist Sam Louis.

We believe this is just the tip of the musical iceberg for AJ. With Roadhouse Productions creating such a buzz so quickly in the Canadian music industry and watching AJ moving full steam ahead as a musician we look forward to watching he & his company take off to new heights in the coming years!

Known for her powerful voice and melodic, highly personal brand of music and incredible songwriting skills our featured November 'INDUSTRY PERSON' Toronto-born artist Emma-Lee has released several impressive bodies of work. Before she became a household name in the Canadian country songwriting world Emma-Lee worked a number of jobs including being a receptionist, bartender, waitress, movie extra and telemarketer while trying to establish her music and photography careers.

She started playing guitar at age 14 and credits her father for teaching her and she soon began writing her own music. Prior to songwriting for several artists she had quite the blossoming music career of her own in Canada. She released her debut album 'Never Just a Dream in' 2008 to critical acclaim from the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. The album was picked up by Bumstead Records and re-released on March 3, 2009. Her other 2 full-length albums, 'Backseat Heroine' & 'Fantasies' garnered successful singles 'Worst Enemy' and 'Not Giving Up On You' and has steadily gained fans from around the pop world since her debut.Her vocal style is frequently compared to K.D. Lang, Norah Jones and Feist. 

With a knack for writing emotional songs that truly connect, Emma-Lee’s songs have charted multiple times on Billboard radio and have been featured in many film and TV placements such as CBS’s “Beauty & The Beast”, NBC’s “ Saving Hope”, MTV’s “ Teen Wolf” and "Degrassi: The Next Generation".

After establishing herself as a popular member of the Toronto singer-songwriter community, Emma-Lee packed up her pen and guitar and re-located to Nashville in February of 2017 to pursue her songwriting career fulltime. She has no regrets about the move and she was welcomed with open arms! She describes Nashville as the city that inspires and 'feeds her hunger' to write. Living in Music City has actually opened up more opportunities for work with other Canadian artists and songwriters. In Toronto she would write with country artists but it’d just be a select few going there to write for their record. Sooner or later all the Canadian country music scene comes to Nashville so she gets to write with more of them which she considers pretty awesome.“I’m still a self-published writer,” says Emma-Lee, “but working with a publisher is something I’d like to do in the future. I do think the more you can do on your own, before that happens, puts you in a better position.”

If for some reason her name doesn't reasonate with you yet then the incredible songs she has written or cowrote for top Canadian country music artists will. Just a few of these are 'She Drives Me Crazy' & 'Anthem' for Brett Kissel, #1 country charting song 'What A Song Should Do' and 'Wreck This Town' for Tim Hicks, 'Country Thunder' for The Washboard Union & 'Crush' for Madeline Merlo. A few others are 'A Little Bit Goes A Long Way' for the River Town Saints, Kira Isabella's 'I’m So Over Getting Over You' & 'I Don’t Wanna Know' and Ryan Langdon's singles 'Lit In The Sticks', 'Buck Wild' and 'Crossfaded'. A few artists she regularly co-writes for in the Canadian country genre are Leah Daniels, Alee, Nicole Rayy, Kelsi Mayne, Nice Horse, Dan Davidson & The Abrams resulting in numerous top 40 radio singles and number ones.

What can we expect in the future from this talented Marham, Ontario raised singer songwriter? Well at this rate the sky is the limit for this talented lady..her list of #1s seemingly continue to grow at a fast rate and her songwriter skills have quickly made her a force to be reckoned with in the Nashville music circle. Her god given talent is going to take her a long way and we can't wait to enjoy many more musical cowrites that she has in her future!

The following couple from Brighton, Ontario sets the bar for other media outlets when it comes to helping promote Canadian country music. This month we're pleased to feature PNP Promotions as our 'INDUSTRY PERSON(S)' for the month of October!  The 'PNP' which stands for Patty N Peter, is primarily a Social Media Agency that was started in 2009 by Patty Parmentier following a request to help promote an upcoming show for a singer by the name of Johnny Reid. Based on the success of that show, a steady stream of requests began to come in and “the rest is history” as they say!

Following her husband Peter’s retirement from his “day job” a little over three years ago, Patty and Peter now work as a Team and manage Social Media accounts for Canadian country music artists along with all other facets of promotions involving live shows, Special Events, Places, People, Fundraisers, and anything else that helps promote established or new and emerging Country Artists! When they're not working hard promoting online from home they can be found travelling all over Ontario to cover shows. Their specialty is managing artists social media accounts but they have a soft spot for canadian country Indie artists and enjoy promoting them to help give them a boost to aid in getting their name and music out to the public. They have both been proud members of the Country Music Association of Ontario and the Canadian Country Music Association for many years now.

PNP Promotions has been blessed with 5 Sponsors that have been with them since the beginning 10 years ago, and 1 recent addition that has been on board for the past 6 months.  These Sponsors are established Country Music Artists and Clients who have graciously helped fund PNP Promotions’ efforts supporting new and upcoming talent! These sponsors contribute on condition of anonymity and are wanting to do this strictly for the love of music and not for publicity or personal gain...and PNP respect and admire them for it! Patty & Peter are highly respected in the Canadian country community because of their absolute dedication to their craft and the love they have for music always shines through their posts! We don't know 2 other people more devoted than them at promoting 'live' music.

