Saskatoon band The Sheepdogs to headline Junos kick-off concert

The Sheepdogs will headline this year's Junos kick-off concert in Saskatoon on March 12.

The Juno award-winning Sheepdogs will be joined by other notableartists including Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductee Jim Cuddy from Blue Rodeo and members ofBilly Talent, Eagle & Hawk, Hollerado, The Hunter Brothers, Splash'n Bootsand The Strumbellas.

Proceeds from the event support MusiCounts, Canada's music education charity associated with the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciencesand the Juno Awards.

Tickets for the kick-off event, which is presented by CBC Sports, are now on sale online at Showpass.

"Music programs in schools are something that is not only important to us as a band but something that helped make us the band we are," said Sheepdogs bass guitarist Ryan Gullenin a media release.

"[Fellow Sheepdog Ewan Currie]and I met in Grade 7 as part of our schools' zone band while both playing the clarinet. The fundamentals we learned during this time contributed to us evolving as musicians later in life," Gullen said.

"We are very excited to be a part of this event and using our music to help bring money directly to improve school music programs in our hometown."

The concert will be held March 12 at the Coors Event Centre on Second Avenue.

Doors open at 7 p.m. CST with the show starting at 8 p.m.

Juno week begins March 9 and culminates with the 49th annual Juno Awards on March 15 at SaskTel Centre.

Anyone interested in volunteering can find more info here.

Any artists looking to be part of JUNOfest can find out more info here.

The Junos will be broadcast live on CBC, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, the free CBC Gem streaming service in Canada and globally at cbcmusic.ca/junos.