LAKELAND – Indigenous artists, several based in Northeast Alberta, have been nominated for the 2025 JUNO Awards, to be held in Vancouver on March 30.
Having a break-out year in 2024, Saddle Lake's Tia Wood has been nominated in the "Contemporary Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year" category. Wood released her first EP, Pretty Red Bird, in September 2024, which also includes her debut single “Dirt Roads” with Sony Music Entertainment Canada.
Wood filmed portions of the music video for "Dirt Roads" in Saddle Lake.
Speaking previously with Lakeland This Week, Wood explained how she came from a family of musicians. Her sister, Fawn Wood, won a 2022 JUNO Award for Traditional Indigenous Artist of the Year.
Tia's father, Earl Wood, is also a founding member of the group Northern Cree.
Northern Cree
Northern Cree, a Saddle-Lake based nine-time Grammy-nominated group, has also been nominated for the fourth time for the JUNO Awards, this time for its REZilience album.
The group has been nominated in the "Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year" category. Northern Cree was also nominated in the same category in 2023. In 2007, the group was nominated in the Aboriginal Recording of the Year category, and nominated for the Indigenous Music Album of Year in 2019.
Cree Confederation
Cree Confederation, of which Fawn Wood and her partner Dallas Waskahat are a part of, has been nominated for their album, "Travelling Home," in the same category as Northern Cree.
This is Cree Confederation's first JUNO Award nomination since its inception in 2007.
The group also won the Best Contemporary Pow-Wow Album at the 2011 Canadian Aboriginal Music Award. During the 2024 Gathering of Nations Powwow in New Mexico, the group won the "Women’s Back Up Northern Contest," and placed third in the "Northern Drum Contest."
"Powwow drum groups have long been overlooked in the music industry, and we are proud to see this art form continue to gain recognition. Every drum group out there deserves to be celebrated, and we lift each one up with respect and pride," reads a social media post by Cree Confederation, announcing their Juno nomination.
