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07/14/07 -
Halifax awash with masts, spars
07/08/07 -
April Wine,
Rankin headline Rock the Dock 2007
07/17/07 - The
Chieftains return Oct. 3
07/19/07 -
Rankins will be focus
of CTV documentary
7/26/07 - Chestico
Days on the way
08/13/07 - Rankin rocks
the dock
08/16/07 -
Rankin Family coming
to Roxy Theatre stage
08/16/07 -
Breast cancer
survivor Rankin to be honoured
08/16/07 -
Rock the Dock was a rockin' success
08/17/07 -
Rankins to
play Empire as part of cross-country tour
08/23/07 -
Rankin Family reunion wraps up
08/24/07 -
Rankin Family
continues reunion tour in Oshawa
08/25/07 -
Music is part
of the beauty of Cape Breton Island
08/25/07 -
Popular Rankins
on second leg of Reunion tour
08/31/07 -
Canadian folk family's reunion delayed by January death of sister
Geraldine
09/02/07 - No
alcohol for Rankin Family fans
09/05/07 - Rankins
rebound from tragedy
09/07/07 -
Rankin, Canyon on awards show
09/07/07 -
Rankin Family parties in Oshawa
09/08/07 -
Late John Allan Cameron to be inducted into Canadian Country Music Hall of
Fame Sunday
09/15/07 -
Church, Crowe,
Rankin to play Alderney Landing
09/26/07 - Rankin,
Wiley tour N.S.
09/26/07 - Rankin
gets ready to tour
09/26/07 -
Jimmy Rankin in Moncton Nov 24
10/4/07 -
Rankin's Maritime
tour makes Truro stop at CEC
10/4/07 - Who will
be our karaoke stars?
10/4/07 - Colourful
Celts tune up
10/10/07 - Women united in
song
10/11/07 -
Circle of harmonies at
Alderney Landing
11/12/07 - Bravo!
unveils holiday lineup
11/15/07 -
Rankin with acoustic guitar to bring intimacy to Truro tour stop
11/15/07 - A songwriter’s
tales
11/15/07 - Jimmy
Rankin coming to Halifax
11/15/07 -
Rankin Sisters
make Christmas stop in Barrie
11/15/07 - Rankin on the
road
11/16/07 - At home
with their audience
11/21/07 - Just Jimmy
and his guitar
11/23/07 -
Catching up with Jimmy Rankin
11/26/07 -
Lake Ainslie
musician to open for Jimmy Rankin
11/28/07 -
Colin James Little Big
Band Christmas
July 15, 2007 - Halifax Herald
By Michael Lightstone, Staff Reporter
 Halifax
had a distinctly cosmopolitan feel to it on Saturday as another day
of nice weather attracted scores of people to the waterfront for the
Tall Ships Nova Scotia Festival 2007.
Crowd control didn’t appear to be too arduous. The happy throng
slowly made its way along the waterfront on a warm, breezy summer’s
day.
A festival spokeswoman said the turnout was estimated at 200,000
people, which matches Friday’s count.
There were lineups, though, for such things as beverages,
barbecued hot dogs, ice cream, harbour boat tours and the Metro
Transit ferry rides. Entrepreneurs hawking souvenirs and other goods
were busy dealing with buyers and potential customers.
Near the Halifax ferry terminal, a Latin music combo played to an
appreciative audience — pedestrians who stopped for a few minutes to
listen to the proficient musicians. Languages other than English
heard among the many strollers included French, Spanish, Arabic,
Japanese and German.
A fiddler played a jig not far from a rock band entertaining tall
ships fans with its amplified tunes.
South Asian women in their saris walked by loud teenaged boys
with ballcaps. Nearby, children of all sizes ignored warnings about
climbing The Wave sculpture and scrambled up and down the waterfront
fixture.
On the water, lots of pleasure craft and other vessels — such as
sailboats, motorboats and the amphibious Harbour Hopper —
crisscrossed in front of a ferry boat leaving for Dartmouth’s
Alderney Landing. Ferry business has been brisk during the past
couple of days.
For shutterbugs, staffers at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic
have produced an online "identi-ship" kit to allow photographers to
identify any tall ships on pictures to be downloaded or developed on
film. Go to maritime.museum.gov.ns.ca.
Today is the last day for public boarding of the tall ships.
Vessels may be visited from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Boarding passes cost
$18; children under age 12 are free.)
On Monday, a photo-friendly parade of sail in Halifax Harbour
that’ll last at least two hours will signal the end of the popular
festival. It’s to begin at noon, depending on the weather.
In 2000, about 250,000 people ringed the Halifax and Dartmouth
shores for a front-row seat as a line of ships made a graceful
circuit of the harbour to end the celebrations. Green space at Point
Pleasant Park and on the grounds of the Nova Scotia Hospital in
Dartmouth disappeared under a sea of spectators.
Vehicular traffic near prime viewing sites for the three-hour
finale seven years ago was congested, so tall ships fans are advised
to get to their favourite shoreline spots early if you want to catch
the start.
Organizers are working on setting up at least one site for
wheelchair users intending to catch Monday’s event.
Some tall ships are to visit several other ports in Nova Scotia
this month. They’ll be in such communities as Louisbourg, Pictou and
Shelburne for two-day stints. (Please see box for places and dates.)
Photo: Jimmy Rankin and his band perform aboard Bluenose II as
part of the Tall Ships Festival in Halifax on Saturday.(TIM KROCHAK
/ Staff)
July 8, 2007 - Halifax Herald
 Cape
Breton’s largest outdoor rock show, Rock the Dock 2007 returns to
Sydney’s waterfront on Aug. 9 to 11.The weekend of rock and roots
music starts on Thursday, Aug. 9 with headliners April Wine. The
Canadian rock legends will be joined by Spyder, led by ECMA honouree
Hubba Parris, and New Brunswick roots music showman Matt Andersen.
Friday, Aug. 10, sees the waterfront host a classic rock
extravaganza including Creedence Clearwater Revival tribute Green
River Revival, Bon Jovi cover band Livin’ on a Prayer and a rock
salute to Australian heavyweights AC/DC, Dirty Deeds.
Rock the Dock 2007 wraps up on Saturday, Aug. 11, with an evening
of homegrown sounds including the pop/folk hybrid of Mad Violet, the
vibrant roots rock of the Tom Fun Orchestra and East Coast music
icon Jimmy Rankin, performing songs from his career, including his
latest recording Edge of Day.
The three-night Super Pass is available for $25 until Saturday,
July28, after which the cost goes up to $40. Individual night
tickets are $20 in advance, or $25 at the gate.
Tickets go on sale Thursday, July 12 and are available at Rolling
Phones locations, Centre 200, Savoy Theatre, Mac’s Convenience on
George Street, online at
www.reservatech.net or by phoning 564-6668.
