Earlier this week SaskMusic unveiled the 2020 Saskatchewan Music Awards nominees and there are a few Swift Current musicians included.

Swift Current's Eliza Doyle and the Moon Runners have both been nominated for an award, with the former up for the Industry Achievement Award and the latter up for Metal/Loud Artist of the Year.

Stacy Tinant, lead vocals and guitarist for the Moon Runners, said they're thrilled to be a Saskatchewan Music Awards nominee for the first time in the band's history.

"I'm obviously very excited," he said. "Being up there with some of the other bands we've played shows with and stuff like that, it just feels very nice... Sometimes being from Swift Current it kind of feels like maybe we're in our own little world a little bit but it's really nice to see that we're kind of up there and being recognized by the province as an artist the people care about."

According to Tinant, the Saskatchewan music industry has begun to evolve outside of the province's two largest city's, especially here in southwestern Saskatchewan.

"Where you're from is becoming less and less relevant in a lot of ways," he said. "The feeling of being sort of secluded in Swift Current or in the southwest that's starting to kind of go away. People are starting to say you don't need to be just from Regina or Saskatoon to be a Saskatchewan musician, you can be a musician from anywhere."

The band released an album last year titled 'Wakeless 2095', a track Tinant referred to as 'an ambitious project' and probably the reason they've been recognized by the Saskatchewan music industry.

"I think it's just being recognized after the release of our album, that maybe we have something special to bring to the table," he said.

Given the giant slow down in the music industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the nomination means something more to the band given everything they've had to endure this year.

"It's a pretty awful year to be a musician," he said. "Things like this kind of re-ignite your sort of passion and appreciation."

The two Swift Current musicians up for awards will find out if they've won on January 24, 2021, when the 6th annual Saskatchewan Music Awards will be hosted on SaskMusic's social media page.