5 Hamilton acts up for Juno awards

Five Hamilton musical acts are up for Juno awards this year.

The Arkells, Steve Strongman, Monster Truck, Diana Panton and The City Harmonic are all in the running for Canada's top music prize April 15 to 21.

The Arkells are up for songwriter of the year. Monster Truck is nominated for breakthrough group, competing with a slate of acts that includes Burlington's Walk Off the Earth.

Steve Strongman is nominated for blues album of the year, while Diana Panton is up for vocal jazz album of the year. The City Harmonic is nominated for contemporary Christian/gospel album of the year.

Strongman told CBC Hamilton earlier this year that he wanted to take listeners to the primal roots of blues with his album A Natural Fact.

"Acoustic blues is the heart of so many styles of music," Strongman said. "That's something that I wanted to get closer to."