Janaya McCallum

Raised in rural Saskatchewan and now living north of the Arctic Circle, Janaya McCallum is a songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist who has enjoyed a lively music career so far in her life. Born into what became the award-winning bluegrass family band The Trudel Family, McCallum spent over 15 years touring across the country with her parents and siblings in a 6-piece bluegrass-country band. In 2016, she and her sister Jolissa formed their current folk-roots duo, Jay & Jo. Since then, they have released three full-length studio albums, the most recent (Ahatonhia) being self-produced by McCallum. The sister’s music has earned them such honours as being named 2019’s SCMA Roots Artist of the Year, Saskmusic’s #6 best album of 2020, Planet Magazine’s Top 3 Best Albums of the Year, and one of BreakOutWest’s showcased artists during Americanafest in Nashville. Independent of this, McCallum has also been named SCMA Fiddler of the Year twice and has played for audiences large and small from coast to coast, down to Nashville, over the pond to the UK, and back again. She is overjoyed to join and learn from the incredibly rich well of talent in the north!