Errol Ranville might be getting a lifetime achievement award, but he's not done achieving.
"I'm all pumped up. It's funny to be receiving a lifetime achievement award at the same time I'm releasing a brand new album," he says.
The Winnipeg music icon known by his family nickname, C-Weed, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards (APCMAs) at its show Friday, three days before he releases a new six-song EP to serve as a teaser for a forthcoming full-length.
It will be Ranville's first set of new original songs in 15 years, he says, noting his past few releases only contained a handful of self-penned tunes.
"I don't know what happened: within two-and-a-half weeks I wrote 14 new songs. I finally stepped out of the house and got a new girlfriend and that started all the love-song melodies. It's amazing," he says.
To hear news that Ranville is writing and recording again will come as a relief to his fans, who had reason to wonder if the 58-year-old would even walk again, following a tragic two-vehicle accident near The Pas last October that killed his wife Marcie and the four occupants of the other car that swerved into his lane.
Ranville suffered extensive injuries and was in the hospital for more than two months. Both his feet were mangled, five discs in his back were crushed, his sternum collapsed, his tibia was destroyed, his elbow was cut to the bone and something went through his jaw.
He has only recently been able to talk about the accident, owing to the emotional issues he had to overcome.
"I was really terrified of the depression I started to sink into," he admits. "I've always been a strong person and I've always prided myself in being the strongest one, but when the depression was coming it terrified me, because I couldn't handle it."
One of things that helped him, especially when he was confined to a hospital bed for the first five weeks following the accident, was reading the letters and emails from well-wishers. He received more than 4,000 pieces of physical mail along with countless emails and posts on a Facebook page.
Reading the wishes from friends and total strangers, along with the support provided by his family and friends, helped him push on and aided in the healing process. Today he is still on a cane, but is performing again and will play two songs Friday during the APCMAs at the MTS Centre as part of the sixth annual Manito Ahbee, a festival he founded.
"Of those 4,000 letters I knew about 80 per cent of the people. It's amazing how many people you can meet along the way," he says.
Ranville has amassed friends all across the world in a career that reaches back to 1965, when he formed his first band, C-Weed & the Weeds, with his brothers Wally and Don while still in high school.
They got serious about things in the 1970s and became the C-Weed Band in 1975. They hit the Canadian country-music touring circuit of the time with like-minded groups the Good Brothers and the Family Brown, before scoring a No. 1 hit with a cover of Robbie Robertson's Evangeline in 1980.
"We did a lot of touring and luckily we crossed over into the mainstream," he says. "We were not an aboriginal band; we were a country band. In 1985-86 we were nominated for a Juno in the country category. There was no aboriginal award. We played all the mainstream clubs and we were visible to country music radio and Country Music Association members.
"We kind of invented the whole aboriginal music industry with the C-Weed Band."
Ranville has since used his experience to help the next generation of aboriginal musicians. He founded the Manitoba Star Attractions Talent Showcase with Marcie to help younger performers and was behind the creation of Manito Ahbee and the APCMAs.
Manito Ahbee runs until Sunday and includes Education Days for students, a youth dance party, an International Competition Pow Wow, a marketplace/tradeshow and the APCMAs.
Aboriginal Music Week is running concurrently and features nightly shows by many artists up for APCMAs, which differentiates itself from the three other major aboriginal music award shows in North America by allowing the public to vote on nominees and winners.
This year, a total of 57,690 people from around the world submitted votes for 140 different artists in 21 different categories.
Hip-hop group Winnipeg's Most leads the list of local nominees with six for best album cover design (GoodFellaz), best duo or group, music video (All That I Know), best producer/engineer, best rap/hip-hop CD (GoodFellaz) and single of the year (Don't Stop).
The trio -- Billy Pierson (a.k.a. Jon-C.), Tyler Rogers (Charlie Fettah) and Jamie Prefontaine (Brooklyn) -- won two APCMAs last year on the strength of its self-titled debut.
Other Manitoba artists with multiple nominations include singer-songwriter Don Amero with four, country singer Ali Fontaine with three and rock band Bruthers of Different Muthers with two.
Fontaine was discovered by Ranville at one of his talent showcases; he now serves as her manager. He believes they could be hanging out at several future awards shows together.
"Me and Ali are going to be up against each other for the Juno Awards," he says with a laugh. "I told her we'll hold hands and hope for the best."
rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca
Aboriginal Music Week schedule
THURSDAY
- The Sask Music Showcase, Pyramid Cabaret, 9 p.m.
With: Riva, Mitch Daigneault, Donny Parenteau
Tickets: $10
- All My Relations Stage, Windsor Hotel, 9 p.m.
With: Tracy Bone and JC Campbell, Gabriel Ayala, Christa Couture
Tickets: $15
- Aboriginal Songwriters Concert, West End Cultural Centre, 7:30 p.m.
With: Leela Gilday, Kyla Cederwall, Cassidy Mann, Ali Fontaine
Tickets: $10
FRIDAY
- All My Relations Stage, The Windsor Hotel, 9 pm.
With: Tracy Bone and JC Campbell, Wayne Lavallee
Tickets: $15
- The Electric Pow Wow, Pyramid Cabaret, 9 p.m.
With: World Hood, Samian, A Tribe Called Red
Tickets: $20
SATURDAY
- All My Relations Stage, Windsor Hotel, 9 p.m.
With: Tracy Bone and JC Campbell, Will Belcourt & the Hollywood Indians, the Johnnys, JB the First Lady
Tickets: $15
- The Saturday Night 49er, Pyramid Cabaret, 9 p.m.
With: Sherry St. Germain, Derek Miller
Tickets: $20
All tickets available at the Canadian Plains Gallery (106-181 Higgins Ave.), the Urban Bakery (398 Portage Ave.) and online at aboriginalmusicweek.ca.
