Hello!

It is Monday the 9th and we are still in Lunenburg--the show last night went very well and we had the pleasure of having David Francey, Dave Clarke, and Ken Whitely on stage with us for a couple of songs. What a treat! We leave tomorrow for Halifax where Ruth and Nicky will fly home and Cara will travel on to meet up with some friends down south. Then, we will gather next week in Calgary to shoot the video for "Beautiful Dawn".

After that, we head back to Ontario for Summerfolk in Owen Sound. We'll check back in to let you know how the video went.

Hello all,

After a truly fulfilling week of teaching harmony lessons to some very fine people in Goderich, Ontario, we are in gorgeous Lunenburg, Nova Scotia at the Lunenburg Folk Harbour Festival and we are about to head to the main stage tent to catch our favourites Suzie Vinnick and David Francey. The festival has been wonderful so far (if a bit wet) and it's very refreshing to be so close to the ocean.

We still have our main stage set to go so we are trying to preserve our voices, but in true Maritime fashion, the parties are quite good here and hard to avoid. We've also tracked down some excellent seafood chowder (Cara is not imbibing, of course) and we're filling up as per usual. We're home next week for a couple of days and then back out to Calgary and Owen Sound. We'll keep ya posted!

Mourning a Guitar and Celebrating Lunenburg

Greetings everyone,Checking in from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Lunenburg's downtown is an historical site and the buildings are stunning. It's a beautiful area of the country and I feel so fortunate to be here. We have been billeted by some very generous people, Bill and Lynn Richardson and we are having a great time performing and finding some authentic east coast food with which to gorge ourselves.Speaking of which, Ruth and I sunk to a new low last night. We ordered "Fronions" (fries and onion rings) and due to the small percentage of onion rings, (and our gluttony of course) proceeded to eat an onion ring that had fallen on the grass of the CD tent (ie. high-traffic grass). How can you tell it's the end of a tour?As much as I love being out here, I am fairly ready to go home. I had a bit of an upset, to say the least, when my guitar was killed by an airline which shall remain nameless until I sort everything out with them (but suffice it to say that they have enough troubles right now that they should be trying to keep the passengers they currently have). We often have a lot of issues with our equipment when flying and in this case, my guitar was left out in a torrential rainstorm while we were changing flights in Calgary. The case filled with water and my beautiful guitar (on which I have written almost all of my songs) warped beyond repair.Thanks to John Sharples (thank you, John!), I was able to work with my insurance company and I bought a new guitar in Guelph, Ontario. It is truly beautiful. Still, to lose a guitar is a fairly devastating thing and there have been some sad days lately. I only hope that my new guitar will inspire some new songs and that I will grow as fond of it as I did of my Morgan.Sad news aside, things are going well our here. We had a truly magical time at the Goderich Celtic college and we miss our students (from our harmony classes) already. If you are ever through that way in the summer and can sign up for the courses, it is well worth it. Some of the finest players from all over the world teach at this school. It was an incredible experience for us to be included in the lineup and we can't speak highly enough of everyone involved in the college and festival. Check it out.Time to go over to the main stage and catch Suzie Vinnick and David Francey. I'll write more later.

Reviews

Cara Luft, Nicky Mehta, and Ruth Moody were each enjoying substantive individual careers on the Canadian folk music scene when they joined forces for an impromptu show at a friend’s guitar shop Cara Luft, Nicky Mehta, and Ruth Moody were each enjoying substantive individual careers on the Canadian folk music scene when they joined forces for an impromptu show at a friend’s guitar shop. One show led to another and a band was born. Now the estimable Red House label brings the Jennys Stateside with their first full-length release, 40 Days. Consisting of two traditional Celtic tunes, two covers (Neil Young’s “Old Man” and John Hiatt’s “Take It Down”), and a democratic showcase of their own compositions, the album practically bursts at the seams with an infectious, collaborative energy. Unpredictable vocal arrangements feature short solo turns that subtly blossom into choir-robe-perfect harmony, each lady staking claim to a unique vocal range and handing off ownership of the melody. The writing is appealingly diverse in style, yet unified by a soulful, lyrical quality, vigorous rhythm guitars, and those exquisite harmonies. Impeccably produced by David Travers-Smith, this is one of the most exciting new folk bands and albums of 2004.

