Country singer Tenille Townes, alt-rock band the Sadies among early Juno winners

TORONTO – Country singer Tenille Townes and alternative-rock band the Sadies were among the early winners at Saturday night’s pre-telecast Juno Awards celebration.

The Grande Prairie, Alta.-raised Townes earned her second career Juno with “Masquerades,” named country album of the year at the Junos industry event, which is streaming live on YouTube and CBC Gem from the Edmonton Convention Centre.

Toronto band the Sadies marked a bittersweet victory as their album “Colder Streams” won the adult alternative album award. The honour comes hardly a year after their lead singer Dallas Good died unexpectedly at 48.

Other early winners included Montreal singer Rêve, who won dance recording of the year for her hit single “CTRL + ALT + DEL” and Greg Gow, who picked up underground dance single for “I Knew Techno”

More than 40 Juno categories will be handed out at the Juno Opening Night Awards, co-hosted by “Run the Burbs” star Andrew Phung and CBC Music’s Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe.

Toronto singer the Weeknd holds a leading six Juno nominations, with four of those categories set to be handed out tonight, including contemporary R&B recording, artist and single of the year.

Tied with five nods this year are Napanee, Ont., pop princess Avril Lavigne and Calgary newcomer Tate McRae. They’ll compete with each other in two of those categories tonight — single and pop album of the year.

The headline Juno Awards show airs live on CBC and CBC Gem on Monday, hosted by Simu Liu with performances from Tate McRae, Tenille Townes and Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Nickelback.

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Listen to a playlist of 2023 Juno Award nominees on Spotify: https://bit.ly/CPJunos2023

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 11, 2023.

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