My Countrytown: Amy Nelson – Regina, Saskatchewan

Regional towns are in our blood here at CountryTown! From Kurri Kurri to Broome, Ballarat to Noojee, we love the amazing country musicians our regional centres produce – but we mustn’t forget the quality artists who come from distant shores too!

Amy Nelson’s career as a Canadian musician has been highly recognised throughout the years including 40 Saskatchewan Country Music Award nominations with a 2018 win for ‘Entertainer of the Year’. Hey Love, Amy's first single from her third studio album Good Intentions, climbed to #6 on the Australian country music charts in 2019. She recently released her new single, Trippin’, which is all about the ups and downs of falling for someone new.

Amy has performed at the Calgary Stampede, Canadian Music Week, Canadian Country Music Awards, AmericanaFest, AmericanaFest UK, BreakOut West, JunoFest and Australian Music Week, Groundwater Country Music Festival, and Gympie Music Muster.

We caught up with Amy to find out what she loves about her hometown, Regina, Saskatchewan.

1. It's flat!

My hometown is the city of Regina, and it is located in the province of Saskatchewan. It’s in the western part of Canada and is known for being very flat. People often joke that it is so flat here that you could watch your dog run away for miles. This is very different than the province Alberta beside us, which is home to the Rocky Mountains.

2. The Canadian Mounties (Royal Canadian Mountain Police)

Regina is home to the RCMP Depot where all of Canada’s Royal Canadian Mounted Police come to take their training. They go through vigorous training and must pass many tests in order to be qualified to join the force. Mounties govern the rural areas of Canada and can be identified by their distinctive red uniforms, known as the “Red Serge.”

3. Mosaic Stadium and the Saskatchewan Roughriders

Everyone in our province is obsessed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders football team. Canada’s football league is called the CFL and is similar to the NFL (the gridiron type of football). My city, Regina, is home to the massive Mosaic Stadium, where all the home games are played. When it’s game day, the entire city will be wearing a jersey and many fans go all out with painted faces and green and white crazy costumes.

4. The cold, cold weather

It is very cold in my part of Canada. 200 days of the year the temperature is under 0 degrees Celsius. And we have many minus 40 degree days throughout the winter, which means scraping the ice off your car windows before driving and plugging your car in overnight to a “block heater” so the battery doesn’t freeze – fun times lol. Before the pandemic, I had managed to escape many of the cold winter months by strategically booking shows in Australia during the Tamworth Country Music Festival and other events that take place during Canada’s winter months. That has been a bit more tricky these past couple years, but I will be back soon!

5. Country Music

There are tons of country music fans in Regina and in the province of Saskatchewan. We have a huge country music festival every summer called Country Thunder, which brings in some of Canada’s top country acts and many American headliners. I was lucky enough to play there many times on smaller stages when I was first starting out and have now played the main stage twice.

Keep up to date with everything Amy Nelson and follow her on Facebook here.

For more of our My CountryTown series, check out here.

Image: Supplied