Local musician Loreena McKennitt has been nominated for best traditional roots album at this year’s Juno awards.
Her album, The Road Back Home, released in March 2024, was recorded the previous summer, while McKennitt performed at folk festivals in southern Ontario.
The album has received critical acclaim.
“It’s always nice to feel that your work is being appreciated and acknowledged,” she told MyStratfordNow.
Accompanied on the album by cellist Caroline Lavelle and the Stratford-based Celtic band The Bookends, it includes 10 live songs, that represent a “return to McKennitt’s roots”.
“The live recording are always different than the studio recording, because you have that energy that you’re feeding off of the audience, and a kind of camaraderie almost.”
This is McKennitt’s fourth Juno nomination.
She was nominated in 2008 for Music DVD of the Year for Nights from the Alhambra.
In 1992 and 1994 she took home the Juno for best roots/traditional album for The Visit and The Mask and Mirror, respectively.
And this Juno nomination comes as a welcome surprise, as it means her music is connecting with people.
“It’s an affirmation that what you’re doing has meaning.”
Her eclectic Celtic blend of pop, folk and world music has sold over 14 million albums worldwide.
The 54th award ceremony is at the Roger’s Arena in Vancouver, on March 30.
