New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The album that harkens back to the earliest days of Loreena McKennitt's career and the most traditional of Celtic music has been nominated for a 2024 Juno Award for Traditional
Roots Album of the Year.
McKennitt, who has sustained international acclaim for over 30 years, released The Road Back Home in March 2024. It was recorded during the summer of 2023 when she performed at four folk festivals in Southern Ontario: The Goderich Celtic
Roots Festival, Summerfolk
Music Festival, Muskoka
Music Festival and the Peterborough Folk Festival.
She was accompanied by cellist Caroline Lavelle and the Stratford-based Celtic band The Bookends. Band members include Errol Fischer, Miriam Fischer, Cait Watson, Pete Watson and Romano Di Nillo on whistle, fiddle, tenor banjo, guitar, bodhran, keyboard, accordion, with Loreena on harp.
"It is always gratifying and most humbling to be recognized by one's industry," says McKennitt. "But I think I, like many other artists, am just pressing on with what I love to do and where I find meaning in my life. I'm so grateful music found me."
The 10-song album represents a return to the artist's roots, a musical winding back to where it all began. It includes many songs that date back to her earliest days on the folk circuit, some of which had remained unrecorded until this album.
The Road Back Home is meant to be an homage to what feels like simpler times, offering comfort and familiarity. It's like going home.
The early songs, the local musicians, the bursts of energy and spontaneity in those folk performances are what inspired the album that has now been Juno nominated. It also manages to capture the deep affection and sense of community such musical events foster in the hearts of performers and folk festival devotees alike.
"In truth, recording the performances at those folk festivals was really an afterthought. Performing together was the thing that called to us," confides McKennitt. "But we quickly realized there's a special energy in those live performances, something that is hard to capture in the studio, plus the audiences were delightful. It was deeply moving to hear them joining us to sing 'Wild Mountain Thyme'."
Although recognized today as a cultural cross-pollinator and a ground-breaking leader of the contemporary Celtic
Music scene, McKennitt's journey actually began in the humble folk clubs and the nascent festival scenes of her childhood home in Western Canada.
Initially influenced by the 1960s and 1970s revival of interest in the folk music of both Ireland and England, McKennitt revelled in the recordings of the Bothy Band, Planxty, Steeleye Span and Alan Stivell, among many others. It was during these humble beginnings, including a tour of the busking pitches of Vancouver, Toronto, Dublin and London, England, that the foundations were laid for a four-decade career as a multi-platinum recording artist, entrepreneur and concert performer.
The Road Back Home was released on CD and 180g vinyl, and via digital music services including those offering Dolby Atmos.
This is the fourth Juno nomination for McKennitt. She was a nominee in 2008 for
Music DVD of the Year for Nights from the Alhambra. In 1994 she won the Juno Award for Best Roots/Traditional album for The Mask and Mirror, and in 1992 she took home the Juno for Best Roots/Traditional album for The Visit.
McKennitt has performed in some of the world's most-respected and historic concert venues, from Carnegie Hall to the famous Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain and for dignitaries including the late
Queen Elizabeth II, His Majesty King Charles III, and other heads of state. Her eclectic Celtic blend of pop, folk and world music has sold over 14 million albums worldwide and her recordings have achieved Gold, Platinum and multi-Platinum status in 15 countries on four continents. She has twice been nominated for a GRAMMY® Award. As well as her two Juno Awards, she has also won a Billboard International Achievement Award. She was inducted into the Canadian Songwriter's Hall of Fame in March 2023.
In addition to McKennitt's musical career, she has been recognized for a number of noteworthy philanthropic initiatives, including:
The Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety
The Falstaff Family Centre
Honorary Colonel of the Royal Canadian Air Force
In 2004, McKennitt was awarded the Order of Canada and in 2013 was appointed Knight of the
National Order of Arts and Letters of the Republic of France.
