Junos 365 sessions: Megan Bonnell covers Blue Rodeo's 'Try'
'It never gets old, this song,' says the Toronto-based singer-songwriter
As part of our coverage of the 2019 Juno Awards, we're inviting some of today's hottest Canadian acts to cover a past winner in the single of the year category.
"I chose 'Try' by Blue Rodeo because it's always been a favourite of mine, since I was little," explained Toronto-based singer-songwriter Megan Bonnell when she arrived at CBC's Studio 211 for her Junos 365 session. Watch her performance, above.
"It's one of those songs that comes on the radio, and you can't help but crank it up and sing along with Jim [Cuddy]'s vocals," she continued. "His voice just kind of soars and cuts through everything and it's so beautiful."
"Try" was single of the year at the 1989 Juno Awards. For her cover, 30 years later, Bonnell sings from the piano and is joined by Chris Stringer (electric guitar), Michael Eckert (pedal steel guitar), Devon Henderson (bass) and Josh Van Tassel (drums). The backup vocalists are Kate Rogers and Lydia Persaud.
"The original is just perfect, so we didn't want to mess with it too much," says Bonnell. "It was fun with female vocals and then having the two backup vocalists as well, it was really nice to play with that."
Wherever you are on March 17, you can watch the Juno Awards live from Budweiser Gardens in London, Ont., at cbcmusic.ca/junos.