New book tries to prove that the Junos matter

If you, like most Canadians, don’t watch the Juno Awards, a new book is trying to convince you to tune in. The new coffee table book Music From Far and Wide: Celebrating 40 Years of the Juno Awards chronicles the country’s musical history back to 1970 when the awards began.

Nearly every Canadian music icon from the past four decades gets their due: The Tragically Hip, Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies, Céline Dion, Leonard Cohen, The Guess Who, Joni Mitchell, Feist and even Justin Bieber are all featured, many as first-time Juno winners getting their first taste of Canadian fame.

Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy, who wrote Music From Far and Wide‘s foreword, says both the book and the awards reveal the constant evolution of Canada’s music industry. “I feel like the Junos have been part of the maturing of the Canadian industry, and today I think we can drop the comparisons to the U.S.,” he told the National Post. “If I ever hear anyone say the Junos are the Canadian Grammy again, it will be too soon.” We couldn’t agree more.

• According to a new book, the Junos are definitely not the Grammys [National Post]