TRADITIONAL ROOTS ALBUM OF THE YEAR | Maria Dunn | | The JUNO Awards

A true preserver of the spirit of folk music, and past JUNO Award and CFMA nominee, Maria Dunn is often compared to Woody Guthrie for her keen social awareness and unvarnished songs about ordinary people.

In April 2016 she released her sixth independent album Gathering, produced by Shannon Johnson (of 2007 JUNO Award-winning band The McDades). In keeping with Pete Seeger’s words (1994), “The key to the future of the world is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known”, Gathering celebrates love—the love of family, community and humanity that connects us and fires our actions to make the world a better place. The songs range from historical and narrative to personal and immediate, inspired by social justice stories both global “Malala, When The Grandmothers Meet” and local “How I Live, When I Was Young.”

Based in Edmonton, Dun tours internationally and has been featured on CBC National Radio, CKUA Alberta Radio and BBC Radio Scotland. Accolades for her song writing include publication in Sing Out! and Penguin Eggs magazines and the Rise Again songbook (2015). Other artists have recorded (Niamh Parsons, Bob Bossin) or performed (Archie Fisher, Andy Irvine, Nathan Rogers) her songs.