During the JUNO Awards Broadcast that aired live nationwide on CBC and CBC Gem and was viewed globally on CBC Music’s YouTube channel,  Joni Mitchell received thunderous applause as she took to the stage at the TD Coliseum to accept a Lifetime Achievement Award. In introducing her, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said: “Joni’s music didn’t just provide the soundtrack to our lives he shifted culture, inspired generations and redefined what songwriting could be.”

Gracing the stage, Mitchell, 82, said that she was “so happy to be in Canada [with] our wonderful prime minister.” Noting that she now lives in the United States, she continued “and you know what’s happening there. This man is a blessing. You guys are so fortunate.”

Following her brief remarks, the widely acclaimed Canadian-American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist joined Sarah McLachlan, Allison Russell and other artists in a musical tribute to her body of work, which includes such notable songs as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Both Sides, Now,” “Chelsea Morning,” “Help Me,” and “River.”

Mariel Buckley, whose October 2025 release Strange Trip Ahead (Birthday Cake Records) was named Contemporary Folk Album of the Year, is a Calgary, Alberta-based singer-songwriter. She is the younger sister of singer T. Buckley, with whom she has also recorded and performed together as a duo. Strange Trip Ahead was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with her Edmonton-based band and produced by Jarrad K at Chateau Noir Studios. Her third full-length album, it was preceded by the critically acclaimed Everywhere I Used To Be (2022) and Driving In The Dark (2018). Although Buckley’s music may be genre defying, her songwriting reflects an intimate folk style. She tours Europe for several weeks this spring.

Morgan Toney, 27, whose Heal The Divide, was named Traditional Folk Album of the Year, is a Mi’kmaq folk singer-songwriter and fiddler from Nova Scotia. A member of he Wagmatcook First Nation, Toney performs and records music blends Celtic folk (reflective of Cape Breton) and the traditional, old songs of his people – a fusion that he calls Mikmatic) and describes as his way of celebrating his language and heritage. Heal The Divide is Toney’s third album. Preceding it were 2023’s Resilience, which was nominated for a Juno Award for Traditional Roots Album of the Year in 2024, and 2021’s First Flight, which was reissued in 2022 on Ishkode Records.

Also nominated for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year were The Hammer & The Rose (Matt Andersen), Purple Gas (Noeline Hofmann), These Dark Canyons (The Young Novelists), and Further From The Country (William Prince). The other Traditional Roots Music Album of the Year nominees included I Lost My Heart on Friday (Aerialists), Gold And Coal (Cassie and Maggie), The Moon’s Daughter (Heather MacIsaac), and Folk Signals (The Southern Residents).

Also of potential interest to AcousticMusicScene.com readers, Steven Marriner’s Hear My Heart was named Blues Album of the Year, while Sarah McLachlan’s Better Broken was named Adult Contemporary Album of the Year. Canadian pop star Tate McRae was the big winner, receiving awards in four of the six categories in which she was nominated: album of the year, artist of the year, single of the year, and pop album of the year.

For more information on Canada’s top music awards, including a complete listing of winners and the 248 nominees across 47 categories, visit https://junoawards.ca.

A Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to Joni Mitchell (pictured), the widely acclaimed Canadian-American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who is known for such songs as “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Both Sides, Now,” “Chelsea Morning,” “Help Me,” and “River.”

In the running for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year are Strange Trip Ahead (Mariel Buckley), The Hammer & The Rose (Matt Andersen), Purple Gas (Noeline Hofmann) These Dark Canyons (The Young Novelists), and Further From The Country (William Prince). Traditional Roots Music Album of the Year nominees include I Lost My Heart on Friday (Aerialists), Gold And Coal (Cassie and Maggie), The Moon’s Daughter (Heather MacIsaac), Heal The Divide (Morgan Toney), and Folk Signals (The Southern Residents).

Also of potential interest to AcousticMusicScene.com readers are the nominees for Blues Album of the Year. These include Sing Pretty Blues (Crystal Shawanda), Ooh Yeah! (Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne), The Medicine (Miss Emily), Answer The Call (Secondhand Dreamcar), and Hear My Heart (Steve Mariner).

