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Country awards a positive experience for Boom Chucka Boys, despite no wins

Not winning any awards during Saturday’s Association of Country Music in Alberta awards in Red Deer
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Sylvan Lake’s The Boom Chucka Boys

Not winning any awards during Saturday’s Association of Country Music in Alberta awards in Red Deer isn’t causing Sylvan Lake’s The Boom Chucka Boys to call the night a failure.

Guitarist Joel Rathjen admitted to being disappointed at not winning in any of the five categories the band was nominated, but felt that positives from the night far outweighed the negatives.

“You can’t say you’re not disappointed to not win,” he said. “Everyone wants to win something, but I think our time will come, and we’re not going to beat ourselves up about it.

“We’re honoured to be nominated for so many awards.”

As one of the nominees for the Rising Star award, The Boom Chucka Boys, along with the award’s other nominees, were given the chance to perform one song during the ceremony.

Doing so allowed the band to raise its profile even further within the country music world, according to Rathjen.

It was an opportunity all of its members relished.

“Every event, it’s getting to play for more people that haven’t seen you,” said Rathjen. “You’re kind of selling it when you’re performing and getting more fans and people behind you, and I think we accomplished that at the awards show.”

He added that he was pleased to see awards won by friends of the band, including Bobby Wills, whom Rathjen met for the first time at last year’s awards.

Wills won two awards that The Boom Chucka Boys were up for.

“He’s been slugging out a long time, so to see him get acknowledged for his hard work, that’s cool,” said Rathjen. “It kind of gives us hope. We’re still new to this, and I’m sure awards will come one day.”

Next up for the band is the release of a new single, which will be featured on an album yet to be recorded.

Rathjen said the band has been doing plenty of writing lately, both among themselves and with seasoned songwriters in Nashville and in Canada.

“We’re always coming up with ideas, and we’re hopefully cutting a few songs so we have a single to release by April,” he said, adding that fans can expect it to be “a little more edgy” than previous recordings.

“We’re trying to record something that’s going to imitate our live show as much as we can. That’s kind of our goal for the next album.”

An album release date in September is their aim, and there’s plenty happening to keep the band busy before then.

This summer will see them play country music festival around the province, including Calgary Stampede and Big Valley Jamboree.

A television special featuring a recent performance is set to air on Country Music Television (CMT) early this spring.