2013 | Country Album of the Year | Dean Brody | | The JUNO Awards

Midway through the title track of Dean Brody’s 2012 release, Dirt, you’ll find yourself wearing the kind of silly grin you may remember sporting the first time you stuck your fingers in the mud as a kid. Best get used to it – just like its namesake – Dirt’s going to stick with you. Then again, Brody’s music always does. The Nova Scotia based, B.C. bred singer/songwriter has a way of painting pictures with his lyrics that are so vivid, they tend to stay fixed in your mind’s eye just as long as the melodies he sets them to. This, Brody’s third full-length release, and the follow up to his hugely successful 2010 effort – Trail in Life – is no exception. On Dirt, Brody sings it like he sees it, and whether he sees two generations of family grieving by a riverbank, a .45 toting lady who picks up a random hitchhiker to share the burden of an all-night drive, or a drop-dead gorgeous Canadian girl in a toque, on your first listen, you’ll see them just as clearly.