The acts selected to open for award winning country artist, Brett Kissel, on the Ontario leg of his upcoming tour have been announced. The winners were selected from close to 100 entries vying to perform with Kissel through the “Kick It With Kissel” contest.

Participants were asked to record a video of them performing their favourite original, cover, or Kissel songs and to post it to social media using the “#KickItWithKissel” hashtag. The winners were chosen by a panel comprised of Country Music Association of Ontario board members, Invictus Entertainment, and Kissel himself.

“The response to the contest was tremendous,” commented Kissel. “I wish I had room to add more talent.”

The winners include:

Kansas Stone

January 12, 2017

Kiwanis Community Theatre

Sault Ste Marie, ON

Cory Marquardt

January 13, 2017

Fraser Auditorium

Sudbury, ON

The Abrams with special guest, Ashlynne Vince

January 14, 2017

Dofasco Centre for the Arts

Hamilton, ON

Kris Barclay with special guest, Sacha Visagie

January 16, 2017

Rose Theatre

Brampton, ON

Buck Twenty

January 17, 2017

Chrysler Theatre

Windsor, ON

Ben Hudson with special guest, Alessia Cohle

January 18, 2017

River Run Centre

Guelph, ON

Marshall Dane with special guest, The Small Town Girls

January 20, 2017

Georgian Theatre

Barrie, ON

Runaway Angel

January 21, 2017

Empire Theatre

Belleville, ON

The Abrams

January 22, 2017

Danforth Music Hall

Toronto, ON

Abby Stewart with special guest, Beamer Wigley

January 23, 2017

Algonquin Theatre

Ottawa, ON

Now the difficult task begins to select openers for the Quebec and Maritime leg of Kissel’s tour.

Kissel is a Juno award winner, multi Canadian Country Music Association (CCMA) award winner, and reigning CCMA “Fan’s Choice” and “Male Artist of the Year”. His “Ice, Snow & 30 Below” tour begins in Sault St. Marie, Ontario on January 12, 2017 and ends on February 4th in Georgetown, PEI with 17 stops in between.