The nominations for the 2007 East Coast Music Awards have been announced and The Punters have been nominated for Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year for Songs for a Sunday Morning.

Tickets for the ECMA 2007 Gala Awards Show and the opening night FashionEASTa extravaganza at the World Trade and Convention Centre - are now on sale and can be purchased through the Ticket Atlantic box office at the Halifax Metro Centre, Atlantic Superstore outlets, by phone at (902) 451.1221 or on-line at www.ticketatlantic.com

The 2007 ECMAs will take place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from February 15 to 18 and will culminate in the ECMA Gala Awards Show, broadcast on CBC Television, Sunday, February 18, starting at 8 p.m. in all time zones (8:30 NT).

Government partners and platinum sponsors of ECMA 2007 include the Province of Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Municipality, CBC Television, CBC Radio, Casino Nova Scotia, FACTOR, Delta Hotels, Galaxie - CBC’s Continuous Music Network and Transcontinental Media.

For more information on the ECMAs, please visit www.ecma.com

The Punters debut their new CD for the festive season titled Beautiful Star.

In their normal style The Punters showcase the distinct vocals of Larry Foley punctuating the recording, while Patrick Moran adds beautiful fiddle and background vocals.

To add to this album, The Punters were able to find recent Christmas songs like “Christmas Decorations In November” which was written by a friend of Larry’s. As well Larry adds new verses to the song “Tell Me A Story” to make it truly his own. In addition, they have recorded the Christmas standards “The Friendly Beasts” and an instrumental medley of “Christmas Times A Coming & Jingle Bells”. The CD also features the hauntingly beautiful song “Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem”, the often overlooked Jackson Browne song “The Rebel Jesus”, and Woody Guthrie’s “Mail Myself To You” - a fun all occasion song. The CD also features two previously released Punters Christmas songs that have become standards in their own right: “Christmas In The Harbour” and “Old Toy Trains”.

The artwork for the CD was taken from a painting by Larry Foley titled “Beautiful Star”.

The Punters are versatile, talented artists who perform with style and proficiency. Whether they are delivering a traditional folk tune or their melodic and insightful originals, their performances are always powerful and entertaining.

With this recording, Songs For A Sunday Morning, they now have five recordings under their belt since 1996 (The Punters, Said She Couldn’t Dance, Will You Wait and Fisherman’s Blues). All four CDs were met with critical acclaim.

Their newest CD, which was produced by Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea, showcases the band in a stripped down, more acoustic and intimate recording. It features new songs that are pure treasures as well as some older traditional songs and their trademark instrumental tunes.