Crystal Shawanda in Your Arms Again

Crystal Shawanda

TORONTO – Island superstar Crystal Shawanda is up for ii honours at the 50th anniversary edition of the Juno Awards, Canada's foremost celebration of musical artists in the land, equally her 2020 album 'Church House Blues' earns her nominations for Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year and Blues Album of the Year at the 2021 awards outcome, coming later this year.

"I was screaming and jumping upwardly and down. I literally jumped into my husband'southward arms off the ground," Ms. Shawanda told The Expositor last week. "Later on this crazy year of not being able to tour or play shows, it's been actually tough. We actually needed this; it helped a lot mentally."

The Wiikwemkoong musician who now makes her home in Nashville won her start Juno in 2013 as Aboriginal Album of the Year for her 2012 release 'Simply Like You.' She got her beginning Juno nomination in 2008 and as well received nods in 2015 and 2017.

Her publicist with True North Records encouraged her to scout this yr's nomination announcement livestream, something Ms. Shawanda hesitated to practice considering she was worried about heartbreak.

"We were trying to mentally prepare ourselves to not get bummed out if nosotros didn't become information technology," she said, but instead was overjoyed with her pair of nominations. She writes and records her music alongside husband Dewayne Strobel, who is as well her creative partner.

This marks the beginning fourth dimension Ms. Shawanda has gotten recognized in the blues category. She began her career with a multi-award-winning offset in the state genre with modest twinges of blues, but fabricated the full transition to that style inside the by decade.

"We've been working very difficult for this for several years. Nosotros feel like we're finally accepted," she said. "When we switched to blues we did get a lilliputian resistance from some people in the dejection world and some state fans who said they weren't going to listen any more. And then it was a hard conclusion but I'k simply following my eye."

Ms. Shawanda has earned a few Indigenous Anthology of the Year nominations since the switch but naught, until recently, for blues specifically. She got nominated for three accolades at this by Feb'south Maple Dejection Awards through the Toronto Blues Order.

Seeing the nominations come in for her newest work is extremely rewarding, she said, aslope the numerous calls, texts and online messages of support from family unit and friends back domicile on Manitoulin, likewise every bit many of them sharing posts about the news.

The other nominees in the Indigenous Artist of the Twelvemonth category, presented by Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, are Burnstick, Julian Taylor, Leela Gilday and Terry Uyarak. Blues album of the yr nominees are 'Hell Aptitude with Grace' by Angel Forrest, 'Spirits in the Water' past Dione Taylor, 'Solar Powered Besides' by Rick Fines and 'The Reckless One' past Samantha Martin and Delta Carbohydrate.

The pandemic has non halted Ms. Shawanda'southward creative output. When The Expositor spoke with her terminal week, she was on a road trip to Florida to shoot the cover for her new album, due out later this year.

"We're done recording and moving into the mixing and mastering phase," she said, noting that travelling during a pandemic has meant opting for a car rather than flying, and staying in a tight bubble.

The new record features more original music, much of which follows a lighter, uptempo audio to help bring some joy in a challenging twelvemonth.

"As we were writing the songs, we were trying to brighten ourselves up through the pandemic. It's been a real downer, this whole pandemic, and mentally actually straining on everyone. We came up with some songs to reflect on how we're being resilient through that," she said.

There are still a few potential titles bouncing around for the record then Ms. Shawanda said her fans would have to wait in suspense for the reveal. A surprise on the record is "a cover of some other Canadian icon."

On her final album, she covered The Tragically Hip's hit 'New Orleans is Sinking' to much acclamation.

"(The mystery musician) is non a blues artist at all then I'thou hoping it'll be interesting for people to see which Canadian icon we've chosen to cover," Ms. Shawanda said, adding that these covers serve as a style to honour her Canadian roots. "The head of our label said 'that's a bold choice,' but he liked it and said I killed it."

She expressed gratitude to all of the people back home who proceed to support her fine art, even though she has moved to Music City, saying it "always means and so much to me."

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Source: https://www.manitoulin.com/crystal-shawanda-gets-first-ever-juno-nomination-for-blues/