In addition to her Contemporary Album of the Year nomination for Purple Gas, Noeline Hofmann is among the 10 nominees for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. . Among the five nominees for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year are Conditions of Love Vol. 1 (Rose Cousins) and Better Broken (Sarah McLachlan, while Children’s Album of the Year nominees include Little Leaf (Chris McKhool).

In total, there are 248 nominees in the running across 47 categories for Canada’s top music awards. Eight-time JUNO Award-winner Justin Bieber and Tate McRae lead the pack with six nominations each.

Several artists are nominated for two awards in the American Roots Music Field. Among the nominees for both Best Americana Roots Song and Best Americana Album are the late Gregg Allman (for “My Only True Friend” and Southern Blood, respectively), Jason Isbell (for “If We Were Vampires” and The Nashville Sound, respectively), and The Mavericks (for “I Wish You Well” and Brand New Day, respectively). Besides being nominated for Best American Roots Performance, Alison Krauss (“I Never Cared For You”) and the late Leonard Cohen (“Steer Your Way”) also are nominated for awards outside of the American Roots Music Field. Krauss is among those vying for Best Country Solo Performance (for “Losing You”), while Cohen is in the running for Best Rock Performance (for “You Want It Darker”).

Here’s a list of the Grammy Award nominees in the American Roots Music Field:

Best American Roots Performance:

• “Killer Diller Blues” – Alabama Shakes
• “Let My Mother Live” – Blind Boys Of Alabama
• “Arkansas Farmboy” – Glen Campbell
• “Steer Your Way” – Leonard Cohen
• “I Never Cared For You” – Alison Krauss

Best American Roots Song:

• “Cumberland Gap” – David Rawlings & Gillian Welch, songwriters (David Rawlings)
• “I Wish You Well” – Raul Malo & Alan Miller, songwriters (The Mavericks)
• “If We Were Vampires” – Jason Isbell, songwriter (Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit)
• “It Ain’t Over Yet” – Rodney Crowell, songwriter (Rodney Crowell featuring Rosanne Cash & John Paul White)
• “My Only True Friend” – Gregg Allman & Scott Sharrard, songwriters (Gregg Allman)

Best Americana Album:

• Southern Blood – Gregg Allman
• Shine On Rainy Day – Brent Cobb
• Beast Epic – Iron & Wine
• The Nashville Sound – Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit
• Brand New Day – The Mavericks

Best Bluegrass Album:

• Fiddler’s Dream – Michael Cleveland
• Laws Of Gravity – The Infamous Stringdusters
• Original – Bobby Osborne
• Universal Favorite – Noam Pikelny
• All The Rage – In Concert Volume One [Live] – Rhonda Vincent And The Rage

Best Traditional Blues Album:

• Migration Blues – Eric Bibb
• Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio – Elvin Bishop’s Big Fun Trio
• Roll And Tumble – R.L. Boyce
• Sonny & Brownie’s Last Train – Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi
• Blue & Lonesome – The Rolling Stones

Best Contemporary Blues Album:

• Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm – Robert Cray & Hi Rhythm
• Recorded Live In Lafayette – Sonny Landreth
• TajMo – Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’
• Got Soul – Robert Randolph & The Family Band
• Live From The Fox Oakland – Tedeschi Trucks Band

Best Folk Album:

• Mental Illness – Aimee Mann
• Semper Femina – Laura Marling
• The Queen Of Hearts – Offa Rex
• You Don’t Own Me Anymore – The Secret Sisters
• The Laughing Apple – Yusuf / Cat Stevens

Best Regional Roots Music Album:

• Top Of The Mountain – Dwayne Dopsie And The Zydeco Hellraisers
• Ho’okena 3.0 – Ho’okena
• Kalenda – Lost Bayou Ramblers
• Miyo Kekisepa, Make A Stand [Live] – Northern Cree
• Pua Kiele – Josh Tatofi

