The Wailin' Jennys Release Bright Morning Stars, February 8, 2011
As we get closer to the release of Bright Morning Stars, we wanted to share a little more information with you about our new album. Each Tuesday leading up to the release, we will stream a new song from the album. Today, we start with "Storm Comin'." You can listen to the track here.
For more information, or to pre-order Bright Morning Stars, click here for the United States or here for Canada.
Thanks everyone!
Happy New Year!!!
We're writing to share a little bit of news about our new studio album, "Bright Morning Stars." It will be released by True North Records on February 8, 2011, in Canada and by Red House Records on February 8, 2011! We'll be sharing a European release date soon. We're really looking forward to sharing this new music with you.
We wish you all a very Happy New Year full of much love, warmth, and happiness.
The Jennys.
Hello Again!
We just wanted to let Toronto area folks know that tonight, November 18, 2010, our own Ruth Moody is playing Hugh's Room. The lovely and talented Rose Cousins will be opening for Ruth. And Rose and Oh Susanna will be joining Ruth for a few songs. It's shaping up to be a pretty special night. Find more info at Hugh's Room.
Ruth also will be joining Jian Ghomeshi on CBC's Q on Friday, November 19, 2010. Go to Q's website for details.
Thanks all and be well!
Hello Everyone!
We just finished a lovely three week tour through the mid-west United States which ended with a hometown show in Winnipeg. We ran through a corn maze, ate cheese curds, had the best ice cream of our lives, and met some truly amazing and generous people along the way. We also are thrilled to share the news that Ron Sawchuk won a Western Canadian Music award for Best Album Design of the year for Live at The Mauch Chunk Opera House. Congratulations to Ron!
We wanted to let you know about some upcoming Jennys's solo performances.
Next week, Ruth Moody will embark on a Canadian solo tour. She'll start in Duncan, BC and make her way across the country, playing shows in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec. The tour will end with a final show and CD Release Party in Winnipeg on December 9, 2010. You can find out information about those dates at Ruth's website.
Also, Heather Masse will be joining A Prairie Home Companion this weekend for a show in St. Paul, MN on Oct. 30, 2010. Details about that show can be found at: PHC's website .
As always, thanks so much supporting our music and being the best fans out there.
Take good care,
The Jennys.
When the Wailin' Jennys are upset with their manager, they will have no one to blame but themselves. Band members Nicky Mehta and Ruth Moody have taken the folk group's matters into their own hands and are self-managing the band, which is back in a big way after a year-long hiatus.
"Ruth and I, we've always been the type of people that are very involved with the running of the band. We've always been at the helm anyway, so why not do it ourselves?" Mehta says with a laugh over coffee at a Corydon Avenue restaurant. "Nobody cares about what happens to our band more than us, and we're both workaholics -- no one would sacrifice their mental health for us the way we do."
Being their own boss is only one of several changes for the Jennys over the past few years.
The first was in 2007 when Annabelle Chvostek left the group to pursue a solo career, opening the door for New York's Heather Masse to become the third Jenny.
As the new lineup was settling into a groove and recorded the Live at The Mauch Chunk Opera House album, Mehta discovered she was pregnant, and in July 2009 the 38 year-old and her partner Grant Johnson, a local musician who acts as the group's soundman, had twin boys, Beck and Finn.
The pregnancy led to a break for most of 2009, giving Moody time to record a solo album, The Garden (being released Dec. 9 at the West End Cultural Centre), and work with Mehta behind the scenes, setting themselves up as their own administrators, essentially launching Wailin' Jennys Version 3.0.
"We were touring so hard before the hiatus and we were just really tired. I think sometimes you need to step away from something to realize what we have," Mehta says. "The other thing we both found interesting is people really wanted us not to do that for our career: 'You won't be able to work again. People will lose interest if you step away for too long,' and that hasn't been true."
"If anything, people are more excited that we're back again" Moody adds.
The sold-out shows across North America included participating in two different episodes of Garrison Keillor's long-running public radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, and appearing at Massey Hall in Toronto with artists such as Ron Sexsmith, Sylvia Tyson and the Barenaked Ladies as part of a tribute night to Bruce Cockburn.
Getting to that point didn't come overnight. The group formed in Winnipeg in 2002 with Cara Luft and has circumnavigated the globe, making fans from Dublin, Ireland, to Sydney, Australia. They have released two studio albums, the live album and have a new studio set, tentatively titled Bright Morning Stars, recorded and ready for release early next year.
Winnipeggers will get to hear about half of the new album when the Jennys play their first local show in three years (with the exception of the Winnipeg Folk Festival) at the Burton Cummings Theatre Sunday.
The album was recorded at a cottage in Haliburton, Ont. last November with producer/engineer Mark Howard, who has worked on releases by the likes of Tom Waits, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris and Lucinda Williams.
A new song that isn't on the album but that's become something of a live staple doesn't have an official name, but is known as The Pants Song.
The track was written by Johnson for Beck and Finn -- who travel with the group -- and was "Jennified," by the trio with three-part harmonies. They performed it for fun a few times and the tune took on a life of its own, with fans requesting the song at concerts.
"We sang it at one show and we started laughing during one of our a cappella songs, which sometimes happens, and we couldn't get it together, then someone yelled out, "Sing the pants song again," and everyone started yelling, 'Pants! Pants! Pants! Pants!' so we had to sing it again," Mehta says.
When The Wailin’ Jennys walked onto the stage of Sauder Concert Hall for the performing arts series concert Tuesday night When The Wailin’ Jennys walked onto the stage of Sauder Concert Hall for the performing arts series concert Tuesday night, and the air of hushed anticipation in the packed room finally lifted, it was only the first magical moment of a concert that took the audience deep into heart-woven harmonies and what one attendee called “really personal music” that demonstrated both the Jennys’ versatility and seamless vocal blending.
