'I'm soaking it in': Popular Maritime musician nominated for 2022 Juno Award

The nominations for the 2022 Juno Awards were announced this week and among the talented musicians up for an award on the biggest night in Canadian music is a Maritime favourite.

David Myles' first instrumental album called "That Tall Distance" is up for the Instrumental Album of the Year.

"I grew up with instrumental music. I grew up in school band. I grew up as a trumpet player. I listened to tons of instrumental music and so, I always had a dream that I would make an instrumental record someday," says Myles.

When he heard the news of the nomination, Myles says he was shocked and delighted.

"I've done this now long enough to realize these things, you can't take them for granted," he says. "They're really special moments. They don’t happen every year, they don't happen every album, and you know, there's lots you can't control but when they do happen, you got to celebrate them."

The album is made with six musical collaborators, and was considered a pandemic passion project.

"All of these musicians were so excited to play on it and I was happy to have them playing on it," says Myles. "It brought so much joy to otherwise difficult months."

This Juno-nod isn't the first for Myles.

"I've been lucky enough to win a Juno before with Classified and that was an amazing experience," he says.

Myles won Rap Recording of the Year for his collaboration on Classified's smash-hit "Inner Ninja."

This time, Myles says the nomination is special in a different way.

"This one's a little different because it's my project, it has my name on it," Myles says. "It's just kind of reaffirming that, ok, there’s another chapter. It wasn’t just one experience that was going to get me to the Juno's. Now, this is a completely different thing, a different collaboration with different people, so it's amazing."

The Juno Awards is back to an in-person event in Toronto this year – something Myles says he is looking forward to.

"Oh yeah, I'm going," he says. "As soon as the nomination came in, I was like, 'I'm going.' Maybe before I might have been on the fence, but now I kind of see these moments as just being, you know, they're special, they're rare. I mean, maybe for some people they get nominated every year, but not me, so I'm going. I'm soaking it in."

After a whirlwind couple of days, Myles says he's mostly grateful for all the support.

"I'm feeling the love. It's been a difficult couple of years for musicians," Myles says. "There's moments where you really question what you're doing, what the purpose is if you're not able to go out and do shows. So, to get these kind of moments and then your fan-base really rallies behind you... it feels great. It feels really great."