The Wailin Jennys - 40 Days

Sure they have a witty name. But don't be fooled into thinking that 40 Days is some kinda countrified hoe-down because Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Cara Luft are on a mission to restore tasteful three part harmony and good old fashioned melody back to its proper place in the forefront of intelligent pop music The Wailin Jennys 40 Days

Sure they have a witty name. But don't be fooled into thinking that 40 Days is some kinda countrified hoe-down because Ruth Moody, Nicky Mehta and Cara Luft are on a mission to restore tasteful three part harmony and good old fashioned melody back to its proper place in the forefront of intelligent pop music.

You remember melodious harmony, don't you? Once upon a time it used to be a major mainstay of pop music, as made manifest by such primo practitioners of the art as the Everly Brothers; the Kingston Trio; Peter, Paul and Mary; the Pointer Sisters; and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

And speaking of Young, it's no surprise that the Jennys cover Neil's "Old Man" on track seven because long before that you're already being reminded of albums like Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and After The Gold Rush.

Tonally, there's more than hint of Joni Mitchell when she was in her vocal prime, but there's also the kind of understated powerful authority that subtly evokes echoes of Grace Slick at her most confident.

All three women are ace songwriters in their own right, with my own particular favorites being Cara's aching "Untitled" and their shimmering a capella cover of the standard "The Parting Glass."

So if you like tasteful acoustic guitars and violins accompanying three women who actually know how to sing?as opposed to the egotistical ululating that passes as singing these days?then this album is for you.

File under: Intelligent, Harmony, Melody, It's About Time.

Hi again,

We're back in Canada and ready to head over to Goderich to teach some harmony lessons! We had a great time in Albuquerque (my apologies for spelling it incorrectly on that last entry) and I think we might have actually had our fill of New Mexican food. Of course, we promptly headed to a pub in Guelph when we returned and devoured a couple of plates of poutine. Mmmm, cheese.

We are excited about our upcoming performances in Nova Scotia (check the On Stage page for more details about that festival) and then we go home for 5 days. After that, we go to Calgary to shoot our first video! We'll be sure to keep you posted on that.

Talk to you soon!

Alibi's Best Picks for This Week

Just an observation here; but every time a musical genre makes a resurgence, its purveyors tend to mill about in rather amorphous territory for awhile, flirting with different influences until one or a few of these "revivalists" gets it right Just an observation here; but every time a musical genre makes a resurgence, its purveyors tend to mill about in rather amorphous territory for awhile, flirting with different influences until one or a few of these "revivalists" gets it right. It's true that folk music, real, folksy folk music in the tradition of Kate and Anna McGarrigle, never actually died, but it took the Wailin' Jennys to get it off life support. Brilliant three-part harmonies combine with rich guitar phrasing on their debut full-length, 40 Days (Red House), and their live shows are rumored to be vivacious and thoroughly enriching. See them Friday, July 29, at the Rio Grande Zoo, as part of the "Summer Nights" concert series and Friday, July 30, at their AMP House Concert.

We're now in Albequerque, New Mexico and we just returned from a beautiful evening walk with our host, Neil. The architecture is quite something down here and we are adjusting to the higher altitude and dryer air. We left a very wet and cool Ontario so the change is welcome.

We are also happy to report that we are back on a steady diet of Mexican food--we are thinking that we are going to have to bring some salsa up north and start doing it right back home! And of course, we are looking forward to the upcoming performances and crossing our fingers that it doesn't rain for our concert tomorrow night at the botanical gardens.

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful guestbook entries--keep 'em coming!!