My lovely Ms. Esion (a.k.a. the brains of the outfit) and I decided to take some time away from the hustle & bustle of daily life and venture north to our Canadian oasis, Harrison Hot Springs. We love to soak in the pools, graze at the buffets and lounge around with nothing to do and all day in which to do it. I must confess that the main reason we decided to make the trip was to see one of our favorite bands, The Wailin Jennys.
The Wailin Jennys are three amazingly talented, stunningly attractive women (+ Jeremy Penner, the phenomenal fiddler who looks a bit like Tim Robbins.) They have the voices of angels (words alone cannot describe the harmonies), possess a captivating stage presence, are thoroughly proficient with a wide array of musical instruments and they write and perform some of the best music I’ve heard in the last ten years.
This was our third Jennys’ show in two years. The performance last night at Harrison Memorial Hall was phenomenal!!!! Jeremy and Heather are the latest additions to the Wall of Sound. It’s not actually a Wall of Sound in a Phil Spector sense of the term. It’s more like a fence of sound. A functional, sturdy, aesthetically pleasing fence built from sustainable material protecting your organic tomatoes from deer and keeping your pound-rescued dog from wandering into the road. Sorry, I digress…
The girls (+ Jeremy) took the stage at the Harrison Memorial Hall a few minutes past 8 PM. The modest hall was set up café style with candle lit tables for 240+. The sell-out crowd (no surprise) was treated to a great first set including my favorite song of the night, Glory Bound, a Gospel tune from Firecracker featuring Ruth on the banjo. After 50 minutes of captivating music the Jennys took a short break and let us stretch our legs and grab some refreshments.
The girls (+ Jeremy) returned and gave us a choice between a Huddy Leadbetter, better known as Leadbelly, composition and one penned by County music god, Hank Williams, Sr. They started with an a capella version of Sylvie, but after two false starts (Heather got the giggles) they abandoned Leadbelly for the Hank. They handled the skip with graceful ease. While it was refreshing to see that the Jennys are indeed mortal, I was slightly nervous of a repeat for the next few songs. Maybe it was my concern for the newest Jenny and fellow Mainer-in-exile, Heather. In my humble opinion Heather’s voice compliments Ruth & Nicky better than any of the previous iterations of the group. Cara and Annabelle are both talented musicians (oh if I could play guitar like Annabelle) but The Wailin Jennys 3.0 is my favorite version. I don’t see a need for a service pack up-grade.
The second set featured another highlight for me, Beautiful Dawn from 40 Days. After another 50 minutes of wonderful songs the girls (+ Jeremy) returned for an encore with One Voice from 40 Days and finished as they have every time I’ve seen them, with an a capella, unamplified version of the old Irish tune, Parting Glass, also on 40 Days .
Another spectacular performance!!!
If you don’t have anything by The Wailin Jennys drop whatever you’re doing and order any/all of their CDs from the Jennys' website. You can thank me later.
The Jennys Myspace site, just in case you want to hear and see them.
http://www.myspace.com/thewailinjennys
More to follow…
While I have you, check out the following Seattle bands (Gosh I love Myspace):
Fleet Foxes – Folk-based, multi-part harmonies
Grand Archives – Folksy-Countriesque-Rock with a Pop feel, great harmonies
Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground – Rock with Folk, Pop, R&B and Jazz influences. I love this guy’s voice.
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