From the suburbs to the stage: 2 of this year's Juno nominees for best country album are rooted in B.C.

Courtney Dickson · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 27, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

About 5 years ago, Tyler Joe Miller says helium was "swinging a hammer," moving arsenic a carpenter and location painter, and conscionable starting to interruption into the Canadian state euphony scene. 

On Christmas Day 2019, helium released his archetypal single, Pillow Talkin', and his archetypal EP came retired the pursuing twelvemonth later. Miller has since been nominated for respective Canadian Country Music Awards (CCMAs), including Songwriter of the Year successful 2023. 

Now, he's nominated for Country Album of the Year for his latest EP, Going Home, astatine the 2025 Juno Awards.  

"This worldly is crazy," helium told Gloria Macarenko, the big of  CBC's On The Coast. "It inactive blows my caput that this is thing that I get to bash for a living."

WATCH | Tyler Joe Miller's What Good Is a Memory:

Miller is connected the shortlist with Alberta stars Brett Kissel and MacKenzie Porter, Ontario's Josh Ross — who is up for 5 awards this twelvemonth — and chap British Columbian Dallas Smith. 

While Miller grew up successful Surrey, helium and Smith some enactment down roots successful Langley, B.C. — a assemblage extracurricular the hustle and bustle of Vancouver, wherever country-loving souls tin bask the agrarian surroundings and, successful Miller's case, rise immoderate chickens. 

"[There's] thing successful the water," Smith told Stephen Quinn, the big of The Early Edition. "I mean, the city's motto was wherever metropolis meets country, right?"

His self-titled album, released successful precocious 2023, is simply a Juno contender this outpouring and was already nominated for Album of the Year astatine the 2024 CCMAs. 

Smith hasn't ever been a state king; successful fact, his vocation started successful 1999 arsenic the frontman for Default, a Canadian stone radical that released 4 albums implicit 8 years and won a Juno for Best New Group successful 2002. 

But helium said he's ever loved state music. 

"I'm a large believer successful a bully opus is simply a bully song." 

WATCH | Dallas Smith's How Do You Miss Me:

Smith precocious played the Grand Ole Opry successful Nashville, Tenn., a imagination for immoderate state musician. 

"It was incredible," helium said. "To really get the invitation from the Opry … it's rather an amazing, humbling experience." 

Miller spent immoderate clip successful Nashville himself recently, penning caller songs and shooting a euphony video. 

Upon his accomplishment home, helium went to Aldergrove to prime up immoderate chicks — babe chickens, that is. 

"We moved to a spot present [and] it had similar a benignant of an aged chickenhearted coop that needed immoderate fixing up, truthful I spent the past small spot fixing her up, and we're putting the tally successful beauteous soon here," Miller said. "We're benignant of learning however to instrumentality attraction of chickens now, I guess."

Now, the 2 Langley-based artists volition look disconnected connected Sunday astatine the 2025 Juno Awards, wherever they're up against immoderate stiff competition. 

"I'll conscionable instrumentality an Uber down," Smith said with a laugh. "I'm looking guardant to it. I mean, the Junos aren't present precise often, truthful I'm going to bask that and bask it being successful my backyard."