It's down to the wire as we enter the last day of voting for Cranbrook's The Good Ol' Goats in the CBC Music Searchlight contest.
The folk-rock band, made up of six Cranbrook students, has made it to the final round in the national competition, and voting closes at 10 p.m. MDT on Thursday, April 11.
Go to www.music.cbc.ca/#/Searchlight.
The Goats are up against Corner Brook, Newfoundland band Sherman Downey and the Ambiguous Case. The winner will have a paid gig at the CBC Music Festival in Toronto, a CBC Music video session, and $20,000 worth of musical equipment from Yamaha.
The Good Ol’ Goats, which formed in 2011, consists of Joelle Winkel on shaker and backing vocals, Nolan Ackert on lead vocals, banjo and guitar, Angus MacDonald on mandolin, backing vocals and fiddle, Theo Moore on standup bass and backing vocals, Julian Bueckert on drums and Angus Liedtke on guitar, dobro, banjo, harmonica and vocals.
Angus Liedtke said the band is on a high to have made it this far.
“My dreams of becoming a professional musician are coming true and it’s a great feeling,” he told The Townsman.
The Newfoundland band are formidable opponents, he went on.
“Being up against Sherman Downey is also fantastic. They are a great group with lots of loyal fans, so it’s pretty intimidating,” said Angus.
Votes have been cast for the Goats from across the country, but support from their home town has been overwhelming.
“Thank you to everyone who has voted and supported us. It means the world to us,” said Angus.
The Good Ol’ Goats submitted their track ‘The Train’ in the Searchlight contest back in February, among hundreds of Canadian up-and-coming bands.
“When we wrote our song, we were still a brand new group, we didn’t ever think that “The Train” would be played on Q with Jian Ghomeshi at such a national level,” said Angus.
“Overall, it’s been a very fun experience and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”