Take the polished pop safety pins out of the Dixie Chicks shtick and you're left with something more organic like Canadian songbirds, The Wailin' Jennys Take the polished pop safety pins out of the Dixie Chicks shtick and you're left with something more organic like Canadian songbirds, The Wailin' Jennys. Their sophomore set carries the same torch as the first, but David Travers-Smith's tidy production fleshes out the earthy arrangements with distinctive modern edges. The ear candy is subtle, which goes a long way to preserving their prairie-girl authenticity, and each Jenny sings her own songs. Cara Luft's replacement, Annabelle Chvostek, comes equipped with a supportive lower register, thus further balancing the harmonies and avoiding any annoying, treble-heavy tweet. With her handy mandolin and fiddle playing, a few of these thirteen originals could easily pass for traditional, most notably "Glory Bound," and "Starlight."
Firecracker - The Wailin' Jennys
Heavenly vocals from sublime female singer-songwriting team. This Canadian trio of Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Annabelle Chvostek are almost too good to be true. Heavenly vocals from sublime female singer-songwriting.
This Canadian trio of Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Annabelle Chvostek are almost too good to be true. All are lead singers of angelic purity, while together their exquisite three part-harmonies make them sound like a heavenly choir. All write memorably melodic songs in a timeless folk/country vein and between them they play guitar, banjo, mandolin, accordion, fiddle and harmonica.
Firecracker, their second album and first since Chvostek joined the line-up, is an exquisite gem, featuring 13 songs that burn and ache with almost unbearable emotion. Moody’s “Prairie Town” is probably the most heartbreaking song you will hear this year, though Mehta’s “Begin” runs it close. “Apocalypse Lullaby,” from the pen of Chvostek, is a lovely, gentle acoustic wonder, while “Some Good Thing” finds them rocking with carefree, rootsy abandon.
Imagine Alison Krauss fronting a down-home Dixie Chicks with the Be Good Tanyas providing the backing vocals and you get somewhere close. Yes, improbable as it may sound, The Wailin’ Jennys really are that good.
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The Wailin' Jennys on PBS
Award-winning folk trio The Wailin’ Jennys will make its American television debut this weekend performing in a special Independence Day edition of Garrison Keillor’s famed A Prairie Home Companion along with the regular cast and guest star, Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep Award-winning folk trio The Wailin’ Jennys will make its American television debut this weekend performing in a special Independence Day edition of Garrison Keillor’s famed A Prairie Home Companion along with the regular cast and guest star, Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep. The show, which has been broadcast on National Public Radio since 1974, will be telecast across the U.S. and Canada on PBS’s popular Great Performances on July 2 and again on July 9, and to NPR’s radio audiences on July 1.
The Wailin’ Jennys, who took home the 2005 JUNO Award for Roots/Traditional Album of the Year for its full-length debut 40 Days, is in the midst of a five-month North American tour that will also have the band return to the U.K. for the third time. The trio has spent the latter part of June as part of the A Prairie Home Companion tour with dates in the American northeast, having recently returned from a successful tour of Australia. Over the past year, The Wailin’ Jennys have made several appearances on A Prairie Home Companion, winning over legions of new fans south of the border.
”It's a very exciting opportunity and because we've had some experience already with Garrison and the cast and crew, we know we're in good hands so that takes away a little part of the nervousness,” says band member Nicky Mehta of the telecast. “It's always an honour to appear on the show and the idea of being on Great Performances is particularly humbling.”
"A televised event like this has the potential to bring the Jennys' music to a much broader audience, and this is not only great for the band, but also great for everyone who will discover this exceptionally talented trio," says Sam Baardman, Executive Director of the Manitoba Audio Recording Industry Assocation (MARIA). "Manitobans should be extremely proud that the Jennys have established such a strong and successful reputation in international markets."
Featuring three established singer/songwriters ǃ
The Wailin' Jennys - Firecracker
Catch lightning in a bottle once you're lucky. Catch it twice and magic comes into play. The Wailin' Jennys new album is a case in point Catch lightning in a bottle once you're lucky. Catch it twice and magic comes into play. The Wailin' Jennys new album is a case in point. Original singer Cara Luft left after the band's first release. Disaster? Hardly. Local gal about town Annabelle Chvostek stepped in and the harmony trio didn't miss a beat. Their new release is a wonder of three-part harmonies, musicianship and songcraft. Chvostek, Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody all contribute tunes that mesh seamlessly with the lone traditional number, “Long Time Traveler”. In full vocal flight, the Jennys fall into formation like geese on the wing, effortlessly, intuitively. It's a thing of beauty.
Rating: 4
The Wailin' Jennys - Firecracker
Three fine singer-songwriters from Winnipeg, the Jennys tap a breezy vein of folk-country tradition on their faultless second album Three fine singer-songwriters from Winnipeg, the Jennys tap a breezy vein of folk-country tradition on their faultless second album. Acoustic guitars, spacious harmonies and the backporch tones of mandolin and violin set the mood. Yet rather than opting for a less-is-more strategy, producer David Travers-Smith colours in the sonic gaps with real artistry. And the trio isn’t afraid to shadow its beautiful sound with sobering reality checks (“Apocalypse Lullaby”) and a zen nod to our collective “live and die and gone” destiny. This Firecracker is no damp squib.