The Jennys -soprano Ruth Moody, mezzo Nicky Mehta, and the newest Jenny, alto Heather Masse - claim Winnipeg as their base, and have only recently been back on tour after a one and a half year break in which Mehta brought forth two twin boys, Masse got married, and Moody and Masse both produced albums of their own. Now, touting their latest album, “Live at the Mauch Chunk Opera House,” the Jennys continue to create music filled with “the sound of voices three, singing together in harmony.”
After the first two songs, “Bird Song” and “Beautiful Dawn,” which showcased Moody’s banjo picking and Nicky Mehta’s swinging harmonica, Mehta called for interpretive dance from the audience in the choral terrace, saying “We’ve always wanted more of a show.” But the Jennys put on a beautiful show of their own in the songs that followed, bringing in styles ranging from Celtic Airs to Gospel and Jazz.
“Arlington” opened with a pure blend of Mehta’s crystal-clear guitar and Moody’s ponderous lead soprano in a back to basics duet, and rose in intensity with the addition of accordion and a fiddle interlude that seemed to pull at the edges of the melody.
“Sweet Mona Louise,” was an original composition by Heather Masse, who said she sang her newborn niece “into the world.” Featuring Masse’s tonally diverse alto, the lullaby was punctuated by a mandolin solo that painted a musical portrait of the fragility and beauty of a baby’s movements.
During the intermission, Goshen students expressed how the music had moved them so far. “I almost cried,” said Henry Stewart, a freshman. “It shows you what you can give in the pursuit of beauty.”
“I listened to their songs all day before this,” said Renae Weaver, who was ushering for the event.
Patrick Ressler, a senior and self-proclaimed “big fan” of the Wailin’ Jennys only made it for the second half of the show. All the same, “I couldn’t stay away,” he said.
The second half of the show opened with a more upbeat version of the gospel song “Motherless Child,” an echo to last week’s PAS concert by the vocal ensemble Conspirare, which also performed the piece. Masse shone brightly in “Cherry Blossom,” an Andrews sisters Jazz number that demonstrated Masse’s vocal range and her rich background in the genre.
The Jenny’s performed their trademark piece “One Voice,” joined in the peace song by the audience with the words “this is the sound of all of us.” After a standing ovation, the three finished by with “The Parting Glass,” an Irish traditional air which they sang together on the front edge of the stage, stripping the sound down to the three voices which make up the core of their music, and filling every corner of the hall with “Goodnight, and joy be with you all."
The concert provided a reinvigorating experience in the midst of a busy week. “I feel like after that concert I just got a half hour back massage and twelve hours of good sleep,” said Kate Friesen, a freshman. No doubt the Wailin’ Jennys have left their music in the hearts of all who have received the gift of their sound.
Hi again,
Wanted to let everyone know that the Jennys's cover of Bruce Cockburn's "Going Down the Road" will be played during a scene of tonight's episode of Being Erica on CBC TV. For more information on the show, check out Being Erica's website .
Holy moly, it's been a long time since we last checked in and a lot has happened in those months. As you can well imagine life on the road (life in general!) has changed dramatically since we've started touring with the boys and the last few months have been exhausting, exhilarating, challenging, inspiring, you name it. For Grant and me, it's been a lot of trial and error to figure out how to travel with babies and still remain standing! Fortunately, this band is chock-full of supportive folk; devoted, patient nanny/road manager types (Tracy), fellow goofball parents (Jeremy), willing, singing experts of unforgettable childrens' songs and baby-crazy hams (Ruth and Heather). We have a good village!
And on the practical side of things, of course, travelling with infants does not come without an immense amount of stuff and an even more detailed commitment to making sure said stuff is the most efficient and safest gear around. I've invested what seems like thousands of hours researching baby travel gear and food, so if anyone out there needs tips on how to travel with kids, just ask me!
While getting the chance to tour with my family ranks at the top of the list of great life opportunities, the Jennys have also been fortunate in the realm of pinnacle career moments. Singing with Bruce Cockburn again was an honour and a thrill - it was nothing short of magical to be part of the tribute concert to him at the venerable Massey Hall in Toronto in June. Also, as a former film studies major, getting the chance to sing "Goin' Down the Road", a song from one of the first Canadian films I ever studied at a time when Bruce was simply one of my musical influences, was one of most surreal moments in my life. A good reminder that strange and great things can happen in life that you can never predict or imagine.
We were also lucky enough to perform once again on the Winnipeg Folk Festival's main stage but this time, we played before Emmylou Harris and were stunned to see her sitting in the wings listening. The idea that a musical hero can be even remotely interested in hearing your music is pretty exciting to say the least. She was lovely to talk to and we all walked away a little lighter from that experience.
We also visited our Prairie Home Companion family once again and had the pleasure of hearing the likes of Brandi Carlile and Hilary Thavis. As usual, we were learning several songs last minute and so for me, whose brain is somewhat compromised from chronic lack of sleep, a lot of those shows were spent with fingers crossed! They went well, though, and I enjoyed the rare chance to get more than four consecutive hours of sleep before returning home to my boys!
As always, we've been treated to beautiful scenery across the continent and have had the chance to talk to so many of our fans across North America. We really couldn't be luckier. You all show so much enthusiasm and share so much with us, we can't help but feel all of that when we get up on stage. And I have to say that as a mother of crazy little toddlers who sometimes shows up to venues a little bleary-eyed and spent, I couldn't keep doing this if our shows did not leave me feeling energized and inspired. So thank you to all of you. You keep us going!
~ Nicky
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