Times Record News - Wichita Falls, TXBy Don ChanceI was going to comment on "Bright Morning Stars" by the Wailin' Jennys with the "girl" albums from last week, but there just wasn't room. Not that there's much more room this week, but I've got to get it out there because these ladies deserve to get a little newspaper ink.With voices like angels, and the sweetest vocal harmony in the business, Canadian songbirds Nicky Mehta, Heather Maase and Ruth Moody are one of the hottest acoustic trios in the world as The Wailin' Jennys, even if mainstream country radio has basically ignored them.Their new album, "Bright Morning Stars," is an endlessly interesting mix of contemporary and traditional, uptown and down-home, happy and haunting, and every song is a rare crystal gem of sound that gently demands close listening and fond contemplation."Bright Morning Stars" is a delight, and I'm definitely a new fan.NEXT rating: A-
The Wailin' Jennys - Bright Morning Stars
Tuesday Guide by Alan Cross (Canada)February 8, 2011The Wailin' Jennys - Bright Morning StarsBillboard-charting and JUNO Award winning The Wailn' Jennys are back with their hotly anticipated new studio album Bright Morning Stars. Their previous studio album, Firecracker, released in 2006, spent an astonishing 54 weeks on the Billboard Bluegrass Top 10 Albums chart. Their most recent release, Live At The Mauch Chunk Opera House peaked at #2 on the same chart, and #25 on the Heatseekers Albums chart. For Bright Morning Stars, The Wailin' Jennys enlist the talents of award-winning producer Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, U2). With a major tour of North America starting February 2011 (including an appearance on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion) Bright Morning Stars has already become one of the most anticipated folk releases of 2011.
The Wailin' Jennys - Bright Morning Stars
music FOGBy Jessie ScottWhat is it about the water in Canada? How could there possibly be such an amazing crop of beautiful, talented females doing roots music? We have had the pleasure of bringing you Music Fog videos from Madison Violet, Catherine MacLellan, Melissa McClelland, Kendel Carson, Lynn Miles, Amelia Curran, Oh Susanna, and Frazey Ford. There are scads that we haven't yet caught up with. On that list is The Wailin' Jennys. Yes, that sounds like a play on words of Waylon Jennings, which is a fine musical role model.The Wailin' Jennys are Juno Award Winners from Manitoba, Canada and New York. You know there is a lot going on musically in the Great White North, where they respect and encourage artists by bestowing grants. And I do believe it is working, thanks to the help of the Canadian Government.The Wailin' Jennys fourth full length album, Bright Morning Stars, (released today) is named for a bit of lyric taken from a traditional song they sing a capella. Ruth Moody, Heather Masse, Nicky Mehta, and Jeremy Penner embark on a tour this month as well.
The Wailin' Jennys - Bright Morning Stars
CBC Music MattersBRIGHT MORNING STARS is the first studio album from Winnipeg-based roots trio The Wailin' Jennys since 2006 and first non-live recording to feature its third configuration: Heather Masse (pronounced "Massey"), Ruth Moody, and Nicky Mehta. "The Jennys 3.0", as they humourously call themselves, bowed with 2009’s LIVE AT THE MAUCH CHUNK OPERA HOUSE, which peaked at #3 on Billboard’s Bluegrass Album chart. The trio’s three previous albums sparked numerous awards, including Junos, North American Folk Alliance, and Western Canadian Music Awards, in addition to earning the praises of media from Exclaim! to Penguin Eggs to the Toronto Star. It’s been an impressive run for the group, which is not even a decade old, and all the more remarkable given the principals’ ongoing careers outside the band. Indeed, previous members Cara Luft and Annabelle Chvostek have also thrived as solo performers. The songwriting is divided equally on BRIGHT MORNING STARS, which was produced by Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams, Neil Young) and David Travers-Smith (Jane Siberry, Oh Susanna). The large cast of supporting players includes some of the top names in Canadian roots music. As usual, everything here is first rate, but go with (in order) “Swing Low Sail High”, “Last Goodbye”, “All the Stars”, “Cherry Blossom Love”, and “Across the Sea”.
