With the release by the Country Music Association of Ontario of the final nominees for this year’s Ontario Country Music Awards, here’s a look at another category. This time, it’s Album of the Year.

This year’s nominees (listed alphabetically by album title) are: “Big Deal” by Western Swing Authority; “Cain” by Andrew Hyatt; “Freshman Year” by The Reklaws; “Singles Only” by The James Barker Band; and “Wild as Me” by Meghan Patrick. All of these artists, except for Western Swing Authority, have been nominated in previous years for previous albums. Congratulations to Western Swing Authority for their first nomination in this category. Meghan Patrick won last year for “Country Music Made Me Do It.”

Previous winners include: Deric Ruttan in 2013 for “Up All Night – Deric Ruttan Live;” Small Town Pistols in 2014 for “Small Town Pistols;” Tim Hicks in 2015 for “5:01;” Johnny Reid in 2016 for “What Love is All About;” Meghan Patrick in 2017 for “Grace and Grit;” and The James Barker Band in 2018 for “Game On.”

Looking back, Meghan Patrick is the only artist to win this award more than once and is the only solo female artist to win. James Barker Band is the only group and Small Town Pistols are the only duo acts to win. And Deric Ruttan is the only artist to have a live album win (while it also had a few studio recordings, most of that album was recorded live at the Calgary Stampede).

Congratulations and good luck to all of this year’s nominees!

This year’s awards are scheduled for Oct. 4 in London.