* This was written on January 21st.I'm on the plane from Winnipeg to Toronto. Nicky and I will pick up Annabelle in a couple of hours in Toronto and drive to Lakefield, for the first of two shows in Ontario. In a few days we head to England! I spent about a month there with my family when I was a kid. Hard to believe that was 20 years ago. For our first time ever we have a driver/tour manager so it will be nice to let someone else take care of business for a change. As adventurous as we like to think ourselves, we thought it might be hazardous to the UK population if we attempted driving on the other side of the road on our first time over. Not to mention those round-abouts...I'm happy to report that Annabelle is fabulous and we are thrilled to have her on board. The tour out West was a big success and it was such a pleasure to perform on stage with her. She's bringing some great new repertoire to the mix too, which is exciting. For those of you who have been asking, we are thinking we will probably start recording a new album in the fall. More on that at a later date.That's it for now, thanks for checking in.~ Ruth
Highlights from the UK
Hey everyone,Well, we're back from the UK and getting ready to embark on some more touring through Canada and the States. We're sorry we weren't able to write a journal entry while we were in England but we actually weren't around computers that much (plus we were probably too busy stuffing our faces with chips or various products derived from clotted cream). Fortunately our hosts were much fitter than we were and took us on killer hikes.We did have an amazing time there, though, and were bowled over by how many people made repeat appearances at shows across the country. To be fair to our Canadian superfans, most distances were under three hours so most were more reasonable treks than what would be the norm in Canada. We do thank everyone who took a risk and caught the shows knowing nothing about us - and we thank those people who became fast devotees and familiar faces. Hi to all of you!Some of the highlights of the tour? Witnessing the "sleeping elephant" fells of Cumbria; not having to drive; the fabulous team at Emerging Music (Ken, Charles, and Sue); the encore cry of Britain, "More"; the pints; the chips; the cream teas; the beautiful lush, green countryside; going back to Rochdale to visit my Gran's old house and the pub she used to frequent and having a pint for her; the incredible history in the least obvious places; the strangely lovely views from motorway rest-stop restaurants; the roaring fires in pubs; the narrow, shrub-lined country lanes (but only because we actually survived them); the realization that more great music has come out of this tiny island than most places in the world; performing in the same room that the Beatles once graced!!!!; performing on BBC Radio 2 on the Bob Harris show; our gracious hosts in Stroud, Glossop, and Northwich; the beaches of Devon; the sunset-lit drive into Glossop; saying the word toque just to confuse people; lamenting the fact that Brits can't enjoy their own fabulous accents; being appalled by our own lack of manners and boorish pronunciations; trying to follow directions without being able to locate actual street signs; watching back-to-back episodes of Eastenders and Coronation Street; Nolene's wonderful cooking in Ireby and Nerys' porridge and salade nicoise; Annabelle's experience with cheaper violin strings in Leicester (look for the video to turn up on the site); my sheep friends on the motorway to Cumbria; seeing my friend Nicola in Chatham for the first time in 8 years. Ah, the list goes on but I don't want to bore anyone.Anyway, we plan on returning in one year's time so hopefully we'll see everyone again. In the meantime, we have some shows in Ontario and then we head to Montreal to play an official showcase at Folk Alliance. AAAAHHHHHH! I'm just a wee bit nervous but I'm sure it will be fine. Haha.And as many of you know, we were nominated for a Juno which is a very cool thing. You watch those shows when you're 15 and never imagine you might be a part of it. Strange. I will be happy if any of the bands nominated win since most of them are good friends.Check above for a couple of older messages from Ruth while we were in England. The one about discovering clotted cream was actually written on February 5th, and the other entry about flying to Toronto was written on January 21st.Bye!~ Nicky
Clotted Cream, We Love You
*Ruth wrote this on February 5th while we were in England.Today we discovered clotted cream. It's a specialty here in Devon, UK. The name says it all - as in the way my arteries feel. We had it on raspberry pavlova (after a huge serving each of the best fish and chips yet) on scones later on in the afternoon when we got to our Bed and Breakfast, and on tiramisu for desert after our show in Torrington. They are going to have to roll us on out of this country...This tour has been amazing so far - we are having the time of our lives. It's the first time we've ever had road managers - our fearless drivers/agents/roadies/friends Ken and Charles from Emerging music have taken on the job and are wonderful to be around. I don't know that they were saying the same about us for the first week of the tour - every time we got in the van we were fast asleep within minutes and out until we reached our destination. Jet lag is real. But we're becoming more and more alive each day - Nicky and Annabelle are exploring the joys of British ale on a daily basis now, and that's always a good sign. I enjoyed whiskey for