Local Manitobans get the nod in 2019 Juno Awards announcement

The nominees for 2019’s Juno Awards were announced Tuesday morning, and Manitoba artists are well-represented among the country’s top musicians.

The award ceremony will be held March 17 in Ottawa, and will be hosted by iconic singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan.

Leonard Sumner, from Little Saskatchewan First Nation, is up for Indigenous Music Album of the Year for the album Standing in the Light.

It’s a continuation of his unique blend of hip-hop, acoustic blues, spoken word and country. Sumner is perhaps best-known for his politically-charged 2017 viral video “I Know You’re Sorry”.

Winnipeg noise-rock trio KEN mode – who took home the 2012 Juno in the Metal/Hard Music Album of the Year – are nominated again for their critically-acclaimed seventh record Loved.

KEN mode is up against Toronto’s Cancer Bats in the metal category. While they’re not a Winnipeg band, their Juno-nominated album, The Spark That Moves, was recorded here in the city and features a single appropriately named “Winterpeg”.

Cancer Bats drummer Mike Peters is also a Winnipegger.

Ex-Winnipegger Chanty Marostica is nominated in the Comedy Album category.

Marostica, now based in Toronto, was the recent winner of the Sirius XM Top Comic competition, making history as the first transgender comic to win the prize.

Winnipeg-based folk/roots trio the Wailin’ Jennys are looking to win their third Juno for Roots & Traditional Album of the Year after taking top honours in 2005 and 2012. They were also nominated in the category in 2007.

Brandon-born violinist James Ehnes – up for Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble – has the best Juno track record of all of the Manitobans on the list.

Ehnes, a Grammy winner, has been nominated a staggering 27 times for Juno awards, having taken 11 home since 2001.

Good luck to all of the nominees!

WATCH: Juno Award winner performs on Global News Morning

4:52 Juno Award winner performs on Global News Morning