The Wailin' Jennys - Bright Morning Stars
Christianity TodayBy Mark MoringIt's been almost five years since this award-winning trio's last studio album—too long to wait for music this sweet, for vocals this lovely. Bright Morning Stars is aptly titled: the tunes brim with brightness, with the hope of new morning, and, at times, seem to point to the Bright Morning Star. The title track refers to the day "a-breakin' in my soul," to fathers "in the valley a-prayin'," and mothers "gone to heaven a-shoutin'." Hints of the gospel are sprinkled throughout: "Storm Comin'" encourages the listener to not run away, but to "let it wash away the tears and trouble" and "let love through your door." Stellar stuff, literally and figuratively.
The Wailin' Jennys Pleasant Pastrel Sound
The Toronto StarBy John TeraudsTHE WAILIN' JENNYSBright Morning Stars (True North)
(out of 4)It's taken more than a year from recording sessions in cabin up in the Haliburton Highlands to this album's release date. This is the first studio album in nearly five years for the Wailin' Jennys, a bluegrass-roots trio originally from Winnipeg, and it's well worth the wait. All but one of the 13 tracks were written by the talented singers: Ruth Moody (who also plays guitar, banjo, accordion and bodhran), Nicky Mehta (guitar, ukulele, harmonica and percussion) and Heather Masse (double-bass). The bluegrass accent is rendered in muted pastels behind the women's signature tight three-part harmonies, and you can practically hear the quiet woods outside the recording studio. The songs are impeccably produced, but maybe the tracks are a bit too relaxed when heard back to back. The highlights: Moody's gospel-style “Storm Comin' ” and the Jennys' haunting, a cappella take on the traditional lullaby “Bright Morning Stars are Rising.”
Off the Charts: Billings-bound Wailin' Jennys Return to Fine Folky Form
The Billings Gazette - USBy Chris JorgensenIt's been up, up, up for the Wailin' Jennys since forming for a one-off show in a tiny Winnipeg guitar shop eight years ago.Their 2004 debut, “40 Days,” won a Canadian Juno Award and their “Firecracker” follow-up spent more than a year on Billboard's folk charts and landed them a string of appearances on “A Prairie Home Companion.”Where “Firecracker” veered tentatively into a harder-edged alt-country territory, “Bright Morning Stars” gets them back to their traditional folk roots.That's not to say it's all hummin' and strummin', however.The trio of Ruth Moody, Heather Masse and Nicky Mehta each contribute their own songs to the album of 12 originals varying from the gospel-tinged “Storm Comin'” to the jazz-tinged “Cheery Blossom Love” and the ready-for-country-radio “Swing Low, Sail High.”As sweet and soothing and expertly played as these songs are, above all else are the trio's immaculate harmonies, which shine brightest on the a capella title cut and the yearning “Across the Sea,” their voices soaring with an aching trumpet.Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/entertainment/music/article_b37300c1-d2f8-5ac3-910c-57909c482ca7.html#ixzz1ZUEaZ4hK
The Wailin' Jennys drop a trio of winning discs
Fans of premier folksters the Wailin' Jennys, even those unable to catch the 2010 tour, have been having themselves a real field day. Fans of premier folksters the Wailin' Jennys, even those unable to catch the 2010 tour, have been having themselves a real field day. Over the past year, the group has put out three excellent albums on St. Paul's Red House Records. There's been Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House by the trio and, also from Red House, a pair of solo turns, Heather Masse's Bird Song and Ruth Moody's The Garden.
It's a delight, actually striking, to encounter on Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House performances that, incredibly enough, are richer still than the studio albums for which the Wailin' Jennys are internationally lauded. There are 14 songs, eight of them new, all featuring golden-throated fare.
There are powerful lead vocals by each of the members (Nicky Mehta, mezzo; Heather Masse, alto; Ruth Moody, soprano) and marvelous harmonies. The energy, whether uptempo like the bright Emmylou Harris cover "Deeper Well" or their beautifully somber take on the traditional "Bold Riley" makes for in-concert artistry at its essential bestǃ