Station to Station with Joe Pavia

Loreena McKennit will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in a ceremony on May 15, 2025.

McKennitt is one of five Canadian artists being honoured for “achieving commercial success while having an artistic impact on the Canadian music scene at home and around the world.”

In her over 20 year career she has won multiple awards, sold over 14 million albums around the world, manages herself, producers her own work on her own record label and organizes her own tours.

“In this era of unregulated technology, building a career like mine all over again would be almost impossible today,” said McKennit in a statement posted to her website.”

McKennitt was asked about the “independent root of her success” during a backstage media conference after her break through album “The Visit” won a Canadian music award, a JUNO in 1992. The reporter asked what lesson up and coming musicians could learn from her early journey.

“One’s greatest resource is themself. And I think one should really seize their destiny in the broadest sense of the term,” said McKennitt at the 1992 JUNOS.

“When I produced my first recording, the method that I repaid that modest loan back was to go busk on the street.”

I was first introduced to Loreena McKennitt in 1992 when she won her award in the category for “Best Roots and Traditional Album.”

The results of the voted ended in a tie. I recorded the audio of that backstage Q and A and have posted it to this blog.