On the day of show, gates open at 6:30 p.m., with shows going
from 7:30 p.m. to midnight, rain or shine. Full food and beverage
services are available on site.
For more information, e-mail
rockthedock2007@hotmail.com
July 17, 2007 - London Free Press
By James Reaney, Sun Media
The Chieftains aren't treating the summer as an off-season.
The Irish traditional band has just announced a London date in
the fall and will have a vintage release out this month.
The Chieftains return to Centennial Hall on Oct. 3 at 8 p.m.
Cape Breton singer-songwriter Jimmy Rankin is also on bill.
On July 24, the Chieftains are releasing a 110-minute DVD, Live
Over Ireland: Water From The Well (Eagle Vision Classics). The DVD
showcases the late harpist Derek Bell and his Chieftains' mates
Kevin Conneff, Martin Fay, Sean Keane, Matt Malloy and Paddy Maloney
touring the heart of Ireland. The 13 tracks include Bean An Fhir Rua
and The Star Of The County Down.
The Chieftains played here in 2000 with Cape Breton fiddler
Natalie MacMaster.
Tickets are $48 and $57.25, plus applicable charges. Call
519-672-1967.
July 19, 2007 - Halifax Herald
Mabou's most famous family, The Rankins, will be the focus of a
documentary expected to be filmed in August for the CTV network.
Sandra Faire and Associates will be producing the documentary.
The Rankins reunited earlier this year for a national tour that
received rave reviews.
Fans of Jimmy Rankin got to see an hour-long show presented by
The Chronicle Herald on the Bluenose II last Saturday night during
the Tall Ships Festival.
Jimmy sang a lot of tunes from his latest CD, Edge of Day.
Jimmy will play Casino Nova Scotia's Schooner Room in Halifax on
Friday and Saturday night at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $31.50. Price includes tax and service charge.
Visit
www.ticketatlantic.com or call 451-1221.
July 26, 1007 - Cape Breton Post
By Nancy King - Cape Breton Post
PORT HOOD — Anyone interested in exploring their dancing and musical
talents should plan a visit to this Inverness County community next
week.
Cultural workshops in stepdancing, Gaelic singing, square dancing,
and pipes and whistles is only one component of a week jam-packed
with events to mark the annual Chestico Days summer festival.
“They’re for all levels — beginner, intermediate and advanced, all
going at same time,” co-ordinator Cathy Hawley says. “It doesn’t
matter if you’ve never made a step before or you’re a seasoned
performer, you can still attend, participate and learn at your own
level.”
Each year, Port Hood is abuzz during Chestico Days, draws people
from across the region and lures former residents of the small
community home.
“Port Hood fills right up for Chestico Days,” Hawley says.
“Everybody knows everybody is going to be home at that time, it’s
the time to come home to Port Hood, for sure, because something’s
going on and they know their friends will be there, families get
together and have reunions and weddings.”
Hawley, who has been co-ordinator of the festival since 1994, said
Chestico Days will feature a mix of traditional, popular events,
such as the 24th annual stepdancing festival featuring more than 50
numbers, and newer activities including a sand sculpture competition
at the beach, which is growing each year.
“It’s something a family can do,” Hawley says. “They’re very
creative. The sand we have here is not as good as the sand they have
in Clan Harbour because it’s not as grainy, but it’s still amazing
what they can make out of it.”
The Chestico Museum will present two slide shows on local veterans
of the Second World War and 60 years of girl guiding in Port Hood,
and the street parade will pay tribute to the RCMP.
Another highlight will be a concert at Strathspey Place featuring
Raylene Rankin and Beolach,” Hawley adds.
“It’s not often that you can get performers of that calibre for your
festival,” she says.
Selected Chestico Days events
Monday - sand sculpture competition at courthouse beach at noon
Tuesday - golf tournament in Antigonish
Wednesday - cultural workshops with instruction in stepdancing,
square dancing, piping and Gaelic singing at parish hall, 12:30 p.m.
Thursday - concert at Strathspey Place in Mabou featuring Raylene
Rankin and Beolach, 7:30 p.m.
Friday - Big Fish performs at adult dance at Al MacInnis Sports
Centre, 10 p.m.
Saturday - stepdancing festival at Al MacInnis Sports Centre outdoor
stage, 12:30 p.m.
More than 1000 fans attend final festival night
August 13, 2007 - Halifax Herald
By Laura Fraser
 SYDNEY
— When Jimmy Rankin took to the stage in a blaze of smoke and
lights, fans Stacey Richards and Jackie Higgins twirled in time to
the rock and Celtic notes emanating from the Mabou native’s guitar.
The two women from Saint John, N.B., two-stepped along to the
tunes they had travelled more than 620 kilometres to hear, after
booking off Friday so they could take the road trip to Sydney with
songs from Rankin’s latest album, Edge of Day, to accompany them on
the drive.
The two, who described themselves as "huge fans," clapped their
hands in time with the music, their feet clanking against the
countless crumpled beer cans littering the ground.
"This is just awesome," Richards said. "We’re joking that we’re
going to break up Jimmy Rankin and his wife for the weekend. Just
the weekend."
The Cape Breton crooner didn’t disappoint the more than 1,000
fans who showed up to see one of their own at Rock the Dock 2007 in
Sydney on Saturday, the third and final night of the waterfront
music festival.
After Rankin’s version of Morning Bound Train, the crowd roared
as he launched into a grungier version of Handmade amidst a swirl of
fog that caught the blue and purple of the stage lights.
Although many of the songs were from his most recent album, the
Bluenose singer also paid tribute to his longtime fans with several
classic numbers.
The crowd’s energy soared as he launched into Movin’ On, a Rankin
Family hit from the late ’90s.
Fans of all ages leapt from their camping chairs to run up to the
stage where they formed a swelling mass of movement, highlighted by
little green and blue dots from outstretched light sticks.
One fan got a little too excited during the show and shot off a
red flare into the sky, only to be wrestled out of the crowd by
security guards within seconds. Rankin, however, didn’t miss a beat
and continued playing as though nothing had happened.
Rankin shared the night with other musical talent, such as
Madviolet, a Toronto-based female duo with Cape Breton roots and
Sydney-area collective the Tom Fun Family Orchestra.
The nine-member orchestra combined rock, Celtic and ska
influences and their opening song, Highway Sirens, was the first
piece of the night to get some of the crowd on its feet and dancing
to the energetic beats.
A trumpet, accordion, banjo and fiddle accompanied the
traditional guitars and drums.
They had a really upbeat and different sound, said Mike Baldwin
of Sydney.