Patty & Peter continue to work alongside and support all other industry efforts by companies and individuals involved in advancing the cause of Canadian Country Music as they realize we have a tremendous amount of talent right here in our own country! We are all in this together! And together more than ever this year we've all realized how much live music has been affected through the loss of shows due to Covid 19. Patty and Peter never lost hope that live music would return and as soon as it did in whatever proximity they could, they were out covering and promoting as many shows as they could possibly attend.

We started following them on social media about 2 1/2 years ago and they have been incredible to observe & learn from. We were thrilled to finally meet them 2 years ago at the CCMAs in Hamilton and because of them we were inspired to start our own side business also promoting Canadian country music. We owe you much gratitude because it has been the most knowledgeable and thrilling couple of years that the Two Christines have ever experienced!
With a couple like Patty and Peter at the helm of leading the way in social media promotion and with the commitment and diligence that they have for their clients we're positive they'll continue to pave the way and make sure that live music will prosper for years to come! On behalf of the Canadian country family we 'thank you' for all you do PNP!!

Being at the helm of running any kind of business or organization is tough enough in 2020 but serving as the President of a large music organization has had to be the most utmost challenging during the past year. Our Featured 'INDUSTRY PERSON' for the month of September has had every obstacle put in her way during covid trying to support and promote an industry of musicians when music has been one of the biggest things affected during these difficult times. We're sure Tracy Martin had no idea how challenging her position would become when she was officially elected by the Canadian Country Music Association Board of Directors as the President of the association in June 2017 but if anyone was up to the job it was her.

Under the direction of Tracy, the CCMA was already seeing pivotal changes at organizational and conceptual levels as Tracy already had the respect of her peers, the industry and the Board. Her extensive background in country music, content and development, marketing and creative was exceptional and her ability to push boundaries and challenge the status quo was exactly what the CCMA needs right now.

Tracy was previously a media executive with 16 years of experience in marketing, production, TV programming, as well as digital, artist and event management. In her last position at Corus Entertainment, she ran the scheduling and production teams for the W Network, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, Lifetime Canada, Cosmo and Country Music Television, in addition to overseeing the launch of CMT Music Festivals. She has been a Director on the CCMA Board for two years prior to being elected President and managed the broadcast relationship between CMT Canada and the CCMA Awards Show for the previous three years. Prior to her work at Corus, Martin was head of marketing for MuchMusic and MTV as well as the Vice President of Strategy at Pyramid Productions. After serving as interim head of the CCMA and leading the association’s staff and Board through Country Music Week in Saskatoon in 2017 and executive producing the 2018 CCMA Awards broadcast, Tracy Martin definitely earned her role as the President of the Canadian Country Music Association.

Dealing with the fall out of not being able to conduct the 2020 Canadian Country Music Award week in Hamilton as aspected this year, Tracy and her board of directors at the CCMAs were determined to still showcase the best in Canadian country music and are doing their best to work around the restrictions that Covid has unfortunately inflicted on the music industry regarding gatherings. They are still moving forward with the SiriusXM's Top Of the Country contest partnering with Sirius XM to bring you Canada's very best in promoting new emerging country artists. The actual CCMA award show held on Sunday September 27th this year will be done in a much more different format than we've ever seen or experienced before with scaled down performances from Burl's Creek Ontario and Nashville Tennessee. We don't know in these uncertain times how music will be affected getting out to the masses but we do know that with Tracy Martin at the helm of the Canadian Country Music Association along with her team they are going to do their best to make sure that happens!!! Thank you for everything you've done for Canadian country music this year Tracy and we look forward to watching you evolve the organization for many years to come!

Who can turn the world on with her smile? Well our 'Featured Industry Person' for the month of August sure can!!! Hailing from Sudbury, Ontario, Linda Heldman's love of music began at an early age. Her mom would play Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite during her afternoon naps as a baby. In school, she was part of several choirs starting in elementary years and continued well on into High School. She started writing music around 12 years old and playing various instruments including clarinet, french horn, drums, and guitar.

Around ago 10, while on a trip to Algonquin Park, her dad let her take some pictures on their old Brownie camera. They turned out very well and would become another passion for her as the years went on. In her teens is when the music bug really hit. Her first big heartthrob was Donny Osmond and she was able to attend a concert that included all the Osmonds at the CNE Grandstand (Toronto) in 1975. To this day, she will see him at any opportunity and finally got to meet him several times during his run in Toronto as Joseph, in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Other music crushes came along primarily in the Pop and Rock genres included The Bay City Rollers and Cheap Trick and Loverboy. There are some great stories to tell, but not enough space to share them here.

