Hey Rosetta! takes home 3 ECMAs from Sydney, N.S. awards gala

Newfoundland's Hey Rosetta! was the big winner at the East Coast Music Awards sold-out show Thursday night.

With seven nominations, the St. John's band went home with three wins, including Album of the Year and Group Recording of the Year for Second Sight. 

• CBC Music's complete list of ECMA winners

Soft Offering (For the Oft Suffering) won Song of the Year.

"We just want to keep making music for the fans," P.E.I. fiddler Kinley Dowling told CBC News.

"One of the things that I love about the ECMAs, it's just all kinds of music smashed together," lead vocalist Tim Baker said.

"It's just united by a love for it, appreciation for it and good people helping each other out and having a good time. It's beautiful."

The celebration of Atlantic Canada's top musicians goes five days for East Coast Music Week, hosted this year in Sydney. 

"Sydney is hopping. It's really jumping right now," board chairman Dean Stairs told CBC News before the show began. 

• East Coast Music Awards: 5 things you need to know

'We beat Hey Rosetta!'

Another, if newer, St. John's band, Everglow, won Fans' Choice Video of the Year for alt pop song Feel Your Heart, which debuted last summer.

"I can't believe we beat Hey Rosetta!" vocalist Jon Pike said.

'I just wanna holler'

Natalie MacMaster and husband Donnell Leahy won Fans' Choice Entertainer of the Year, eliciting excitement from the internationally known fiddler.

"And I got it on my first try," MacMaster said accepting it on stage. 

The duo also won Traditional Instrumental Recording of the Year for album One, released worldwide last spring. MacMaster talked about the importance of carrying on the Cape Breton music tradition. 

Ron Hynes tribute

Cape Breton musicians Ashley MacIsaac and Heather Rankin hosted the awards at Sydney's Centre 200. Both performed, and Rankin sang a tune from her upcoming solo album.

The awards featured performances by Hey Rosetta!, Jenn Grant, City Natives, Christina Martin, Fortunate Ones, Natalie MacMaster and Ben Caplan, among others.

• Lennie Gallant's inspired farewell to Ron Hynes

Musicians paid tribute to Ron Hynes, as well, including Bruce Guthro, Lennie Gallant, Amelia Curran, Alan Doyle and Paul "Boomer" Stamp.

• Remembering Ron Hynes: Friends perform special ECMA tribute show

'A lot of passion'

PEI-born Jenn Grant won Solo Recording of the Year for album Compostela, featuring the popular song No One's Gonna Love You (Quite Like I Do) and guest artists from Buck 65 to Rose Cousins and Halifax new musicians Kim Harris and Stewart Legere.

"A lot of passion went into this," Grant said.

• A track-by-track guide of Jenn Grant's Compostela by CBC Music

Nigadoo, N.B.'s Joey Robin Hache won his first ECMA for Francophone Recording of the Year.

"I was trembling — trying to keep it together," Hache said.

Halifax's City Natives won Aboriginal Artist of the Year for their third LP, Voltron.

• City Natives brings dancers from Tobique and drummers from Membertou to ECMAs

'One big kitchen party'

Concerts through to Sunday will feature music from every genre and Atlantic Canadian province, Stairs said.

​"It's going to be fabulous," Stairs said. "One big kitchen party."

Follow the action this weekend

Keep up-to-date with CBC reporters for the entire East Coast Music Week with live coverage on @CBCMusic and @ECMusicHour, or via the hashtag #ECMW2016.