CIMA's Canada House Heads to Nashville for AMERICANAFEST 2025 in September
The Canadian Independent Music Association declined to participate in SXSW earlier this year, citing political tensions, but will take its showcasing and business mission to Music City in September.
Braden Lam
Canada House is returning to Music City this fall. The Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA) will take this showcasing and business mission to Nashville for the 2025 edition of AMERICANAFEST, taking place September 9–13. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, this industry conference and festival focused on the Americana/roots music scene features five days of live performances, panels, networking events and more.
This year, CIMA is partnering with Manitoba Music and MusicOntario to present Canadian companies and their showcasing artists, and the seven artists chosen to appear at the Canada House Showcase have been revealed. The event takes place on Sept. 12 at InDo (632 Fogg St., Nashville), running from 11:30 am To 4 pm.11:30 The Janzen Boys
12:10 Lisa LeBlanc
12:50 Menno Versteeg
1:30 Jesse Roper
2:10 Bobby Dove
2:50 Braden Lam
3:30 Marcus Trummer
That is an eclectic lineup, spearheaded by indie roots-rocker Menno Versteeg (formerly of Hollerado), acclaimed Martitime singer-songwriter Lisa LeBlanc, Halifax folk-roots artist Braden Lam and highly-regarded Toronto country singer Bobby Dove.
Canada House has been regularly featured at AMERICANAFEST in recent years. The 2024 lineup of showcasing artists included Desiree Dorion, Jeffery Straker, Angelique Fancis and Noeline Hoffman.
Artists and Canadian companies participating in Canada House this year will take part in the Country Connections business event, presented in collaboration with Sounds Australia, British Underground and AMERICANAFEST. Companies wanting to participate can contact Jenia Schukov (jenia@cimamusic.ca) for more information.
The return of CIMA's Canada House to a major U.S. industry event now is interesting given the fact that back in February this year, the trade org declined to present its annual showcase at South By Southwest in Austin citing Trump’s tariffs and rising political tensions between the two countries.
Cash told Billboard Canada at the time that “The growing instability of everything in the United States right now, plus the high cost [of putting on events in the United States] and the low [Canadian] dollar – all of these things combined made it so we couldn’t feel confident or good about what we were getting ourselves into at this particular moment.”
