Wednesday, June 30, 2021
Southpoint Sun - 3
Billy Raffoul nominated for songwriting award By Mark Ribble LEAMINGTON – Billy Raffoul’s passion for the area he grew up in shows through in his songs, and the music video for Western Skies, one of his latest releases, certainly pays homage to the Leamington area. “Western Skies is about global warming,” he told the Sun last week. “I wrote it about the wildfires out west.” Although that particular song wasn’t written about this area, the video depicts Billy walking through a tomato farm in rural Leamington while the song unfolds. That song has been nominated for the coveted 2021 SOCAN Songwriter Prize and Billy is excited to be included in the nomination. “It’s really a diverse group of nominations, which makes it very special,” he said. The stress of trying to produce music during a worldwide pandemic was not lost on the young Leamington music star,
but he has persevered and just last summer put out an album entitled The International Hotel — another homage to his hometown. Billy is currently doing his required quarantine after returning home recently and is set to begin a fall tour in October in Europe. His tour begins in Germany. “As long as it’s safe to do so, we will be starting in Munich,” he said. “My great-grandmother is from Germany, so it holds a special place for me.” Western Skies is nominated in the English category, up against nine other English version songs. Another 10 French versions are nominated for the French award. “As songwriting becomes increasingly collaborative, 2020 challenged music creators in ways never experienced,” said a news release from SOCAN. “For some, it meant more time to focus on their personal craft development and, for oth-
ers, it meant collaborating in new savvy ways. But for all, it meant continuing to create the music that played an invaluable part in carrying us through a difficult year.” You can vote every day for your favourite, which Billy Raffoul is hoping is Western Skies. He plans to get in some local performances if the timing is right. “After the European Tour, I’m hoping to be able to play locally here a bit,” he said. Then it’s off to the west coast, where he’ll play a tour that was postponed by the pandemic. The SOCAN Songwriter Prize will award $500 cash prizes to all 20 nominees, with the Grand Prize being $5,000, a Yamaha keyboard and a $500 gift card from Long & McQuade Visit socansongwritingprize.ca to vote for Billy Raffoul’s Western Skies. You can vote once a day until July 1. Winners will be announced on July 12.
Billy Raffoul in a promotional photo taken by Travis Latam