the first time ever the other night - don't know if that's a good sign or not.We've seen some beautiful countryside - just driving around this country can be a breathtaking experience. That, and you see a lot of sheep. We drove up and down the M6 about 8 times and by the end we knew the sheep by name. We had two days off up in the Lake district where Charles and his partner Nolene live. Charles took us to see an old stone Circle, exploring the shops in Keswick (which he regretted instantly, judging by the look of boredom on his face while we tore them apart), for a lovely walk along the edge of Derentwater, and on a murderously difficult uphill hike where we were rewarded by the view of Keswick and the surrounding hamlets in the valley.Tomorrow, Ken and his partner Sue, also of Emerging music, are taking us on a walk along a beach in Cornwall and to see an old timeless fishing village called Clovelly.It's crazy to think that it's actually coming to a close in a few days. So far it's been one of the best touring experiences we've ever had. And I haven't even mentioned the audiences...we've played for several sold-out crowds, and, contrary to what their quiet behaviour during the show might suggest (we now have a better understanding of 'the British Reserve') they have all been very appreciative of our music. (Thanks to you dedicated people who followed us around to more than one show!) We also played on the Bob Harris show, which by the way will air on BBC Radio 2 on Friday the 11th at midnight. You can tune in on the internet by going to the BBC website and looking up 'Bob Harris', and, if you miss it on Friday, it will be up on the website for a week after, so you have lots of chances to hear it.~ Ruth
Hi all!
We're back from the UK and what a time we had - we are amazed at how many people have written in to the guest book and we appreciate all of your kind words. We look forward to returning in a year's time and trying some of the restaurants you've recommended. Already thinking about the clotted cream...
While we were in England we had the honour of appearing on Bob Harris' national BBC show and we wanted to let everyone know that the interview and performance can be heard this coming Saturday the 12th between 12:00 am and 3:00 a.m. in the UK (please note that technically the show airs on Saturday since it is 12:00 am but really it is late night Friday - hope that is not confusing). It can also be accessed via the BBC website ( www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/shows/bobharris/ ) and can be replayed for a week after the airing on the 12th.
We want to extend our greatest thanks to Ken, Sue, and Charles (and Noleen) and the rest of the crew at Emerging Music for setting up such a wonderful tour and for driving us around England. What a truly lovely group of people - we had such a blast with you all!
As many of you know, our album "40 Days" just received a Juno nomination for Outstanding Roots Recording. We are thrilled to be nominated alongside many of our friends and we can't wait for Juno week when we'll have a chance to catch up with everyone. Thanks for your congratulations.
Lastly, we wanted to let everyone in BC know that we raised $400 for the Southeast Asia relief fund! We couldn't have done it without you.
Please check back for new journal entries in the next few days and thanks so much for your continued support.
The Jennys
The Wailin' Jennys - Live Review - Newcastle
The Wailin' Jennys (not Waylon Jennings) kicked off the 20th year of Jumpin' Hot club gigs in at the Cluny, Newcastle The Wailin' Jennys (not Waylon Jennings) kicked off the 20th year of Jumpin' Hot club gigs in at the Cluny, Newcastle. (Have they been giving us wonderful Roots, Reggae and Outlaw Country for that long?). The Cluny? Good beer, average venue. The band are a Winnipeg acoustic roots trio, combining the talents of Nicky Mehta, Ruth Moody and Annabelle Chvostek. They draw obvious comparisons from fellow Canadians, The Be Good Tanyas and Po' Girl, but the thing that really makes you go wow about the Jennys is their harmonies. They are just breathtaking.
The Wailin' Jennys - 40 Days
The Wailin’ Jennys are three Canadian contemporary singer/songwriters, and while Cara Luft, Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody are all established artists in their own right, the combination of the three together has created an album that really stands out from the crowd The Wailin’ Jennys are three Canadian contemporary singer/songwriters, and while Cara Luft, Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody are all established artists in their own right, the combination of the three together has created an album that really stands out from the crowd. The opening track ǃ
Hello everyone,
The guestbook and Mailing functionality has been restored (it was temporarily unavailable while the site was moved to a faster server). For those of you who attempted to add a guestbook entry earlier but were unable to, please try again as we would love to hear from you.
Sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused,
The Webmaster
ps. Please scroll down to view the previous entries. There have been a number of new messages over the last day or two that you may have missed. Thanks!
Hello everyone,
We are in the UK now (yay!) enjoying a few pints and too many chips. The shows have been great so far and we've been treated to some of the most beautiful countryside around. What a treat! Thanks to everyone for signing the guest book - we've had a wonderful time performing for you.
More later, The Jennys