"The energy (was) what I really liked. I thought the fiddle kind
of tied everything together," he said, as a 17-metre bronze-coloured
replica gleamed in the evening light on the other side of the
waterfront.
Wanda Krawchuk, another Sydney resident, agreed.
"The fiddle made it," she said. "But that could be because I’m
from Cape Breton."
Photo: Jimmy Rankin plays for a crowd of more than 1,000 at
Rock the Dock 2007 in Sydney. (LAURA FRASER)
August 16, 2007 - Orangeville Citizen
The Rankin Family is back on the concert stage for select shows
following the overwhelming success of their Reunion Tour, earlier
this year, and the award winning group will be in Mount
Forest on Sunday, Sept. 2 at the Roxy Theatre.
Tickets are available at the Roxy Theatre box office at 116
Main Street North in Mount Forest or by phone at 519-323-0433,
Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. and at all Ticketmaster
locations -
www.ticketmaster .ca or 416-870-8000.
Show time is 8 p.m. and ticket prices start at $45.
The Rankin Family were welcomed back last winter by audiences
across the country and rave reviews followed in their wake:
"A standing O at the end of last night's barn-burning Rankin
Family Reunion tour was to be expected. But a standing-hello?" -
Toronto Sun.
"The four siblings possess a gift that should be shared with
audiences." - Saskatoon Star Phoenix.
"Fans whistled and hollered their approval with every new tune
and called out their thanks to band members by name at the end of
every solo spot. They sang along on the songs they knew, clapped
along on those they'd not heard before. It was a long overdue
reunion." - Toronto Star
The Rankin family will perform their greatest hits in addition
to new material from the Reunion CD. Joining them on tour will be
the daughter of the late John Morris, Molly Rankin, who has lent
her considerable songwriting skills and talent to the project.
August 16, 2007 - Halifax Herald
Raylene Rankin will be honoured in October as Successful
Canadian Woman for 2007 by Adsum for Women and Children. Ms.
Rankin, who has overcome breast cancer, is a founding member of
the hugely popular group the Rankin Family, which reunited
earlier this year.
A dinner celebrating the 18th annual Successful Canadian
Woman will be held Oct. 25 at Pier 21.
All proceeds will go to Adsum, which offers emergency shelter
and affordable housing to women and children who are homeless or
at risk of becoming homeless.
Tickets are $125 and available by calling 423-5049.
Canadian idol contestant Tyler
Mullendore summoned to stage by Jimmy Rankin
August 16, 2007 - Cape Breton Post
By Dan MacDonald
(Excerpt) Rock The Dock has finished up for another year. By
all accounts, this year appeared to be quite successful with
(mostly) better weather and larger crowds all three nights.
Saturday night opened with Mad Violet and this was my first
time hearing them as a five-piece band. The quintet meshed
well led by the fine writing, wonderful harmonies and
great instrumental skills of the original duo, Brenley
MacEachern and Lisa MacIsaac. The pair, Lisa from Creignish
and Brenley from Ontario (but whose grandmother lives just
down the road from Lisa), have been making a name for
themselves, touring Europe and Australia regularly. Before the
year is up they will have played both continents three times.
Mad Violet was followed by The Tom Fun Orchestra, a local
musical collective. Tom Fun was very…Tom Fun-ish, loud, brash
and in your face, nine musicians clearly enjoying themselves
and pleasing their fans. From where I sat their sound wasn’t
as crisp as I would have liked but it was a fast, fun set that
included everything from a rocking backbeat to fiddle tunes.
Jimmy Rankin rounded out the evening with a great and
lively set that included some of his old material mixed with
songs from his new CD with a few Rankin tunes thrown in for
good measure. He finished the night with the Rankins’ hit, You
Feel The Same Way Too, with Lisa MacIsaac on fiddle and guest
vocals from Brenley MacEachern and Canadian Idol participant
Tyler Mullendore (who Jimmy spotted in the audience).
All in all, a great end to a good few days.
August 17, 2007 - Online Pioneer Plus
By Patrick Hutchinson
A staple of Canadian music for almost two decades, the
Maritime sound of the Rankin Family is coming to Belleville’s
Empire Theatre as part of a five-day cross-country tour. The
Rankins are on the road once again after the huge response
generated by their reunion tour earlier this year. The idea is
to hit some spots that were overlooked during the reunion and
give fans that missed the last tour the chance to come out to
a show, Heather Rankin said. While touring is hard work and
the band hadn’t performed together in eight years, the reunion
was a great experience for the family since they were now
performing for two generations.
“Not only were our fans coming out, but they were also
bringing along their kids who were in their late teens and
early twenties. It felt great to not only see the fans come
out to support us again, but to bring along this whole new
group of people,” Heather said.
Along with the reunion tour came a new album, the first
since 1998, and fans in Belleville can expect a healthy dose
of new and old tunes, Heather said. When the Rankins entered
the studio, they didn’t expect to have enough material for a
whole album sine they had all been working on projects of
their own, but it soon became clear that the family still had
plenty of inspiration. There currently aren’t any plans for
future Rankin Family projects, but if time allows and
inspiration strikes, the family could be back in the studio or
out on the road.
“We’re all still working on our own projects, but getting
back together was really enjoyable and a lot of fun. Given the
opportunity I think we’d all be willing to do it again in the
future,” Heather said.
Not a lot has changed for the Rankins when music is
concerned, Cookie said, they still enjoy playing and
performing and are looking forward to the upcoming tour. What
has changed is the lineup. After John Morris was killed in a
car accident in 2000, it seemed appropriate that his daughter,
Molly Rankin, take his place for the reunion tour.
The Rankin Family will appear at the Empire Theatre in
Belleville on August 26. Halfway through the current tour, the
band will do some shooting with CTV, Heather said, and the
piece will serve two purposes.
“Well it’s partly a news story because we’re back together
and at it again, but it will also take a look back over the
years,” Heather said.
August 23, 2007 - The Nanaimo News Bulletin
By Melissa Fryer
They never say never, but it’s unlikely the Rankins will tour
again as a family.
But before they call it quits, they’ll make another stop in
Nanaimo for two shows at the Port Theatre.
The concerts, Sept. 5-6, make up two that were cancelled
during the original tour in January. The reunion tour was set
to kick off in Nanaimo with two sold out shows until the death
of a sister of the band members forced their cancellation.
“It wasn’t a good way to begin the tour with the death of
our sister,” Raylene Rankin said.
They considered cancelling the entire tour but in the end
decided the show must go on.
“In the end, I was very glad,” Ranking said. “It ended up
being very therapeutic.”
The tour featured Molly Rankin, the daughter of the late
John Rankin, who died in a car accident seven years ago in
Cape Breton. John Rankin played fiddle and piano in the band.
