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The Weakerthans and Corb Lund will go into the sixth annual Western Canadian Music Awards this fall with a leading four nods each.

The Winnipeg indie stalwarts and the Edmonton country singer were among the nominees in 19 categories announced by organizers Thursday.

The Oct. 19 awards gala in Edmonton, to be preceded by a three-day music industry conference and festival, will honour musicians from the Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The Weakerthans are up for Outstanding Rock Recording for their fourth studio album, “Reunion Tour,” for which the band was also nominated last month for the 2008 Polaris Music Prize.

Meanwhile, Lund garnered a nod for Outstanding Roots Recording (Solo) for his fifth album, “Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!”

The two acts will battle it out in their other three nominated categories: Outstanding Independent Album, Songwriter(s) of the Year and Video of the Year.

Other multiple WCMA nominees include Jeremy Fisher with three nods, followed by Aaron Lines, Social Code and the James Murdoch Band with two each.

The awards gala will also see Edmonton’s Tommy Banks and Vancouver’s Spirit of the West inducted into the Western Canadian Music Alliance Hall of Fame.

More details, including the full list of nominees, can be found on the WCMA website.

The finalists for the 2008 CBC Galaxie Rising Stars Award have been unveiled, and the list of nominated Canadian artists run the gamut from Winnipeg folk rockers to Vancouver-based power popsters.

Among the 10 acts vying for the annual award are The Weakerthans, The New Pornographers, Tegan and Sara, Joel Plaskett Emergency and Stars.

The Rising Stars award, which comes with a $3,000 cash prize, was created to promote domestic artists. Unlike the Indie Awards, which are voted on by fans, the Rising Stars winner will be chosen by Canadian music journalists.

The journalists were initially polled for their five favourite Canadian independent releases of 2007, from which a shortlist of 10 finalists was created. From this list, they will vote for one winner.

The award will be presented at Canadian Music Week’s Indie Awards on March 8, taking place in Toronto.

Here are the finalists for the Rising Stars Award:

- Basia Bulat – “Oh My Darling” (Hardwood)
- The Besnard Lakes – “Are the Dark Horse” (Outside)
- Caribou – “Andorra” (Domino)
- Jenn Grant – “Orchestra For The Moon” (Paris 1919)
- Joel Plaskett Emergency – “Ashtray Rock” (MapleMusic)
- The New Pornographers – “Challengers” (Last Gang)
- Stars – “In Our Bedroom After The War” (Arts & Crafts)
- Tegan And Sara – “The Con” (Superclose)
- The Weakerthans – “Reunion Tour” (Epitaph)
- Wintersleep – “Welcome To The Night Sky” (Labwork)

The Weakerthans and City and Colour will help Guelph, Ont., kick off Hillside Inside, a winter spin-off of the city’s annual Hillside Festival in the summer.

The inaugural Hillside Inside will be held Feb. 2 from 1 to 11 p.m. at the Sleeman Centre in downtown Guelph.

Other confirmed performers include Tokyo Police Club, Cuff The Duke, Wintersleep, Attack In Black, Xavier Rudd, Shout Out Out Out Out, Martyn Joseph, Les Batinses, The Abrams Brothers, Roxanne Potvin, Zaki Ibrahim, Bocce and Hayley Sales.

The venue will feature two alternating stages.

Guelph Lake Island will host the summertime version of the festival from July 25 to 27. Performers have yet to be announced.

The Hillside Festival, which kicked off in 1984, hosts musicians, spoken word artists, workshops and more.