Vote for Shad! CBC Radio 2'S GREAT CANADIAN SONG QUEST

CBC Radio 2, Canada's national music network, today reveals a blockbuster list of 65 Canadian singer-songwriters vying for the chance to immortalize Canadians' favourite places in song in the GREAT CANADIAN SONG QUEST. It's now up to Canadians to choose the artists and pick the spots to be forever commemorated in Canada's songbook.

Voters have from today until Friday, Oct. 23, at 12 a.m. ET, to choose from a shortlist of the most popular places from each province and territory, and the artists they'd like to see create the song for those locations, by visiting http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/songquest/. Once voting closes, the final 13 artists have four weeks to compose and record an original song, inspired by the most popular Canadian location from their province or territory.

"We can't wait to see the final list of locations and artists chosen by Canadians," said Mark Steinmetz, director of music programming, CBC Radio. "By inspiring these artists with Canada's special locales, we will create a distinctly Canadian playlist. This initiative is a great way for Canadians to share their collective passion for music and our country."

The GREAT CANADIAN SONG QUEST's artist line up was selected from Radio 2's playlist, and includes musicians representing Canada's regions and celebrated sounds. From musical icons to emerging stars, Canadians will choose from a vast range of styles-from urban beat and home-grown folk, to rich and nuanced world music. Artist bios and a selection of their work can be found at the Song Quest website through http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/songquest/.

The location short list is a result of the nominations submitted by Canadians over the past two weeks, through the GREAT CANADIAN SONG QUEST website, campaign-style blogs, Tweets and Facebook comments, and photo and video postings.

A full list of the 65 singer-songwriters participating in the GREAT CANADIAN SONG QUEST and short listed locations follows as an appendix.

CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster, and one of its largest cultural institutions. With 28 services offered on Radio, Television, the Internet, satellite radio, digital audio, as well as through its record and music distribution service and wireless WAP and SMS messaging services, CBC/Radio-Canada is available how, where, and when Canadians want it.

Via CNW Group