BONNYVILLE - Perhaps not surprisingly, the past two years that saw lockdown measures and stay-at-home orders created an opportunity for artists to slow down and reflect inwardly during months of global uncertainty.
This turned out to be the case for Bonnyville and other Lakeland musicians and artists forced to cancel tours and concerts.
For Bonnyville native, Clayton Bellamy, that meant more time to write, collaborate, build a foundation dedicated to the fine arts right here in the Lakeland, and pitch new ideas and songs to new artists.
Bellamy’s last two years of work has resulted in numerous awards for his many projects, collaborations and songs.
Bellamy and his various collaborators have received four nominations in the upcoming Country Music Alberta (CMAB) Awards to be held in Red Deer on March 19-20.
Clayton Bellamy and the Congregation has been nominated for Roots Artist of the Year. And the Road Hammers are nominated for Group of the Year.
Bellamy’s contributions to the song “Roll With It,” has him up for nomination with collaborators Dan Davidson and Jason McCoy in the Song Writers of the Year category. For that same song, the Road Hammers and Dan Davidson are also nominated for Video of the Year.
But the 11th annual CMAB awards will have more familiar faces from the Lakeland nominated for works created in 2021, including Flat Lake’s Brett Kissel and transplanted Bonnyville artist Mike Plume.
Kissel has been nominated for Male Artist of the Year and Single of the Year for his song “Make A Life, Not A Living.”
Nominated for the Roots Artist of the Year category is Plume, going head-to-head with Bellamy for the award.
Musical collaborations fuel creative renaissance for Clayton Bellamy
Overwhelming, is how Bellamy described this year's awards season.
"This year has been really incredible with all the amazing things happening despite being in the times we're living in, we have still been able to thrive and that's largely due to the support of this community and music lovers everywhere,” said Bellamy.
The last couple of years have become a creative renaissance where the hometown artist has had the opportunity to try different things and write songs for more people.
“I have had top 10 singles now on active rock radio, as well as country radio. I’ve been doing duets with artists like Hayley Jensen in Australia. We've got a top 10 single over there,” he said.
A song co-written by Bellamy and the Hello Darlings, titled “Still Waters” has also found its way to the nomination list for the Canadian Folk Music Awards.
“Things just seems to keep rolling, so I'm feeling very blessed,” Bellamy expressed.
But preceding all the awards and recognition come hours of behind the scenes work and dedication.
“What I've come to find in the music business is nothing happens overnight. The things that you're working on now won't come to fruition for another year and they're always kind of staggered,” he explained.
“So, when it seems like all kinds of things are happening at once, it’s because we have been working for a year or possibly two years – and that's what's been happening here.”
Being a part of so many different groups, Bellamy says “is like constantly trying to keep all the plates spinning and keeping them up in the air.”
But fundamentally, he says it all really comes down to keeping lines of communication open, so one project or group is not conflicting with another.
“When the Road Hammers have a record coming out, I'll be working on the new Congregation record so that I can just keep those things consistently leapfrogging each other. Then when it comes to the live component that gets a little stickier—and leads to a lot of back-and-forth travel,” he elaborated.
Bellamy added how lucky he feels to have different teams and bands that keep him “Moving and grooving.”
With Clayton Bellamy and the Congregation creating rock and roll music, which also contains a mash up of blues and gospel influences, balanced with the Road Hammers country sound, Bellamy added, “I have a foot firmly planted in each one and it's really been a great creative experience for me because I don't feel bound to just write one type of song.”
When it comes to song writing, he says after its written, the song almost tells you who it belongs too.
"I do my best to try not to get in the way of the song, so the most important thing is just to let the song be what it's going to be and then figure out a place for it afterwards... All of these things these, they just take on a life of their own.”
Many of Bellamy’s songs have taken on a life of their own, especially since the onset of the pandemic.
“During the pandemic, these opportunities to collaborate with other artists and bring them songs, because the desire for music and content has not gone away, even though we can't tour so much now – it's definitely something that’s grown,” he said.
This phenomenon has opened new doors for his writing, which bodes well for the artist because writing is what he takes the greatest pride in.
“I think... the songwriter award to me is the most precious just because it has to do with the craft of something that's very dear to me that I love," he reflected. “The groups will come and go. There will always be bands and all of these different things, but when it comes to the writing, I think that is probably (the) most precious to me.”
Deciding which of his many songs is his favourite is like picking a favourite child, laughed Bellamy.
“It's tough because songwriting is such a personal thing,” he said, adding that if he had to pick, right now it would be a song he wrote on Jason Blaine’s album called “Pretend your Mine.”
“I'm really proud of that song and that has been recently released.”
Bellamy continued, “You write a new song and you're most excited about that song until you get on to the next song. That's what keeps me motivated.”
Looking over the nominees in the upcoming CMAB awards, he expressed, "This province is a goldmine of great music. There are so many amazing artists that that come from here, and that have gone on to do huge things, like the Jann Arden's of the world and the Brett Kissel’s of the world. The list goes on and on.”
Bellamy added, “It just never ceases to amaze me the great music that comes out of this province. It makes me proud to be an Alberta artist.”