At 18, she met her friend, Dave Bailey, backstage at the Masonic Hall during an XTC concert. The two of them hit it off and there are so many places they went and bands they connected with. Dave would roadie for many bands that came to town and helped with local acts like Goddo, TEENAGE HEAD, Hellfield and the Diodes. Wanting to help too, she purchased her first 35mm SLR camera, a Canon AE-1, and began shooting as a Rock photographer. The bands were loving her shots! This was the beginning of combining her two passions of photography and music.

While Linda attended Community College, she obtained a part-time position with a music magazine called Music Express. She got to see all aspects of putting a monthly publication together and would assist where she was needed on the production end of things. On a few occasions, they even used some of her photos.

In 1990, Linda landed a position at Sony Music Canada as Marketing Coordinator for a special charity project called The Blue Jays Album. She worked with a gentleman named Dave Platel who, at the time, was Director of International Marketing. Working with Platel was a dream come true and he helped unleash her entrepreneurial spirit. Throughout the course of four years, Linda did everything from cold calls to record stores, working with distributors to get product in stores, working with radio stations, obtaining rights to use music, doing voice-over work for commercials, arranging promo tours and so much more.

“The Blue Jays Album was a collection of songs about the Blue Jays with many of them being sung by radio personalities in the Golden Horseshoe area (Toronto to Niagara Falls)”, says Linda. “There were some original tunes and a number of parodies that highlighted players and events going on with the team at that time. 1992 and 1993 were World Series Years and the whole country was buzzing for the Blue Jays! The album was distributed through SONY Music Canada. We worked with The Toronto Blue Jays organization on Marketing and net proceeds went to the Variety Club of Ontario at their annual telethon. Every year we presented a bigger and bigger cheque. It was some of the most rewarding work I have ever done.”

Shortly after this position wrapped up, Linda found herself on a move north to Lindsay, Ontario and living life at a slower pace and raising her family. Here, she kept herself involved in photography and would contribute some articles, interviews and photos to the Lindsay Daily Post and Kawartha Lakes This Week.

Her next move was an even bigger leap north to Sudbury in 2008. About the time she moved up, CMT had a contest to VOTE CASEY TO YOUR TOWN. Casey Clark, host of the Chevy Cross-Canada Countdown would be heading to one of three towns in Canada. Each town had to campaign to CMT why they should win. Linda says, “I was part of the small and mighty Sudbury team. We worked our butts off bringing up interesting points about Sudbury and created fun challenges to get people on board. Well, the hard work paid off and we were chosen as destination #3! That whole experience helped me to get to know the city, the people, the history and what they had to offer. It opened some doors to contacts that I still reach out to today.”

Since living in Sudbury, Linda has been part of Theatre Cambrian, where she performed in several shows. She also used the theatre space to give several traveling artists a place to perform and be seen by local music lovers. Some of those included Shane Chisholm, Blake Berglund and Josh Macumber.Finding she had a knack for doing this type of work, Linda has helped coordinate other shows in venues of various sizes for Canadian country artists Drew Gregory, Brad James, Gil Grand and Joey Niceforo.

In 2015, Linda approached Sound Check Entertainment to see if they would be interested in using her for some writing and photography. She did some work with them for about a year. In 2016, she moved over to Canadian Beats and had a good 3-year run with them. As things developed with Canadian Beats, Linda got into doing more video interviews and fewer photography assignments.

“I remember the first time Jenna and I talked about me doing a video interview. It was going to be with Runaway Angel. I know those ladies and I’m super comfortable around them. I just never saw myself as being in front of the camera. I was much more comfortable behind it. It took me out of my comfort zone and opening me up to something I now really enjoy.”

Needing a break from the hectic pace of working with Canadian Beats, Linda took what was supposed to be a few months off to concentrate on some personal things. Over that time, an opportunity came up to host her own radio show on Laurentian University’s 96.7 FM CKLU. This is something she had wanted to do for years! So, on July 2nd, 2019, she aired her first episode of Aunt Linda's Country Tale-Gate, a 2-hour weekly show that she also produces. In the past year, she has interviewed countless guests, had several in-studio co-hosts and guests, played hundreds of great new releases from Canada’s Emerging Talent and has been asked to stage host events across the city and, most recently, in Cavan, Ontario at the Love Revolution - Drive-In Country Music Festival.

We met Linda about 3 years ago at the Niagara Music Awards by a mutual friend Brad Battle. That chance meeting lead to us running into each other several times at events and concerts over the next couple of years and forming a fun friendship. At the 2018 Canadian Country Music Association Awards weekend in Hamilton we decided to talk to Linda about how to go about finding our own place in helping promote Canadian Country music and she was our first supporter and gave us the encouragement to start something up of our own. So on behalf of the 'Two Christines', thank you so much Linda..you are one of the main reasons we decided to start 'C To C Canadian Country Music Insider'!

What’s next for Linda? You never know! An entrepreneurial spirit knows no bounds and every idea has potential. And being someone that everyone in the music industry respects and lighting up any room she walks into will help her go far in this business for years to come with whatever she decides to do! Thanks for being such an inspiration to us Linda!