Hey everyone,

Thanks to everyone who came to or tuned into The Jennys' recent appearance on A Prairie Home Companion! We've been getting a lot of questions about which songs were performed during the broadcast, so here's the setlist:

"One More Dollar" (by Gillian Welch)
"Begin"
"Weary Blues from Waiting" (a cappella, by Hank Williams)
"Racing With The Sun" (by Ella Jenkins, with accompaniment from the Shoe Band and Horns)

By the way, to all of you Virb users, The Jennys are now on the new MySpace-like www.virb.com. Click here to visit them.

Thanks so much for your continued support. Be looking for new tour photos and journal entries very soon.

Falling in love with the Wailin' Jennys

Imagine if the crazy scientists from Jurassic Park put Gillian Welch, EmmyLou Harris, and the Dixie Chicks in a blender, and then formed a musical trio from the resulting puddle of DNA. Imagine if the crazy scientists from Jurassic Park put Gillian Welch, EmmyLou Harris, and the Dixie Chicks in a blender, and then formed a musical trio from the resulting puddle of DNA. That’s where we’re going to start talking about the stunning songwriting, sweet harmonies, and sultry sound of Canada’s The Wailin’ Jennys.

The band’s second and most recent effort, Firecracker, was released in 2006 but didn’t make its way into my hands until earlier this year. My first thought was, “what a great band name,” immediately followed upon first listen by just, “what a great record.” This is roots music with an easy-listening appeal. This is harmony so tactile you’ll be quivering in your boots. This is the best CD by a new artist I’ve heard in ages.

There isn’t a bad song on this disc. Standout tracks include the rollicking opening track, “The Devil’s Paintbrush Road,” and the perfect close-the-record-with-the-title-track, “Firecracker.” I’m also partial to track #9, “Long Time Traveler” ǃ

The Jennys will be on a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion on May 26 at 5:35pm. For details, please see the tour page or click here.

Firecracker recently picked up a few awards. The album's artwork by Ron Sawchuk was awarded Best Cover Design at the 2007 Signature Awards. As well The Indie Acoustic Project named The Jennys Acoustic Ensemble in its list of Best CDs of 2006.

The Pretour Frantic Dash

Ahhhhhh! We're gearing up to hit the road and are quickly running out of time as we frantically dash around doing laundry, packing, practicing... So much has happened in the last while and this will be a wee update but I will say that we had an absolute blast working up the new show and are really excited to hit the stage on Thursday night, with some new tunes and a few surprises, too. It's been quite a month: lots of playing, lots of future planning (we'll be letting you know about some exciting developments very soon), a photo shoot with the fabulous Art Turner, and a trip to Saskatoon for the Junos, which, despite the prominent corporate overtones, were fun and provided a nice opportunity to catch up with old friends and hang with some of the Manitoba folks we rarely have a chance to see. I also had a trip down memory-lane last month in the form of a Scruj MacDuhk reunion (which, believe me, doesn't happen everyday): we all got together for four days and drove out to a Casino near Carlisle, Saskatchewan, on St Patrick's day, and performed one show as 'The Red River All Stars'. The night was filled with lots of laughs and a few nostalgic tears, and we played the old tunes (and some new ones) as if our lives depended on it. In some ways it seems like a dream now, but I've got the pictures to prove it, and the sound of 300 slot machines all going at once forever burned in my memory. (The casino is in the key of C, in case anyone is wondering). Anyway, it was great fun and there's talk of doing it again next year -- you never know!OK, that's it for now, just wanted to say a quick hello before we hit the road.Montana, here we come!~ Ruth.

Hey everyone - we are very excited to unveil our new lineup featuring New York-based Heather Masse! Check the "Bio" page for more information, the "Image" page for some new promotional shots and our "Tour" page for upcoming dates. For all of you wondering what the new group sounds like, please click here to listen to Heather, Ruth and Nicky singing "Bright Morning Stars". The new track was recorded by David Travers-Smith at the St. Boniface Museum in Winnipeg - many thanks to Philippe Mailhot for allowing us to record in this beautiful space.
 
Thanks for your support, everyone. We can't wait to see you all in the coming months!

The Jennys picked up a trophy at the 2nd annual Folk Alliance Awards in Memphis for Contemporary Release of the Year. Congratulations to all the nominees!

Pinchos, Pinchos, Pinchos and Celtic Connections

I'm back in the Peg and it's cold but sunny and all is well. Still sleeping off some of the travel and jet lag but feeling more alive every day.We've recently had some amazing experiences. Spain and the Basque Country were incredible. We had great weather, we saw the Gugenheim in Bilbao, we ate Pinchos. A lot of Pinchos. I'm not sure I ate a vegetable while I was there but then why bother with vegetables when you can have a combination of eggs, bacon, bread and potatoes with every bite? Gorka, our trusty tour-God, also introduced us to croquettes (deep fried potato balls), the truck stop 'cafe con leche' (road coffee in Spain is as good as any espresso anywhere) and Crawfish - Basque style. We walked around the Old town of Bilbao and saw some beautiful architecture. I bought an 'almohadilla' after I left mine in a cab (you'd think I would have learned that lesson by now...) and now I own a pillow that fits none of my pillow cases. But it's a nice memory. The shows went well - the audiences were warm, and forgiving of our very limited Spanish. Bilboa was Annabelle's last night with us and it was very special show and audience. It felt like a lovely way to end not only this amazing tour but also this chapter of the Jennys. Gracias!Our time in the UK was also lovely, as usual. Lots of great shows, beautiful drives and familiar faces. Thanks to those of you who came out to several of our UK shows (you know who you are!). It was great to have Jeremy with us on this tour (he'll be joining us on our next few as well!) to add another dimension to the sound and keep us generally entertained. Our first experience in Scotland at Celtic Connections was one I'm sure none of us will ever forget. We got to share a bill with Bruce Molsky for our concert, which was a treat for me as I've been a fan of his for many years. The following night we got to be part of the Transatlantic Sessions, with Bruce again, as well as Jerry Douglas, John Doyle, Phil Cunningham, Roseanne Cash, Russ Barenburg, Mike McGoldrick, Ally Bain, James MacKintosh, Donald Shaw, Karen Matheson (whose singing I've been listening to forever) and Daryl Scott. It was a truly inspirational, and surreal, experience for us. At the end of the night everyone joined Roseanne Cash for 'Forty Shades of Green'. Jeremy and l continued the celebration later on that night with our old friend and band-mate, Leonard Podolak, who happened to be flying through Glasgow that night on his way home to Winnipeg. We celebrated till the wee hours and took some great pics...Thanks again to everyone for making this tour such a success and for all your support during this transitional time. Now we have a bit of time off to recover from the road, during which I will surely attempt to eat large doses of kale and spinach and do some form of exercise at least somewhat regularly and play lots of banjo. In 3 weeks time Heather and Jeremy will be in Winnipeg and we'll begin working up the new show! So much is about to unfold...!~ RuthWe'll keep you posted.