An album recorded in Horsefly has won a Canadian JUNO Award.
Pharis and Jason Romero’s album A Wanderer I’ll Stay won the 2016 JUNO Award for Traditional Roots Album of the Year.
“We’re absolutely over the moon and can’t believe how lucky we feel to be a part of this huge Canadian music community,” Pharis said. “To be able to live in a small rural community and be part of the larger Canadian music community is a real privilege. We are just honoured and tickled. We’re pretty excited about it.”
They received the news of their win through tweets and emails received Saturday night from friends after being out for a walk near their home in Horsefly.
They were unable to attend the banquet where the JUNO Awards were announced Saturday evening or the JUNO Awards show broadcast on CTV Sunday night from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary because Pharis is due to have their second baby any day now.
“It’s going to be a great summer,” Jason said. “We are just obviously over the moon here and very happy. It is an amazing honour given all of the other nominees.”
Jason said they will be taking the rest of the year off from touring to concentrate on their growing family and build a large addition to their home.
But he said they are already booked for performance tours in B.C. and Alberta for 2017.
While they were not able to pick up their award in person, Jason and Pharis were able to participate in the final Safety Meeting concert of the season held Friday evening at the Central Cariboo Arts Centre.
Jason performed with the local band The New Normal with Brent Morton, and Brandon Hoffman, while Pharis looked on with their two-year-old daughter, Indigo, on her lap.
Their JUNO Award winning album, A Wanderer I’ll Stay was produced on the Borealis*eOne label with instrumental guests on fiddle, bass, pedal steel and even drums. They thank David Travers-Smith who recorded the album, Marc Jenkins, Josh Rabie, John Hurd, and Brentsky Moretone, for their incredible engineering, mastering and playing on the album that was recorded at their home in Horsefly.
Other nominees in the JUNO’s Traditional Roots Album category were The Chance by J.P. Cormier, Independent* Fontana North; Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project Jayme Stone Borealis* eOne; Domestic Eccentric, by Old Man Luedecke True North* eOne; Songs in the Dark by The Wainwright Sisters, Maple Music* Fontana North.
A Wanderer I’ll Stay is the latest in a string of critically acclaimed, award-winning albums from the Romeros and was also nominated for four Canadian Folk Music Awards, while the title track was 2015’s number one most-played song on the Folk-DJ charts.
A Wanderer I’ll Stay has been called “sublime” (NPR) and “brilliant” (BBC).
Since first finding each other in 2007 Jason and Pharis have released five albums, three as a duo.
In March the Romeros also recorded two songs for a compilation album of Woody Guthrie songs being put together by Ben Hunter, Joe Seamons, Jon Neufeld and Bill Murling.
Jason said each of the contributors has two songs on the album which is due out in October.
Jason, who is originally from the U.S., said he has also passed the test to become a Canadian citizen and will soon have dual U.S./Canadian citizenship.
A review of A Wanderer I’ll Stay is also posted on the JUNO Awards website.
The JUNO Awards are presented annually by The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