“When we got on stage, everything clicked,” Raylene Rankin
said. “It was a joyous experience.
“I didn’t expect to feel uplifted.”
The Rankin Family earned success with their album Fare Thee
Well Love, which sold 500,000 copies in Canada. The band
officially split in 1999 to pursue solo careers. Despite the
success of the reunion tour, no further plans to record as the
Rankin Family are in the works.
“The idea was that we would do it for a month and then go
our separate ways,” Rankin said.
Rankin released a solo album three years ago and has no
desire to tour much in the future. “I stay pretty close to
home because I’m a mom now,” she said.
But never say never. If the opportunity arose again, the
Rankins may head out on tour. “It’s hard to say at this
point,” Rankin said.
The Rankin Family plays the Port Theatre at 8 p.m. Tickets
$61.50.
August 24, 2007 - News Durham Region
OSHAWA -- Earlier this
year, the Rankin Family, after eight years apart, released a
new CD and took off across the country for a tour.
Oshawa wasn't one of the stops on that Reunion tour but the
Cape Breton group will be here Sept. 1 as the Rankin family
makes up for some cancelled dates in B.C. and gets to some
places they couldn't make the first time around, said Raylene
Rankin, during a telephone interview from Halifax.
Raylene, Jimmy, Cookie and Heather Rankin will be joined by
their niece Molly Rankin, the daughter of their late brother
and former group member John Morris Rankin, at the concert.
While in the area, they'll be taping a Reunion TV show in
Toronto, Rankin said.
The Rankin family -- Raylene, John Morris, Jimmy, Cookie
and Heather -- began touring together professionally in 1989
with their Canadian take on Celtic music. But the family of 12
children had been entertaining neighbours long before that.
The oldest siblings started the original Rankin Family, with
the current members taking over as they grew older. The group
recorded and toured together until 1999, when they went on
their separate ways, touring and recording on their own.
John Morris Rankin, considered the musical heart of the
group, died in a car accident in 2000 so it was some time
before a reunion was broached. The four siblings started in
2006 on a CD, which was released in January 2007, just as the
Reunion tour started.
The tour almost didn't take place as older sister
Genevieve, one of the original founders of the Rankin Family,
died suddenly, Raylene Rankin said. But everyone decided to go
on.
"Once we started, it just sort of clicked," she said. "It
was a way for us to move on. I really felt this ... was a way
of celebrating my sister's life and being together as a
family."
And celebrating their music, which is a big part of who
they are and where they are from, she said.
The concert in Oshawa will feature some music from the new
Reunion CD but will feature much of the music from the past,
their popular songs and traditional music, she said.
Once the tour is over, it will probably be back to
individual pursuits, including Raylene Rankin's Christmas
tours, she said.
The Rankin Family plays the General Motors Centre in Oshawa
at 8 p.m. Sept. 1. Ticket information can be found at
www.generalmotorscentre.com/index.html.
The tip of Nova Scotia celebrates its Celtic heritage
with a ceilidh
August 25, 2007 - Vancouver Sun
By Terese Loeb Kreuzer,
Travel Arts Syndicate
MABOU, Cape Breton Island, N.S. - Summer has come to Cape
Breton Island, the Brigadoon of Nova Scotia that stretches for
161 kilometres into the Atlantic Ocean. Until 1955, when the
Canso Causeway opened, connecting Cape Breton with the
mainland, the island really was remote and all but
inaccessible, cocooned in mist. Now, in mid-May visitors
begin to arrive, and islanders who once scraped together a
living in fisheries, farms, forestry and coal mines fling open
their doors to receive them.
With more than 1,000 kilometres of coastline, a salt-water
lake system that nearly bisects the island, forests and steep
headlands, Cape Breton is a place of remarkable beauty. But
visitors come as much for the culture as the landscape.
Native tribes had lived on Cape Breton for thousands of
years when the first European settlers disembarked in the
early 17th century.
Most came from France and Scotland. The "Highland
Clearances" of the 1760s when landowners evicted Scottish
tenant farmers from their ancestral land sent thousands of
Scots to the New World. Many settled on Cape Breton.
Today, the island has the only living Celtic culture in
North America, with a Gaelic College in St. Ann's, a Highland
Village Museum in Iona, and somewhere between Port Hastings
and Margaree Harbour (the so-called "Ceilidh Trail"), a "ceilidh,
" which is an informal jam session of music, dancing and
storytelling.
"Music in Scotland was a huge thing," says Alexander
MacDonald, who was born in the town of Mabou on Cape Breton
and has returned there to retire.
"My ancestors came from Lochaber in Scotland. They left
with a great love of music. Folk researchers will tell you
that when people left the mother country and came to isolated
places, which islands are, they tend to retain more of what
they left."
MacDonald, who with his wife, Suzanne, owns the Mabou
Village Gallery on Main Street, picks up his fiddle to play a
few tunes. "In Cape Breton when I was growing up, nobody
taught anybody anything," he says. "You just listened."
Cape Breton is particularly known for its fiddle-playing
and step-dancing, traditions that have all but disappeared in
Scotland.
On Cape Breton, they have been passed down from generation
to generation with certain families such as the Barra
MacNeills, the MacIsaacs, the MacMasters, the Beatons, the
Rankins -- and others -- noted for their distinctive styles
and their musicianship. But almost everyone of a certain age
plays, at least at the hobby level.
"The fiddle is such a versatile instrument," MacDonald
says, "and there are so many different ways of bowing that you
can play exactly the same tune with exactly the same notes
giving the same value to every note and you can make it sound
very different by embellishments that you use with your left
hand on the strings but more particularly on how you use the
bow."
One of the best places to learn about Cape Breton fiddling
and dancing is the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre in Judique,
which offers workshops, lectures and performances throughout
the summer.
"In the late '60s and early '70s, the music was dying out
around here," says Kinnon Beaton, the director.
"When I was 12 in 1968 and started learning to play, there
were almost no young people learning to play the fiddle. It
was an old person's music. Then, in 1972, a video was released
called The Vanishing Cape Breton Fiddler.
"It was a wakeup call. People here took it as a challenge.
The old people started teaching the young people. The parishes
would buy fiddles for the kids and pay for their lessons. So
there's been a revival since then. Now there are Cape Breton
fiddlers who are known all over the world -- and the young
people look up to them."
Last fall, the Celtic Music Interpretive Centre opened an
exhibit section that includes audio clips, paintings,
artifacts and "an eight-minute fiddle lesson" from Kinnon
Beaton. Visitors are invited to pick up a fiddle and try a few
notes. They can also learn a few dance steps from another
video.
