Johnny Reid is a back-to-basics kind of musician.

"I love old soul music, Memphis soul, Stax records stuff," he says. "When they recorded those, they used to hire guys to just pick up the amps and put them closer to the mics when they played a solo."

The Scottish-Canadian songwriter, now based in Nashville, got a little more sophisticated than that when recording his latest album, Born to Roll. But there wasn't a lot of knob-twiddling.

"It was recorded in a day. We were in the studio at 10 a.m. and I was in bed by midnight. I don't usually tell people that because they get the wrong idea, that it's sloppy, but the idea was not to be too slick. To get it rough and live."

Reid's simple approach is paying dividends. He's up for the rising star award at the CCMA awards Monday.

"That's the big one for me," says Reid, who is also nominated for independent song, "to be recognized as one of the up and coming acts in the country. Because I'm an immigrant who came here seeking opportunity, and Canada was good enough to open its borders and its heart to me."

Originally from Glasgow, Reid moved to Canada with his family when he was 17.

"I had a few options when I was a kid," he says. "I got into some pretty high level soccer and I could have gone into work with my dad. Finally though, I just had to try and do what I loved."

Reid will be appearing at several CCMA events, including FanFest on Saturday and the Songwriter's Cafe on Sunday.

For more information go to www.ccma.org.