Also of note: The Jerry Douglas Band is among the nominees for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for its debut studio release What If, as is the guitar duo of Julian Lage and Chris Eldridge for Mount Royal. Douglas is a 14-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Country Music Association Musician of the Year. A founding member of The Infamous Stringdusters, Eldridge also is a member of Punch Brothers and is in the house band on A Prairie Home Companion. Folk-rockers Bob Dylan and Sarah McLachlan are among the five artists whose recent recordings (Triplicate and Wonderland, respectively) are in the running for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

A complete list of nominees in all categories appears online at www.grammy.com.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hailed Leonard Cohen, a prolific poet and songwriter, who died last November at age 82, as “one of the greatest artists Canada has ever produced.” His last album, You Want It Darker, was released just three weeks prior to his death. During the televised portion of the JUNOs celebration of Canadian music, singer-songwriter Feist paid tribute to Cohen with her rendition of “Hey, That’s No Way to Say Goodbye.”

The East Pointers, a spirited Celtic folk trio from Prince Edward Island, was honored for its album Secret Victory. Featuring guitarist Jake Charron and cousins Tim Chiasson (fiddle) and Koady Chiasson (banjo), all of whom also sing, The East Pointers are helping to bring traditional music to a new generation of listeners through their lively and danceable approach to it.

The Fretless, a folk quartet whose music fuses classical arrangements and folk melodies, received a JUNO for Instrumental Album of the Year for Bird’s Nest. This is just the latest in a series of awards for the group, which previously was honored by both the Western Canadian Music Association and the Canadian Folk Music Awards for its 2012 debut Waterbound and its 2014 self-titled sophomore release.

Buffy Sainte-Marie, a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and social activist, received the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award. Sainte Marie, whose musical career spans more than 50 years, and whose songs have also been covered by hundreds of other artists, is known for her thought-provoking lyrics and her passionate advocacy for Aboriginal people. Also an educator and philanthropist, Sainte-Marie has sought to protect indigenous intellectual property and championed indigenous artists and performers. Her latest release, Power in the Blood, won a JUNO Award last year for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year.

Sarah McLachlan, an 11-time JUNO and three-time Grammy Award-winning artist, was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, while her latest release, Wonderland, was named Adult Contemporary Album of the Year. Besides being a multi-platinum, award-winning singer-songwriter and a much-celebrated contemporary Canadian artist, McLachlan is credited with creating Lilith Fair 20 years ago – a festival dedicated to showcasing and supporting female artists. She was the recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2015 and of the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award in 2006.

A complete list of JUNO Awards winners can be found, along with additional information, on line at www.junoawards.ca.

In the running for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year are The Family Album (Matthew Barber & Jill Barber), Why You Wanna Leave, Runaway Queen? (Lisa LeBlanc), Hobo Jungle Fever Dreams (Corin Raymond), Strange Country (Kacy & Clayton), and Earthly Days (William Prince).

Traditional Roots Album of the Year nominees include Gathering (Maria Dunn), Someday the Heart (The High Bar Gang), The Original (Jenny Whiteley), Aupres du Poele (Ten Strings and a Goat Skin), and Secret Victory (The East Pointers).

Buffy Sainte-Marie, whose musical career spans more than 50 years, is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose songs have also been covered by hundreds of other artists. She is known for her thought-provoking lyrics and her passionate advocacy for Aboriginal people. Also a social activist, educator and philanthropist, Sainte-Marie has sought to protect indigenous intellectual property and championed indigenous artists and performers. It is in recognition of the latter that she will receive the Alan Water Humanitarian Award.

Sarah McLachlan, a ten-time JUNO and three-time Grammy Award-winning artist, is one of Canada’s most celebrated artists. She created Lilith Fair 20 years ago – a festival dedicated to showcasing and supporting female artists. McLachlan was the recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2015 and of the Alan Waters Humanitarian Award in 2006.

A complete list of JUNO Awards nominees can be found, along with additional information, on line at www.junoawards.ca.