Crystal Shawanda

Crystal Shawanda is an Ojibwe Potawatomi blues powerhouse from Wiikwemkoong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario — and one of the most remarkable careers in Canadian music. Raised on country by her parents and secretly captivated by Muddy Waters and Etta James drifting up from her brother's basement, she spent years navigating an industry that told her Indigenous artists didn't belong. She proved them spectacularly wrong. She became the first Indigenous woman in the Top 20 on the American Billboard Country chart, to sell over 300,000 records, and to sing at the Grand Ole Opry — then walked away from country to chase the blues she'd always loved. Her album Church House Blues made her the first Indigenous woman to win a Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year. Her voice is like nothing else: pure and precise, yet gritty and gutsy at the same time. Don't miss her.