(Supplied)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

former red deer royal

Sylvan Lake’s Brianna Lizotte reveling in Juno nomination for ‘Winston & I’

Mar 5, 2025 | 12:38 PM

Sylvan Lake’s Brianna Lizotte is ecstatic about recently being named a Juno Awards nominee.

Lizotte, who is Métis, is nominated in the category for Traditional Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year — for her album ‘Winston & I.’

The album features Lizotte, who now lives in Edmonton, showcasing her craft as a fiddler

“I was lucky enough to have a really great recording studio back me up with recording and producing [the album],” she says of MacEwan University’s Bent River Records.

Album cover for ‘Winston & I’ by Brianna Lizotte. (Supplied)

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“I had set an alarm for 8:30 because the nominations were coming out at 9 a.m… I told myself I had to be realistic, and I didn’t really want to stay up and get myself all hyped just to get disappointed.”

Lizotte did go back to sleep, but was woken up by her husband, she recalls, asking her to read his phone.

“My name popped up on the ‘Traditional Indigenous’ category and we both kind of freaked out a little bit because this was huge, you know… this is crazy. I really was not expecting it and was in shock for a few days. It took me a good week to grasp.”

Lizotte really committed to music around the age of 10, when several family members who were also musically gifted passed away, and she wanted to keep that common thread of her family alive.

She has since competed twice in the Canadian Grand Masters, as well as at music festivals across Alberta, and was a 2022 recipient of the MusiCounts Accelerate Scholarship.

Lizotte is also an alumnus of the Red Deer Royals marching band, and now teaches fiddle lessons herself.

“I honestly feel like I’ve won already, just being nominated and being able to go to such a prestigious event. It’s one of the biggest deals in Canadian music, and in the music industry,” the MacEwan music program grad says.

“Uncles, cousins, my great grandfather, they were all performers. They were a big influence on who I was as a young child. I was always inspired by what they did, who they were, and how they entertained. It was a natural progression that I would not only pick up the fiddle, but go into a career as a professional full-time musician, plus teaching in schools some of the history.”

‘Winston & I’ is a collection of original songs by Lizotte, now 24, that she’s written since turning 16. She plays them on a fiddle that used to belong to renowned and respected Cree fiddler and Elder Winston Wuttunee, who is from Saskatchewan.

The entire album is instrumental, making it all the more impressive that Lizotte can tell a story throughout it.

“The theme of the album is my life; it starts at 16, when I wrote a waltz for my grandparents, and that was my way of showing respect for my family and honouring where I came from,” she says.

“For a few years, I went to MacEwan and that was during COVID, which was a trying time; so there’s my COVID song, that every musician has, on there. Then there are a couple more that go through the ups and downs of my life, including one about my sister.”

‘Winston & I’ is available to listen to on all music streaming platforms, and Lizotte’s show listing is on her website.

The 2025 Juno Awards, celebrating the best in Canadian music, go March 30 in Vancouver.

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READ MORE: Juno nomination comes calling again for Red Deer Symphony Orchestra’s Claude Lapalme

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