A painting in the exhibit depicts a kitchen party, which
was the traditional venue for Cape Breton fiddling. People
would gather in someone's home and the party would go on all
night. "It was a release from their troubles and their hard
day's work," says Beaton. "My mother is 88 now, and when I
would ask her about going to a house party, her face would
just light up as though she went to heaven."
Kitchen parties are still held on Cape Breton, but for
visitors who haven't been invited to one, an evening at The
Red Shoe Pub in Mabou would be the next best thing.
The congenial pub, owned by the Rankin family, books
first-rate performers every night of the summer.
And from Monday to Saturday during the summer, there's a
square dance somewhere in Inverness County. The best-known one
is in West Mabou on Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. and
is "for all ages."
By October, the tourist season on Cape Breton is winding
down, but not without a final, dazzling flourish.
With the fens adorned in gold and russet and the highland
forests ablaze with autumn hues, a festival called "Celtic
Colours" arrives with nine days of performances, workshops,
lectures and storytelling.
Last year there were 40 concerts with about 450 performers.
The events take place in communities all over the island.
"The festival has become a focal point for the traditional
culture here," says Joella Foulds, artistic director along
with Max MacDonald, with whom she founded the festival in
1997. "Performers and audience come from all over the world."
Many of the artists stay at the Gaelic College in St. Ann's
or in the Baddeck area.
A "Festival Club" at the college provides a nightly
opportunity for performers to continue to jam. "It starts at
11 p.m. and goes on until 3 or 4 in the morning," says Foulds.
"It's probably the heart and soul of the festival. There's an
opportunity for collaborations and exchanges and developing
friendships. You never know who's going to be on the stage.
People line up to get in and it's full every night."
And so another season comes to a close on Cape Breton.
Winter wraps its arms around the island until the ice thaws
in spring and the tourists return.
IF YOU GO ...
- GETTING THERE
If traveling by car, there are two entry points to Cape
Breton: the Canso Causeway at Port Hastings and car ferries to
and from Port-aux-Basques and Argentia, Newfoundland, and the
Marine Atlantic terminal in North Sydney.
There is daily public bus service to and from Halifax and
Sydney (the trip takes seven to eight hours) and there are
flights in and out of the Sydney Airport to other Canadian
cities and to U.S. cities.
- CELTIC COLOURS FESTIVAL
Oct. 5-13, 2007.
Information: Phone: (888) 355-7744; e-mail: info@celtic-colours.com;
www.celtic-colours.com/GeneralInfo.html. Concerts and
workshops take place in venues throughout Cape Breton Island.
After their performances, many players continue in
impromptu sessions at the Festival Club, located in the Gaelic
College in St. Ann's. (A free shuttle bus runs to and from
Baddeck-area lodgings and the Gaelic College.)
- RECOMMENDED ACCOMMODATIONS
(Prices are in Canadian dollars.)
Port Hood: Haus Treuburg, P.O. Box 92, Port Hood, N.S. B0E
2W0 Canada; Phone: (902) 787-2116; www.haustreuburg.com. On
Cape Breton's west coast, in the middle of the Ceilidh Trail.
B&B in a turn-of-the-last-century main house with three
cottages.
Georg and Elvi Kargoll are the proprietors. Open May 1-Dec.
31. Doubles from $95 to $135. Breakfast additional $9.90 per
person.
Cape Breton Highlands National Park: Keltic Lodge Resort
and Spa, Middle Head Peninsula, Ingonish Beach, N.S. B0C 1L0.
Phone: (902) 285-2880 or (800) 565-0444;
www.signatureresorts.com/resorts.asp?resort=1&page=1.
One of three resorts owned by the Province of Nova Scotia.
Spa, tennis courts, heated swimming pool, 18-hole golf course
and other recreational facilities within a national park.
Accommodations include 102 rooms in the historic lodge, a
modern "inn" and cottages. Two restaurants. Open mid-May to
Oct. 20. Doubles from about $350/night, including dinner and
breakfast. Packages available.
Baddeck: Castle Moffett, Box 678, Baddeck, Cape Breton, N.S.,
Canada B0E 1B0; Phone: (902) 756-9070 or (888) 756 9070;
www.castlemoffett.com. Centrally located on 200 acres
overlooking Bras d'Or Lakes. The castle was built in 1992 as a
private home by Desmond and Linda Moffett (who continued to
run it after her husband's death in 2006). Open early May to
mid-October. Suites, with fireplace and whirlpool tub, from
$250/night. Packages available that include dinner and
breakfast for two, from $528/night.
Port Hawkesbury: Mackenzie House B&B, 4 Tupper Ct., Port
Hawkesbury, N.S. B9A 2A6; Phone: (902) 625-1026 or (800)
378-4042; www.mackenziehouse.com. Near the Canso Causeway that
connects with mainland Nova Scotia. Open year-round. Doubles,
$115-$125 including breakfast. (From $85-$100 off season, with
weekly rates and packages available.).
- RECOMMENDED DINING
Port Hood: Haus Treuburg (for contact information, see
above). Georg Kargoll is a superb cook. Four-course dinner,
$39.
Mabou: Red Shoe Pub, Route 19; Phone: (902) 945-2996. Open
daily from June 1 to mid-October, 11:30 a.m., Mon.-Sat., and
from noon on Sundays. Full menu from opening until 9:30 p.m.
and a late-night menu thereafter. Soups, sandwiches, salads,
Acadian tourtiere meat pie, $5-$13. Entrees, fresh fish, meat
loaf, pork chops, pasta, $13-$17. Live entertainment nightly,
sometimes with a $6 cover charge.
Cape Breton Highlands National Park: The Purple Thistle
Room in the Keltic Lodge (for contact information, see above).
Open daily in season. Dinner entrees, Atlantic salmon,
lobster, deep sea scallops, haddock, chicken, pork, beef strip
loin, $18-$25.
- FOR MORE INFORMATION
Cape Breton Island: www.cbisland.com. Visitor information
centres are located in Port Hastings (near the Canso
Causeway), (902) 625-4201; Baddeck, (902) 295-1911; Inverness,
(902) 258-3740; North Sydney, (902) 794-7719 and elsewhere on
the island.
Cape Breton Highlands National Park: www.pc.gc.ca/pn-np/ns/cbreton/index_E.asp
Celtic Music Interpretive Centre: Phone: (902) 787-2708;
www.celticmusicsite.com.
Highland Village Museum: Phone: (902) 725-2272; http://highlandvillage.museum.gov.ns.ca.
Open mid-May to mid-October.
Inverness County Square Dances: www.invernessco.com/dances.html
(Terese Loeb Kreuzer is the author of How to Move to
Canada, published by St. Martin's Griffin in August 2006. She
is the editor of the Travel Arts Syndicate; http://TravelArtsSyndicate.blogspot.com)
JOE'S SCARECROWS
In 1984, near Cheticamp on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia,
a retired janitor named Joe Delaney planted a vegetable garden
and put up some scarecrows to keep the birds and animals away.
