CBC Searchlight contest: P.E.I. hopefuls shine

Musicians on Prince Edward Island who have entered CBC's Searchlight contest are encouraging people to vote for them in a variety of ways.

• 20 standouts under 20 from Searchlight 2016

• 5 more standouts from Searchlight 2016

• Writing songs helps in journey through grief

Searchlight is CBC Music's cross-Canada search for the best up-and-coming musicians. Musicians from 24 geographic regions compete for a grand prize worth$50,000, including $20,000 in equipment from Yamaha and a performance slot at Toronto's 2016 CBCMusic.ca festival. They also win a studio session, mentorship and album production and distribution valued at $25,000, and will be featured on CBC Radio's q.

You may have noticed a lot of #Searchlight tags on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in the last couple of weeks, as musicians seek votes in the regional semi-finalist round that began March 30 and closes April 20.

There are 20P.E.I. entries including singer-songwriter Dylan Menzie of Belle River, who is just about to release his second album, Adolescent Nature. He's been compared to Joel Plaskett, and just released a live video of his lead single Kenya, which he submitted to Searchlight.

Kinley Dowling, better known as fiddle and backup for NL-based Hey Rosetta!, teamed up with FWLR on the pop song and single-shot video by Tiny Town Media for the song Never Coming Home. They've been getting the word out on Facebook and Twitter.

Jill Chandler's clear, sweet vocals and delicateguitar picking on her song Make These Moments come with a heartbreaking story. She returned to singing after her husband died in 2013, her music helping her through her grief. The songsresonated with others too, and she's now working on her first album release. She launcheda Facebook page just for the contest: Jill Chandler's Searchlight 2016 Street Team.

Roots-rock group AndrewWaiteand the Firm are nominated for Music PEI awards for New Artist of the year and Rock Recording of the Year. CBC Music calls them "an acute collective of heavy hitters," and that "Waite's songwriting is honest, rugged, and evocative." Judge for yourself andclick below.

The Royal North is "poised to bring their brand of sound to venues across the country," according to CBC music. The band, featuring some familiar faces from the Island's rock scene over the past decade, are heavy on melody, guitar solos and drums. Their song Goodbye Alibiis from their debut release produced by Jon Matthews of P.E.I.'s Soundmill Studios.

Other Island entries include Treble With Girls, Jeffrey Morris, Jolene Willis, Ashley Condon, Siobhan Armstrong, Jolee Patkai, Taylor Johnson, Angus McPhail, Brian Dunn, Medusza, Gutter Talk, Emerald Junction, Plain Dirty Blues Band, Dan Currieand Archer.

Musicians had to submit an MP3 and a video of themselves performing an original song. Contestants are not being judged on the quality of the video, but rather "sound, songwriting and chemistry," according the the Searchlight website.

"The performance itself, along with songwriting, technical ability and voice, will be the primary consideration," the website said.

Only one of the top 10 from P.E.I. will be based on public voting results the other nine are based on judges' decisions. People can vote once a day in the semi-final round. Judges will rate their general impression of the song, the quality of music and lyric composition, the quality of live performance and voice.

The second round of public voting is for five days only April 25 to 29and along with judges scores, will determine the top video from each region.

The national semi-final round follows the week after, May 3 to 9. Judges will pick their top three videos, and one video with the most votes from the public will also advance to the final round. Each of those four wins a $2,300 prize.

The top four grand-prize finalists win airfare to Toronto and accommodations, and will compete before a live audience for a celebrity judging panel in a CBC television broadcast to air in mid-May.

Audience members can win $5,000 in audience prizes for voting.