Gold Winner Hillsburn
Silver Winner David Myles
Bronze Winner Willie Stratton
“Are you kidding? We didn’t even—that’s nuts!” says Rosanna Burill in shock. She’s a singer-songwriter in rookie folk outfit Hillsburn. For a new band, they’re already swinging like pros, and Burill can’t believe both Best of Halifax awards. “This year has been a dream,” she says. “We just had our first year band-anniversary last week, and it’s wild to think about how we would have felt then and where we are now!” In the last year, the folk-pop quartet released a stunning self-titled EP, got signed to Groundswell Music and contended in CBC Music’s Searchlight Contest, which she says was incredibly advantageous to jumpstarting the band’s career: “It made Groundswell notice us, and that really was the beginning of people having any idea about us.” But when you hear the band, it’s a force you can’t easily forget, and it seems like Hillsburn is on its way to something big. “Everything’s working so far, and we’re all pretty grateful for everything that’s happened.”