The next day he found that people were stopping to look at his
scarecrows, so he put up a few more. By the end of the
following summer, he had around 100. Since then, visitors have
come from every province in Canada, every state in the United
States and 29 other countries to see Joe's scarecrows and
their witty masks and costumes.
August 25, 2007 - Belleville Intelligencer
By Luke Hendry
One of the East Coast's favourite musical families takes the
Empire Theatre's stage Sunday. Cape Breton's rankin family
- siblings Raylene, Cookie, Jimmy, and Heather - began a
tour earlier this year and are now doing a second, shorter
leg.
It's spurred by the release of their new album, Reunion,
their first since 1998's Uprooted. Both were produced by
Cookie's husband, George Massenburg.
The Celtic-based band pursued different interests
starting in 1999. Jimmy would have two children and release
three solo albums; Raylene released an album; the girls
united to buy a seasonal restaurant in Cape Breton and do
Christmas tours.
Their family group - at least in its best-known lineup -
would not be seen on a major stage again.
"It was kind of time to leave it alone for a while,"
Heather said this week from Halifax.
But another, much sadder development also kept the band
from reuniting.
In 2000, John Morris rankin, the band's musical heart,
was killed in a winter traffic accident.
"Initially my response, and I think most of us felt when
we lost John Morris, that we would never record or tour
together again," Heather said.
"He was such an integral part of what we do, particularly
when it comes to putting the music together.
"But as time goes on you realize that there are other
ways to go about it," she said. "You either stop living or
you keep going. It was something that time made easier.
"To most people outside of the circle it seems like a
long time. Grief is something that's with you forever."
The reunion, she said, "was really at the hands of
somebody outside the family who came to us and said, 'Look,
you guys, this music is good music and people are still
interested in hearing it.'"
That somebody was Calgary promoter Jeff Parry.
"It's not the be-all-end-all to record and tour with the
rankins," rankin said. "It was time for a change. We've had
a break, and when we were approached it felt like a good
opportunity to get back at it.
"We've had a lot of laughs. It's a lot more relaxing in a
sense because we're not being driven by a big record
company."
There was more grief earlier this year when their sister,
Geraldine, died of a brain aneurysm. She had performed with
them in the band's original lineup in the 1970s.
Heather said that, too, prompted her siblings to withdraw
from their music. Early tour dates were cancelled, but
they've managed to keep other bookings.
Cookie now lives in Nashville, with the others based
around the Halifax area. Heather said another reunion is
possible, though not in the plans.
"It's very encouraging when you hear people actually
wanting more, so it's not a pressure."
In the meantime, she said, they're touring with John
Morris' 20-year-old stepdancing, fiddling daughter Molly.
"She's got a pile of talent. Very fun having her along.
She keeps us on our toes," said Heather.
"Maybe in another couple of years, or less than that,
we'll get back together and cross the country."
For details on Sunday's 8 p.m. show, call the theatre at
613-969-0099 ext. 1.
August 31, 2007 - Vancouver Courier
By Tom Zillich
More than a decade after the song became an international
hit, "Fare The Well Love" is all too haunting for the
Rankins. First, on a cold winter day in 2000, the musical
Maritimers had to cope with the car-crash death of John
Morris Rankin, a leading light in the family band.
Then, last January, sister Geraldine died suddenly of a
brain aneurysm at her Calgary home. She was a founding
member of The Rankin Family but left the band to become a
teacher before her siblings toured and made albums
professionally.
"We're a tight family, passionate in both love and war,"
says Raylene Rankin. "She had a young family, too, which
makes it very hard."
Not surprisingly, the folk songs are quiet and
contemplative on Reunion, a CD released to coincide with
news of the Rankins' return to concert halls early this
year.
Geraldine's funeral delayed the start of the tour on
Vancouver Island.
"(The first concert dates) turned out to be a very
therapeutic way of dealing with things--to hear the crowd
and play those tunes we started out with," reports Raylene.
Also comforting, she says, was having niece Molly
Rankin--the 19-year-old daughter of John Morris --along on
tour to sing and fiddle with the band, which hadn't
performed together in nearly a decade.
It took some convincing by Calgary music promoter Jeff
Parry to pull the band back into the studio and onto a tour
bus. "We're all doing our own things now and it did take
some consideration," says Raylene, "but once we said yes,
there was no looking back."
Reached on the phone recently at her Halifax home,
Raylene planned to spend the day shopping for school
supplies for her son Alexander, 9. When he arrived in 1998,
she quit the band to raise him.
Raylene had a breast-cancer scare a couple of years
later. "It makes you appreciate every day," she said in
2004, when she toured with Cookie and Heather as The Rankin
Sisters.
With Reunion, the Rankins delve into songs written mostly
by Jimmy, with contributions from Raylene, Heather and Molly
(who sings a beautiful lead on her own "Sunset").
Tunes crafted by Gordon Lightfoot and John Hiatt also
colour the album, most of which was recorded live in a
Tennessee studio in October 2006. Two exceptions include
performances by the late John Morris at the CBC Studios in
Halifax: the jumpy piano instrumental "Johnny Cope," and his
fiddling on a "Hillsdale Medley" of two jigs and two reels.
It seems Molly has inherited her father's passion for
music. "She's been performing traditional fiddle music since
she was young," Raylene says, "and she's also a budding
songwriter. She has such youthful energy and style. It's
been great to have her along with us."
One of the reunion concert dates--sometime after the
Rankins hit Coquitlam's Red Robinson Show Theatre stage for
two nights, Sept. 7 and 8--will be filmed for a CTV special.
"But I can't tell you much more than that," she said with
a laugh. "I've probably said too much already."
Tickets for the Coquitlam concert dates are $59.50/$69.50
at Ticketmaster outlets.
September 1, 2007 - News Durham Region
OSHAWA - It was a small and very dry crowd that filed into
the General Motors Centre in Oshawa Saturday to take in the
Rankin Family concert. As they entered the GMC, Rankin
fans encountered notices taped to windows, walls and cash
registers around the centre notifying them there would be no
alcohol at the concert - the GMC's liquor sales license had
been suspended.
Notices bearing the GMC and City of Oshawa logos read:
"The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of
Ontario
(AGCO) has suspended the liquor sales license of the
General Motors Centre for one day
Beginning at 11:00 AM September 1st, 2007
Until 02:00AM September 2nd, 2007
Please be advised that there will
be NO sale,
service or consumption of alcohol permitted on
General Motors Centre premises during the
suspension
Patrons found in possession of alcohol will be
removed from the premise.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
From the General Motors Centre Management Team"
City officials were unavailable for comment, but the
suspension is reportedly related to a concert held earlier
this year.
