A Prairie Home Companion high we are all on. Town Hall! New York! It was our fourth time with the show, and the cast and crew are starting to feel like old friends. They are so supportive, and so inspiring to work with. Garrison Keillor keeps upping the ante with us, so yesterdays show was an incredible experience in focus, awareness, and being on the ball. There is nothing like a brilliant creative visionary to push you beyond what you thought you could ever do. And while it was incredibly sad that Pat Donahue had the flu for the show, it got me playing rhythm guitar with the Shoe Band for one number, and wowǃ_ that was a strong cocktail of adrenaline and the present moment. And it also made me realize I gotta practice that fingerstyle country-blues pickinǃ~ Ruth
Hey all,
We're just about to head down to Boston for some shows on the beautiful east coast. Please check the tour dates page for more information. Then we'll be flying to New York to perform on A Prairie Home Companion at the Town Hall! The idea of Christmas in New York is pretty exciting and playing on PHC is more than exceptional icing to say the least. Can't wait! We'll be sure to report back. Stay tuned in the next few weeks for new restaurant additions, pics and other goodies once we are back off the road for a bit. Thanks to everyone and may you all have a peaceful holiday season.
The Jennys
Poutine and Climate Care
Sorry for the long gap between journal entries - we start off with such good intentions and then life takes over and our literary offerings wane. Just a little while ago we were in beautiful Montreal - Annabelle was literally bouncing off her seat in the car when we were approaching the Metropolis-like maze of highways leading into the city (only outdone by the crazy highway system of Duluth, MN). The show on Saturday night at La Sala Rossa was really wonderful - what an expressive and warm crowd! After an equally lovely show in Peterborough the night before, we weren't sure how we were going to follow that evening but we were lucky once again to have a room full of enthusiastic people. Thanks to everyone who came out to both shows. Of course, the night had to be capped off with a plate of poutine so a few of us headed over to La Banquise. Jeremy Penner (one of Ruth's old bandmates from Scruj) decided that cheese curds and gravy were an insufficent addition to the fries so he opted to throw some bacon, mushrooms and onions on top of that. Even I stop short of adding more grease to this traditional delicacy but Jeremy claimed it was delicious.I am now back to Toronto finishing up some parts on the new record and then I fly home to Winnipeg. Yay! I am also getting very excited about our trip to the east coast of the U.S. I've never been to Boston and my time in NY was too short the last time I was there so 5 days will be great. Christmas in NY will be a site to behold and the idea of playing at the Town Hall at that time is pretty awe-inspiring.By the way, if you have never checked out the "Links" page on our site, it can be found on the drop down menu under "Resources". We add new links fairly regularly - sometimes it's a new band we've discovered or an organization we support, and sometimes it's gear we endorse or friends who are doing interesting things. We just added a new link to Climate Care. org. A long time ago, Cara brought up her concern with flying so much and the impact that flight travel has on the environment - we all shared these worries about climate change but were unsure of how to rectify this. Since we need to fly quite often, it has always been a somewhat unavoidable hit on the environment but after reading an issue of Utne Reader, we learned that there are organizations that offer ways of offsetting carbon expenditures. Many organizations (both for profit and not) now offer ways of calculating the carbon output of flights and drives and offer a way to balance that pollution by purchasing "carbon offsets". Climate Care is one of those companies and starting January 2006, the Jennys will move one step closer to being "carbon neutral" - for every flight we take, we will purchase the equivalent amount of carbon offsets to make up for our air travel. Our money will go into funding either technology projects that reduce emissions at source or reforestation projects that sequester CO2 from the atmosphere. Examples of projects currently being undertaken by the organizations include disseminating efficient cooking stoves in Honduras , providing finance for renewable energy cooking stoves in schools in India and installing efficient lighting in households in South Africa. It's a small way of trying to balance our energy consumption and I'm excited about all of the work this company is doing. We are going to keep trying to find ways to reduce our band's "ecological footprint" so please let us know if you have any information you would like us to consider.Well, time to get back to practicing.~ Nicky.See ya later!
Hi everyone,
We are all at home right now but getting ready to go back out to Ontario for some shows and more time in the studio in Toronto - we will also be making a stop in Annabelle's beloved city of Montreal so check the Tour Dates page for more details. It feels like a while since we have played any shows in eastern Canada and we're looking forward to it.
Our producer David Travers-Smith is in Winnipeg at the moment working on some guitar and vocal tracks with Ruth and Nicky and generally getting no sleep as usual. We're all very excited about the record and the songs are starting to take form. Hope you all are doing well out there and thanks for the guestbook entries!
