Jason and Pharis Romero, of Horsefly are thrilled to see their 2015 album A Wanderer I’ll Stay nominated for a JUNO Award.
“It was a nice surprise,” said Jason Wednesday evening from their home in Horsefly.
A Wanderer I’ll Stay is one of five albums nominated in the Traditional Roots Album of the Year category.
With instrumental guests on fiddle, bass, pedal steel and even drums, the album was recorded by David-Travers-Smith at the Romero’s home in Horsefly.
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 Music) and “brilliant” (BBC).
Since first finding each other in 2007 Jason and Pharis have released five albums, three as a duo.
A Passing Glimpse, the Romero’s first duo album in 2011 won the 2012 Canadian Folk Music Award for Emerging Artist of the Year among other accolades.
Their second duo album, Long Gone Out West Blues, released in 2013, won a Canadian Folk Music Award for Traditional Singer and a nomination for Traditional Album of the Year, two Western Canadian Music Awards nominations, and an Independent Music Award nomination for Americana Album of the Year.
While they are on the road a lot with their music, the Romeros’ roots are in Horsefly where they make music, custom banjos and raise their family.
The Romeros performed in Williams Lake for a sell-out crowd at the Safety Meeting Concert held at the Central Cariboo Arts Centre on Jan. 22 and are lined up to perform in Conway WA, Feb. 11 and Olympia WA at the Oly Old Time Festival Feb. 12 to 14.
They have toured extensively around North America and the United Kingdom.
Performance highlights include several appearances on A Prairie Home Companion; a tour with The Vinyl Cafe; the Winnipeg, Vancouver and Edmonton Folk Music Festivals, Celtic Connections and Pickathon.
The Romeros also spend much of their year teaching at music camps and workshops including Voiceworks, BC Bluegrass Workshops, Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, Fiddle Works, 108 Mile Bluegrass Camp, Georgia Straight Guitar Workshop, and others.
The 45th annual JUNO Awards will be broadcast on CTV from the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Sunday, April 3.
Other nominees in JUNO’s Traditional Roots Album category are:
The Chance by J.P. Cormier.
Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project, Jayme Stone.
Domestic Eccentric, by Old Man Luedecke.
Songs in the Dark by The Wainwright Sisters.