September 5, 2007 - Coquitlam Now
By Tom Zillich
More than a decade after the song became an international
hit, "Fare Thee Well Love" is all too haunting for the
Rankins. First, on a cold winter day in 2000, the musical
Maritimers had to cope with the car-crash death of John
Morris Rankin, a leading light in the family band.
Then, last January, sister Geraldine died suddenly of a
brain aneurysm at her Calgary home. She was a founding
member of The Rankin Family but left the band to become a
teacher before her siblings toured and made albums
professionally.
"We're a tight family, passionate in both love and war,"
says Raylene Rankin. "She had a young family, too, which
makes it very hard."
Not surprisingly, the folk songs are quiet and
contemplative on Reunion, a CD released to coincide with
news of the Rankins' return to concert halls early this
year.
Geraldine's funeral delayed the start of the tour on
Vancouver Island.
"(The first concert dates) turned out to be a very
therapeutic way of dealing with things -- to hear the crowd
and play those tunes we started out with," reports Raylene.
Also comforting, she says, was having niece Molly Rankin
-- the 19-year-old daughter of John Morris -- along on tour
to sing and fiddle with the band, which hadn't performed
together in nearly a decade.
It took some convincing by Calgary music promoter Jeff
Parry to pull the band back into the studio and onto a tour
bus.
"We're all doing our own things now and it did take some
consideration," says Raylene, "but once we said yes, there
was no looking back."
Reached on the phone recently at her Halifax home,
Raylene planned to spend the day shopping for school
supplies for her son Alexander, 9. When he arrived in 1998,
she quit the band to raise him.
Raylene had a breast-cancer scare a couple of years
later.
"It makes you appreciate every day," she said in 2004,
when she toured with Cookie and Heather as The Rankin
Sisters.
With Reunion, the Rankins delve into songs written mostly
by Jimmy, with contributions from Raylene, Heather and Molly
(who sings a beautiful lead on her own "Sunset").
Tunes crafted by Gordon Lightfoot and John Hiatt also
colour the album, most of which was recorded live in a
Tennessee studio in October 2006.
Two exceptions include performances by the late John
Morris at the CBC Studios in Halifax: the jumpy piano
instrumental "Johnny Cope," and his fiddling on a "Hillsdale
Medley" of two jigs and two reels.
It seems Molly has inherited her father's passion for
music.
"She's been performing traditional fiddle music since she
was young," Raylene says, "and she's also a budding
songwriter. She has such youthful energy and style. It's
been great to have her along with us."
One of the reunion concert dates -- sometime after the
Rankins hit Coquitlam's Red Robinson Show Theatre stage for
two nights, Sept. 7 and 8 -- will be filmed for a CTV
special, Raylene says.
"But I can't tell you much more than that," she said with
a laugh. "I've probably said too much already."
- Tickets for the Coquitlam concert dates are $59.50 and
$69.50, and available at Ticketmaster outlets.
September 7, 2007 - Halifax Herald
Nova Scotia natives Jimmy Rankin and George Canyon will
perform on the live broadcast of The Canadian Country Music
Awards on Monday at 9 p.m. AT on CBC TV. Paul Brandt hosts
the award show from Regina’s Brandt Centre.
Rankin will join Carolyn Dawn Johnson to sing Nothing
Good About Lonely and Canyon will perform I Want to Live.
Concert had fans dancing in aisles
September 7, 2007 - News Durham Region
By William McGuirk
The Evaporators from
Vancouver have a song called Half Empty Halls about the fate
awaiting most bands. The Rankin Family have reached that
level in their career.However, one could put any two Cape
Breton brethren together and a party will ensue. So, one
knows even if you put 1500 in a room that holds five times
as many, a good time will be had by all in attendance.
Although it might take awhile.
The Rankin Family play music of a lilting Celtic cadence,
fine for your maiden aunt, the one who has sworn off the
demon drink and now sips tea in the parlour. But everyone
knows the party is in the kitchen. Everyone except the
powers that rule the GM Centre as it was a dry event. Given
the history of the Rankins, however, it was only dry in the
bar.
In Alistair McCleod’s collection of stories named Island
there is one titled The Road To Rankin’s Point. On the tip
of that route, which spreads a web across the Americas
behind it, there is a stretch called The Little Turn Of
Sadness. It was on such a stretch that John Morris Rankin
lost his life in 2000. He was considered the musical heart
of the clan and his loss was such that it has taken until
now for the family to get back on the road. They brought the
Rankin Family Reunion Tour to Oshawa Sept. 1.
The announcement that young Molly Rankin, John’s
daughter, would join them on stage drew a cheer of approval
from the partisan crowd who appreciated the significance.
Molly sang, fiddled and danced her way into their
affections. She has a touch of Kathleen Edwards in her. She
played her own composition, Sunset.
Before the start of this tour another family member,
Geraldine, passed away and it has brought a deeper darkness
to the great dark beauty at the heart of their most well
known track Fare Thee Well Love. Tears glistened.
The Rankins know their demographic and have turned things
down to a speed more appropriate to those roads of home.
Most of the almost two-hour set was filled with the melodic
mournful songs that best showcase the three sisters Heather,
Raylene and Cookie’s harmonies. The haunting sounds did make
themselves at home in the vaults of the Centre and hovered
over the white tops below. So many seniors, in fact, it
looked as if the venue had forgotten to cover the ice.
Oh I’m just kidding with you. One of the most enjoyable
parts of the evening came from the repartee between the fans
and the band. The wags in the cheap seats provided the best
laughs. When Jimmy was plugging their new album The Rankin
Family Reunion, one girlish voice yelled out, “Arrrrr you
for sale Jimmy?” A man called out to Heather and she replied
by flashing her shoulders.
It did take rather a long time for that tumultuous party
in the kitchen to spill over into the parlour but when it
did, it had everyone on their feet and dancing in the
aisles. The traditional reels and country rockers tumbled
out and the stepdancing from the sisters and their niece
during the encore was a valiant attempt.
In the best tradition of a family gathering, each one
present had their turn in front of the fireplace and each
was warmly applauded. Sure, why would you knock them? Aren’t
they up there doing their best?
The arena was in retrospect not the best place for such
an intimate family gathering. Then again when such distant
cousins visit it’s only proper that one give them the best
room.
September 8, 2007 - Cape Breton Post
SYDNEY — A distinctly Celtic flare will be added to the
Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame with the induction of
the late John Allan Cameron this weekend.
Fellow Cape Bretoner and musician Jimmy Rankin will present
the honour and John Allan’s son Stuart will be on hand to
accept it during a gala dinner Sunday as part of Country
Music Week festivities in Regina, Sask.