The Jennys
Forced Shopping
So much has been happening. This tour started off in St. Paul with two shows at the Fitzgerald theatre with 'A Prairie Home Companion'. We flew from Toronto and unfortunately our favorite Canadian Airline lost Annabelle's and my luggage again. In order to avoid performing in our sweats we made a 45 minute emergency trip to the mall. Thanks to Jill Brooksbank for the emotional management - forced shopping is not as enjoyable as one might think, and the Mall of America is a scary place. Each of us equipped with new pants and shoes, we made it back in time for soundcheck. It was a blast to be involved with the show once again and to get to know the crew a little better. What a great group of people. The first night was a non-broadcast event and it was a little more casual than what we'd experienced before. The second night was magical and electric and we were all nervous in that good way. Garrison Keillor taught us a pretty little old tune called 'The Colorado Trail' and we sang it on the show - with him taking the verses and us the chorus. I think it was my favorite moment in the whole show.Later we gathered with friends and some of the folks from APHC to celebrate and ran into the parents of Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls who happened to be at the show and really enjoyed it. (Her parents, not Emily herself...) Annabelle's grin was big. They were lovely. Much fun was had that night and somehow we managed to score a temporary endorsement deal in travel-size hotel toiletries (thanks Stephen J.). Sometimes it's worth having over-weight baggage.From Minneapolis we flew to Eugene, Oregon for another showcase. We'd heard great things about Eugene and we actually got a chance to explore a little. We ate some yummy food and stocked up on healthy snacks and groceries. The showcase went pretty well and I think even our agent, Mr. Herschel 'let me make a suggestion' Freeman, was happy. We ran into Po' Girl who, unbeknownst to us, were showcasing at the same event. It was nice to see some familiar faces.From Eugene we flew to Alaska, and have been here for the last five days. It is stunningly gorgeous here. On our first day we saw the tallest peak in North America, Mount McKinley (whose native and more respected name, we learned, is Denali), as clear as day, which, apparently, is a very rare thing! Usually it is hidden by clouds. Last night we got to enjoy the freshest oysters and halibut we've ever tasted. We are being taken care of by Mr. Mike Morgan, who was the force behind getting us up here in the first place and is now acting as road manager/tour-guide/provider of joyous vibes. Thank you Mike! The shows have been amazing, we can't believe the love in the audiences up here and we are so grateful to have had this experience.I have just boarded a flight heading to Seattle. One of the security-people saw our Anchorage show. I think that's the first time that's ever happened. I'm sure there are so many other things I could mention (Alaska, Alaska, Alaska!) but I think I'll sign off now and post this as soon as I get some internet access. Thanks so much to everyone who has come out to support us on this tour. It's been truly amazing and we are very lucky.Peace.
Hi everyone,
We're in beautiful Lanesboro, MN at the moment and we just had a fabulous show - thank you to everyone who attended and made it such a great evening. Your singing was truly lovely - such good sports!
We also want to thank everyone who has signed the guestbook for your enthusiastic comments. Our time on PHC is always pretty magical and the comments we receive equal that. For those of you looking to purchase "40 Days" and our EP, please go to our Merchandise page and hit the links for our distributors. We are on the road right now so mail orders are difficult. Thanks so much for your support.
The Jennys
Hi everyone,
We are in Toronto right now working hard on the record - at the moment, we're preparing to lay down more bass, drum and guitar parts and we are very excited about our fabulous band (we kidnapped some smokin' players from Winnipeg, Toronto and Austin, Texas) and the new material. Yay! We will be in Toronto for a few more days and then off to Minneapolis for the Prairie Home Companion shows.
Speaking of PHC, we just found out that we will be playing two shows in New York in December so be sure to check out the On Stage page for details. They should be posted within the next couple of weeks.
Thanks so much for your continued interest.
The Jennys
New Album
We are about to start recording our new record! The process should take us through the winter, as we tour/record/tour/record our way along. And, you never know quite how long it will take, as the details involved are really quite endless… But I think we’re all very excited and are prepared to work hard to make it real. The songs that everyone has brought to the table are wonderful and intense. We are diving into what feels like a very profound space here. It’s going to be quite the journey. Right now it is a bit of an abyss to stare into, all potential, formless and unknown. Slowly it will evolve, and become something, then we’ll polish it up all nice and have it for you, we hope, soon after the spring flowers start to bloom. Wish us luck!