Country Music News

Country Music News

Country Music News (CMN). Monthly newspaper, by its own description 'the voice of country music in Canada.' Established in Ottawa by Neville Wells with Larry Delaney as assistant editor, it first appeared in April 1980 as Capital Country News and took the name Country Music News with the January 1982 issue. Under Delaney's editorial direction and, after 1984, his ownership, CMN has included provincial, regional, and city reports, artist interviews, special interest columns (eg, fiddling, bluegrass, gospel), industry news, record reviews, and radio-airplay charts. Circulation reached 10,000 by the end of the 1980s. The importance of the publication to the Canadian country music industry has been acknowledged with Delaney's induction (Builder's category) into the Canadian Country Music Hall Of Fame (1996), and his being named "Country Music Person of the Year" on 11 occasions (during the 1980s and 1990s) by the Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA). The publication now supports its monthly print edition with the Web site www.countrymusicnews.ca.

Two other Canadian publications have used the name Country Music News, one a monthly newspaper (Langley, BC, 1972-4) and the other a CCMA newsletter (Thornhill, Ont, 1979-85, continued as Country Canada).

With the demise of Bluegrass Canada, The Record, RPM, and several other publications, Country Music News became the predominant publication for the genre in the first part of the 21st century.