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Flin Flon songwriter enters national contest

C.C. Trubiak is stepping back in his cowboy boots for a nationwide online contest. The Flin Flon-based musician has put his name forward for this year’s CBC Searchlight competition.
searchlight trubiak
Local singer-songwriter C.C. Trubiak entered his song “Raven” in the CBC Searchlight contest as a result of positive feedback he had received on the tune. - PHOTO BY CYNTHIA BIGRIGG

C.C. Trubiak is stepping back in his cowboy boots for a nationwide online contest.

The Flin Flon-based musician has put his name forward for this year’s CBC Searchlight competition.

Trubiak has submitted the song “Raven” from his third and most recent album, McBain, released in late 2017. The track features Trubiak, Erick Bergman and Brent Lethbridge and was co-written with Trubiak’s close friend, Aileen Martella.

“I chose that song basically because of the positive feedback I’ve already gotten from it from a lot of listeners. It seems to be a song that people have responded to. I kind of took that as a cue, thinking ‘Hey, maybe this is one that would be worthy of submitting,” said Trubiak.

Trubiak was pushed to enter by his fiancé Alain Lachapelle, who sent him a link to the Searchlight submission page with a short message.

“You need to do this. McBain,” it read.

Since the message was sent, Trubiak has received wide support for entering the contest.

“All these other folks were starting to add to it and I thought, ‘Okay, if people believe in me, I’m going to try this,’” he said.

“When opportunity comes a-knocking, you don’t want to turn a blind eye. This opportunity came around and I thought, ‘Why not? I’m going to go for it!’”

If there’s one thing Trubiak does when discussing the contest, it’s heap praise on his friends, especially Lachapelle. The pair plan to marry this summer.

“He’s kind of helped me keep a good head about this. He’s helped me realize that, in terms of the pressure you may feel about winning it, he keeps me grounded and lets me remember that there’s no pressure.”

Voting and judging for the contest began on Feb. 13, one day before the one-year of anniversary of Trubiak’s engagement. The first round of judging ends on Feb. 28, with 100 entries making it to the next round of voting from Mar. 1-7.

A final selection of 10 songs will be named on Mar. 8 and will go through a panel of judges before a final winner is announced on Mar. 19.

The contest winner will earn a placement in the Allan Slaight Juno Master Class, a number of performance and workshop opportunities with music industry professionals, a performance slot at the 2019 JunoFest in London, Ont. and tickets to attend – and possibly perform at – next year’s Juno Awards.

Winning is of course the goal for Trubiak, but it’s far from the only acceptable outcome. His ultimate goal is to spread the word of his latest album, a deeply personal country-themed record, as far as possible.

“I’m trying to embrace the fear and the experience. I’ll be really honest – I’m not really holding out any grand expectations of winning this thing. I just want to try,” he said.

“My goal is to promote it and let people know. I’ve already got such a floodgate of encouragement, people are already telling me, ‘We’ll vote for you every day!’ That’s fantastic. That’s a really sweet thing.”

The contest begins while Trubiak heads out of Flin Flon on a sunny vacation, but he said he’d be hunting for a Wi-Fi signal to promote his entry to family and friends.

“The clock’s a-ticking, right?” he said.

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