Watch D'orjay the Singing Shaman and Shaela Miller kick off Road to the Junos
The musicians deliver soulful performances for the first Road to the Junos concert
To celebrate the 52nd Juno Awards taking place in Edmonton, CBC Music and the Junos 2023 Edmonton Host Committee present Road to the Junos, a concert series spotlighting local musicians in the Alberta capital.
For the first performances, country musicians D'orjay the Singing Shaman and opener Shaela Miller each performed their songs for a crowd at 99Ten in Edmonton.
Sparkling in a beaded fringed jacket and matching eyeshadow, Miller opened the show with "Start a Fire," one of her upbeat, honky-tonk songs.
"I love being a part of the Alberta music scene," she told CBC Music.
Accompanied by backup singers, D'orjay the Singing Shaman then belted out several soulful songs including "Well" and "New Kind of Outlaw" for an illuminating performance, sporting dazzling lights in their afro as part of their ensemble.
"I've been practising, I've been rehearsing, I've been doing my stretches," they told the crowd with a laugh, as the audience cheered for D'orjay's gospel-tinged, bluesy set.
"Through my training as a shaman, I came to the realization and understanding that music was very much a healing modality for me, in particular, writing songs and writing about my experiences and my traumas and my wounds," they told CBC Music.
You can watch both performances above.
Simu Liu is back to host the 2023 Juno Awards on Monday, March 13, at 8 p.m ET. Tune in on CBC, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music and CBC Listen, and stream globally on cbcmusic.ca/junos.
