Get to know Juno breakthrough group nominee the Jerry Cans

The Juno categories of breakthrough artist and group of the year have gone through a few different identities in their 44-year history, but what's never changed is the incredible pedigree of the categories' winners. A veritable who's who of now-established and future Canadian music industry icons have taken home these coveted Junos.

Breakthrough artist winners include Burton Cummings, k.d. lang, Colin James, Alanis Morissette, Jann Arden, Avril Lavigne, Michael Bublé, Feist, Drake, the Weeknd and Alessia Cara. The list of breakthrough group winners is equally star-studded: Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Rush, Glass Tiger, the Tragically Hip, Nickelback, Alexisonfire, Said the Whale and A Tribe Called Red.

This year's crop of nominated artists and groups features an exciting and diverse array of musicians. From Toronto-based R&B singer-songwriter Jessie Reyez and Montreal-based electro-pop singer-songwriter Charlotte Cardin to the Iqaluit-based folk-rock act the Jerry Cans and the Regina-based bluegrass band the Dead South, almost every music fan will find something to love in the nominees.

Think of the Junos as an opportunity to survey just a little bit more of the country's music scene, its depth and breadth, and then keep checking back every Thursday and Friday as CBC Music posts its handy primers for each artist and group, as well as some context to help deepen your appreciation of these great musicians.

Who: The Jerry Cans.

Where: Iqaluit, Nunavut.

Sound: Folk, Inuit throat singing, alt-country, Inuktitut roots music.

Why they're nominated: Though the band released its debut album, Nunavuttitut, in 2012, it's really in the last few years that the Jerry Cans (Andrew Morrison, Nancy Mike, Brendan Doherty, Gina Burgess and Steve Rigby) began to break out beyond northern Canada. They sing in both Inuktitut and English, and with the release of the band's third record, 2016's Inuusiq/Life, three of the Jerry Cans — Mike, Morrison, and Rigby — also co-founded Aakuluk Music, Nunavut's first record label.

Previously: Mike is also a nurse, and last year she co-authored a children's book, Elisapee and Her Baby Seagull. Burgess relocated from Halifax to Iqaluit after visiting as part of a cultural exchange program between the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts and the Iqaluit Fiddle Ensemble. Burgess is also a member of Gypsophilia.

Fun fact: Mike is the only Inuk member of the band, but her dad insisted that Morrison, her husband, learn Inuktitut so that the Indigenous language would be spoken in their home and passed on to their children.

Quote: "Some people have stereotypical ideas of Inuit [culture] or what it's like up here. And it can get frustrating and it can really get tiring to always have to educate non-stop when we're travelling, for example. But I'm very much passionate about my culture and who I am and where I come from, so I have that passion to just teach all the time, no matter what the circumstances are." — Mike to CBC Music, 2016

'Clouds' (2017)

'Arnalukaq' (2017)

'Northern Lights' (2016)

'Ukiuq' (2016)

Get to know Juno breakthrough artist nominee Allan Rayman

​Get to know Juno breakthrough group nominee James Barker Band

Wherever you are in the world, you can watch the 2018 Juno Awards broadcast live from the Rogers Arena in Vancouver on March 25 at cbcmusic.ca/junos.