The Wailin' Jennys - Firecracker
Winnipeg vocal trio The Wailin' Jennys made two good moves since their inaugural 2004 CD: they found a solid replacement for departed founding member Cara Luft in singer and multi-instrumentalist Annabelle Chvostek, and they brought all-star instrumentalist Kevin Breit aboard for this, the group's second CD Winnipeg vocal trio The Wailin' Jennys made two good moves since their inaugural 2004 CD: they found a solid replacement for departed founding member Cara Luft in singer and multi-instrumentalist Annabelle Chvostek, and they brought all-star instrumentalist Kevin Breit aboard for this, the group's second CD. No sophomore jinx, here. The aptly titled Firecracker lights up the aural sky with 12 rich original songs, plus one traditional number. With all due respect to Luft, the group is stronger for the changes it has made. This is apparent from the opening track, Chvostek's “The Devil's Paintbrush Road,” a rhythmic number fuelled by the songwriter's strong lead vocal and violin, the group's sweet harmonies, and by Breit's incisive dobro playing. Ruth Moody's “Glory Bound,” first of several lovely ballads, could be something from the American Civil War, with Moody's banjo and Chvostek's violin underscoring the lyrics about "crossin' o'er the great divide." Third Jenny, Nicky Mehta, contributes a haunting song about a failed relationship with “Begin,” the key lyric being the line, "Hey, let go." Two of the strongest songs are Moody's “Prairie Town,” on which Breit plays electric and National guitars as well as mandolin, and the traditional Long Time Traveller, performed a cappella with all three voices in perfect alignment.
4 out of 5 stars
The Wailin' Jennys - Firecracker
Though Cara Luft, a founding member of the Wailin' Jennys, was replaced by Annabelle Chvostek, the band's tight harmonies and pretty folk songs haven't changed at all on their second album, Firecracker. In fact, they've even gotten better Though Cara Luft, a founding member of the Wailin' Jennys, was replaced by Annabelle Chvostek, the band's tight harmonies and pretty folk songs haven't changed at all on their second album, Firecracker. In fact, they've even gotten better. Chvostek's voice is seductively low and versatile, and it blends well with and adds a lot of strength and depth to the higher ranges that Ruth Moody and Nicky Mehta provide. All three Jennys are also great songwriters, and everything on the album is well done, with thoughtful reflective lyrics about love and friendship and death, the cold autumn wind of the Canadian prairie blowing through the record, shaping and influencing the mandolin, the banjo, the acoustic guitar, the violin, the National Steel. It's music with a dark, sweet edge, like it understands the pain in the world but still chooses to focus on what's good instead. "Swallow," however, in its attempt to maintain rhythm and rhyme the lyrics can occasionally sound a little corny ("You got me, arrow shot me/Now come connect the dot me"), lilts along like the bird itself as it explores love's transience while "Avila" is simple and pretty, with a delicate chorus of "O sweet peace never have you fallen/never have you fallen upon this town," sung in three-part harmony, that sense of longing lodged between the notes of a slow, aching electric guitar solo that winds its way through the song. A similar feeling is also apparent in "Glory Bound," manifested as a desire for a reprieve from life's hardships. It's not morbid, it's simply sad and honest in that uplifting way that only country and folk music can be. There is a melancholy that lies within many of the Wailin' Jennys' songs, but there's still an overwhelming sense of hope and happiness that is even stronger, and makes Firecracker a really great, uncontrived album.
4 out of 5 stars
Songs with a bang
With a baker's dozen of fresh, rootsy songs and their signature heart-stopping harmonies, the Wailin' Jennys' second recording should prove explosive for their careers With a baker's dozen of fresh, rootsy songs and their signature heart-stopping harmonies, the Wailin' Jennys' second recording should prove explosive for their careers.
The three Canadians, Annabelle Chvostek, Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody already have won the admiration of Garrison Keillor, who featured them on his popular program “A Prairie Home Companion," heard on National Public Radio.
The first Wailin' Jennys disc, 40 Days, with vocalist Cara Luft, earned the trio a 2005 Juno -- the Canadian equivalent of the Grammy award, for Roots and Traditional Album of the Year.
Miss Luft left the group and was replaced by Miss Chvostek. The Jennys' sound remains as pure as a mountain stream, though, and just about as bubbly. With claw hammer banjo, mandolin and fiddle high in the mix, producer David Travers-Smith capitalized on the trio's penchant for the old-time sound, adding just the edge of rock guitars, percussion, organ and horns to make the disc palatable for modern tastes.
Each of the women wrote four songs for the recording, and the first four set the tone for the rest of the disc. Miss Chvostek wrote "The Devil's Paintbrush Road," with its hooky refrain, plus "Live and die and gone," followed by Miss Moody's composition, "Glory Bound," practically a hymn complete with "hallelujahs." Either of these songs would be welcomed by the most die-hard traditional music lover.
With Miss Mehta's "Begin," the Jennys steer into more of a pop sound with layered, sustained harmony vocals, tinged with accordion and fiddle. The disc hits its stride on Miss Moody's "Things That You Know," with goosebump-inducing three-part harmonies backed by a rhythm-and-bluesy combo that includes mandolin.
The Jennys' a capella arrangement of the traditional "Long Time Traveller" would have been at home on the "O Brother" soundtrack.
These songs have a hint of folk politics. What traditional recording would be complete without a call for peace?
But this is not peace in the sense of protest; rather, it calls for universal justice. In "Avila," with its refrain "O sweet peace," Miss Mehta writes, "I will not rest until this place is full of sunlight/Or at least until the darkness is quiet for a while."
The lyrics also display a playful quality at times. Miss Chvostek writes in "Swallow," "You got me, arrow shot me/Now come connect-the-dot me."
This isn't your grandfather's folk music. There are no ballads with 20 verses -- no heart-rending tales of woe, murder, freight trains or rivers.
Yet in the Wailin' Jennys' pleasant, well-produced songs there is an undercurrent of a century and more of homespun songwriting, set to musical sounds that conjure traditional themes and images. It was the formula for success in the 1950s and early '60s for groups like the Kingston Trio, Limeliters and Brothers Four.
Could Firecracker ignite another folk boom?