P.E.I.'s Lennie Gallant, War Horses win at East Coast Music Awards

Singer-songwriter Lennie Gallant and folk-rock group War Horses represented P.E.I. among the winners at last night's East Coast Music Awards gala in Saint John.

For the third year in a row, the gala was held at the start of the annual event, a move organizers say spreads the festivities over several days. More awards, including the industry awards, are still to come and will be presented at different showcases throughout the city before the event wraps up on Sunday.

• Have a listen to the Islanders nominated for 2017 East Coast Music Awards
• Acadian rockers, favourite folkies rule East Coast Music Awards

War Horses — Islanders Tian Wigmore, Chris Corrigan, Remi Arsenault, and Nat Lamoureux — won Indigenous Artist of the Year for their six-song EP War Horse. Wigmore, a status native with the Norway House Cree Nation, has described the recording as "an authoritative brand of hard-edged folk music."

"Each [song] tends to reflect on the darker side of human nature and the hardships faced in day to day life; but in the end, they are framed with a sense of hope and optimism," he wrote in his band's bio.

Meanwhile, the ever-popular Gallant won the Fans' Choice Entertainer of the Year.

The Rustico native and Juno nominee has released 11 albums, most recently a recording of his musical Searching for Abegweit.

While some Islanders walked away empty-handed last night, there are still P.E.I. nominees among the awards that will be handed out throughout the rest of the event. Those include Dylan Menzie for pop recording of the year and Atlantic String Machine for classical recording of the year.

• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | On hold for a solution: Charlottetown man wants old phone booths fixed
• MORE P.E.I. NEWS | Hundreds attend goodbye party for Bruce Rainnie and Kevin (Boomer) Gallant