Matt Balsor

Inducted in 2018

Born and raised in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, Matt Balsor has been referred to by the media as the "Valley's Prince of Country Music". Driven by a love of classic country music and his fans, Matt has performed on stage over 750 times at dances, benefit shows, festivals, exhibitions, theaters and churches as well as making several television appearances over the past 20 years.

Being very versatile and known for his multi-octave range and dynamic song endings, Matt performs southern gospel, traditional and classic country, old time rock and roll and has even performed with the Nova Swing Band. He has shared the stage with such well known artists as Larry Gatlin, Jimmie Rodgers Snow, Carroll Baker and Wayne Ronstadt as well as many other Hall of Fame Inductees. Having released 12 albums to date, his music has been played throughout Canada,
the United States, Europe and Australia. Matt was named one of the top 250 International Country Music Artists in 2011 by the European Country Music Association.

In 2012 Matt revived the group known as 'The Glorylanders' and paid tribute to southern gospel music icons, The Goodmans, in their release of an album and subsequent provincial concert tour. The Glorylanders were nominated for Gospel Trio of the Year by the Maritime Gospel Music Association in 2013.

Matt concerts are often commented on as being top-notch, classy, dynamic, powerful and memorable and feature a Nashville style show band (The Hilltop Show Band). He and his show band have performed to sold out audiences during his tribute shows of such artists as George Jones and Merle Haggard, as well as his 'Country Music Through the Ages' series featuring country music artists from the 1960's through to the 1990's, among others.

Mr. Balsor is a great promoter and supporter of both new and seasoned artists. In 2012, Matt coordinated a major recording project featuring himself singing duets with 25 different country singers. This became the largest musical compilation recording project done in Canada to date and caught the attention of a country music publicist in Germany responsible for writing international country music encyclopedias. Matt was selected as one of the artists from Nova Scotia to be featured in a Canadian edition of the encyclopedia released in 2014. An excerpt reads, "The album offers a variety of different and distinguished voices with Matt's singing being an ideal guideline".