Fresh off a win for Horizon Male Artist of the Year at the 2026 Country Music Alberta Awards (CMAB), Airdrie country singer/songwriter Chevy Beaulieu feels validated.
“It was the last award of the evening, so the wait was really nerve-racking,” he says. “I almost cried when they called my name, but it’s nice to see that my hard work is paying off.”
Born in Hay River, N.W.T., Beaulieu lived in Steen River, Alta., until he moved to Airdrie six years ago. His talent as a singer and musician comes from a remarkable family heritage, he says. His grandfather was a musician, and his father is a three-time Canadian fiddle champion. Beaulieu’s older brother plays drums, and his cousins were often part of the family band when he was growing up. Along with a supportive mother who played Merle Haggard’s music in their home all the time, Beaulieu says he was born into it.
“I started off on drums when I was 13, but that didn’t hold, so I moved onto bass and played on one of my dad’s fiddle records. Then I picked up the guitar,” he says.
Beaulieu began playing regularly in the family band when he turned 18.
“That’s where I kind of just cut my teeth in learning all the old tunes,” he says.
In 2012, the family band opened for country artist Shane Yellowbird, known for the song “Pickup Truck.” Beaulieu sees this as the moment he took his own career seriously.
“You know, that inspired me seeing another Indigenous man doing what he’s doing at the level that he’s playing at,” he says.
Since then, Beaulieu has balanced working in a diamond mine in the N.W.T. with the rigours of carving out his own musical path. He has six radio singles, three Indigenous Music Countdown No. 1’s, and his music has racked up more than a million streams. Two years ago, he signed with Vancouver’s 604 Records, home to Canadian artists like Carly Rae Jepsen and Marianas Trench.
Stingray named his energetic, toe-tapping debut release on the label, “If We Want To,” as its New Country Trending Track. The 2026 CMABs also nominated it for Horizon Single of the Year and Video of the Year.
Beaulieu’s music is pure country and a lot of fun, harkening back to the tunes of his childhood. His vocals are smooth and authentic, and the songs he writes, co-writes or his record company pitches to him come from a place, he says, of “either happy, sad or mad.”
His attitude-driven song, “Give a Damn,” for instance, is about the country music industry.
“I didn’t write it about anybody in particular,” Beaulieu says. “But it was basically just saying, if you don’t know who Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Keith Whitley or George Jones is, how can you be a country singer?”
The 604 Records label released Beaulieu’s first album with them this spring. It’s available on streaming and, a first for him, he performs all 12 tracks on PBS’s Stampede City Sessions.
“We put in some killer songs and I’m super excited for what’ll come of it,” he says.
See more:
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1v9yVXQyQHJ4K0CQkT0rDC
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chevy.beaulieu
- Instagram: chevy_beaulieu_music
- YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@chevybeaulieu2294