John Allan, a native of Glencoe Station, died Nov. 22, 2006,
in a Toronto hospital after a lengthy battle with cancer. He
was 67.
Known as the Godfather of Celtic Music, John Allan received
numerous awards and honours during his prestigious career
including the Dr. Helen Creighton Lifetime Achievement Award
from the East Coast Music Association, an honorary doctor of
letters from the University College of Cape Breton and he
was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2003.
Induction to the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame
recognizes long-term contribution to the growth and
development of Canadian country music.
The CCMA honours an artist, an industry builder and a
broadcaster each year.
Broadcaster Cliff Dumas of CMT Canada and former CCMA
executive director Sheila Hamilton, will also have their
names added to the hall this year.
September 15, 2007 - Halifax Herald
On Oct. 11 and 12, three of Nova Scotia’s, and Canada’s,
most accomplished female folk artists come together for a
one-time event at Dartmouth’s Alderney Landing Theatre.
Cindy Church, known for her work with the group Quartette,
smoky-toned singer-songwriter Susan Crowe and the soaring
voice of Raylene Rankin will share their experience and
talent for two evenings of memorable music.
The concerts are at 8 p.m.
General seating tickets are $25 (plus HST) on sale now at
the Alderney Landing box office (1-888-311-9090) or at
www.alderneylanding.com.
September 26, 2007 - Halifax Herald
Singer-songwriter Jimmy Rankin will perform songs from his
latest release Edge of Day during a tour of the Maritimes
with special guest Nathan Wiley.
Nova Scotia dates include: Nov. 17 Port Hawkesbury, SAERC
Auditorium; Nov. 20, Truro CEC Theatre; Nov. 22 Liverpool,
Astor Theatre; Nov. 23, Halifax Rebecca Cohn Auditorium;
Nov. 26, Mabou, Strathspey Place; Nov. 27, Wolfville
Festival Theatre; Nov. 29, Pictou deCoste Centre; Nov. 30,
Glace Bay, Savoy Theatre.
Produced by Colin Linden, Edge of Day features
performances by Linden, Grammy Award-winner Gordie Sampson,
Nashville’s Jon Randall and Mickey Raphael, long-time
harmonica player for Willie Nelson.
Prior to going solo, Rankin was a member of Cape Breton’s
award-winning The Rankin Family. He released his sophomore
album, Handmade, in 2003.
Special guest Wiley is an ECMA winning singer-songwriter
from Prince Edward Island. He recently released his third
album The City Destroyed M.
Tickets for most shows go on sale Friday.
Tickets for the Truro show are $30 advance, $35 day of
show and are available at MacQuarries Pharmasave, 179
Esplanade and by phone, 895-1681 ext. 211.
Tickets for the Liverpool show are $30 advance, $35 day
of show and are available at the Astor Theatre box office
and by phone at 354-5250.
Tickets for the Halifax show are $35 advance, $40 day of
show and are available at the Dalhousie Arts Centre box
office, by phone at 494-3820 or 1-800 874-1669 and online at
www.sonicconcerts.com.
Tickets for the Mabou show are $30 advance, $35 day of
show and are available at the Strathspey Place box office
and by phone at 945-5300.
Tickets for the Wolfville show are $30 advance, $35 day
of show and are available at Athletic Complex box office and
by phone at 542-5500 or 1-800-542-8425.
Tickets for the Port Hawkesbury show are available
beginning Monday by calling 625-2561.
Tickets for the Pictou show are available now at the
deCoste Centre box office, 485-8848 or 1-800-353-5338.
Tickets for the Glace Bay show are available now at the
Savoy Theatre box office and Centre 200 in Sydney, by phone
at 564-6668 and online at
www.savoytheatre.com.
September 26, 2007 - Halifax Daily News
Jimmy Rankin is preparing to tour the Maritimes this fall.
The musician is touring to support his new release,
Edge of Day, and will
perform at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium on Nov. 23. Joining
him is Nathan Wiley. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 on the
day of the show. They go on sale this Friday. Call 494-3820.
September 26, 2007 - Times and Transcript
Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Jimmy Rankin will
perform in Moncton in support of his latest release Edge of
Day during a tour of the Maritimes with special guest Nathan
Wiley on Saturday, Nov. 24. The two East Coast artists will
perform at the Capitol Theatre. Prior to going solo,
Rankin was an integral member of renowned Cape Breton group
The Rankin Family, with whom he won 15 East Coast Music
Awards, six Juno Awards and three Canadian Country Music
Awards.
Special guest Nathan Wiley is an ECMA winning
singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island. He recently
released his third album The City Destroyed Me which was
produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. The latest single,
"North American Dream" is currently Top 10 at MuchMoreMusic.
* Tickets for the Moncton show are $35 advance and $40
day of show (including tax) and can be purchased at the
Capitol Theatre box office and Frank's Music, by phone
856-4379 (1-800-567-1922) and online at
www.capitol.nb.ca
October 4, 2007 - Truro Daily News
TRURO – Critically acclaimed singer-songwriter Jimmy Rankin
will add Truro to his Maritime tour next month.
Rankin will perform songs from his latest release Edge of
Day during the tour, which will also highlight the talent of
special guest Nathan Wiley.
Truro’s concert will be held Nov. 20 at the Cobequid
Educational Centre.
Produced by Colin Linden, Edge of Day’s 13 tracks chronicle
Rankin’s life since the release of his highly regarded
sophomore album Handmade in 2003. Included on the record is
the guilt-tinged first single “Slipping Away,” the urgent
fiddle-driven follow up “Got to Leave Louisiana” and the
potent roots-scented “Stranded.”
Prior to going solo, Rankin was an integral member of
renowned Cape Breton group The Rankin Family, with whom he
won 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Juno Awards and three
Canadian Country Music Awards.
Special guest Nathan Wiley is an ECMA winning
singer-songwriter from Prince Edward Island. He recently
released his third album The City Destroyed Me which was
produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos. The latest single,
“North American Dream” is currently Top 10 at MuchMoreMusic.
Tickets for the show are now on sale and cost $30 in
advance; $35 the day of show.
They are available at MacQuarries Pharmasave on the
Esplanade and by phone at 895-1681.
October 4, 2007 - Halifax Daily News
By Bill Hart
Country fans in Nova Scotia will be glued to the TV screen
Wednesday night, as 10 local finalists from CMT's
Karaoke Star Halifax
will perform for the judges, which include CMT's Casey
Clarke and Beverley Mahood, Jimmy Rankin (who's doing a show
at the Dalhousie Arts Centre on Nov. 23), and some guy who
looks awfully like the picture in this article - only with a
better haircut!
Two singers from our region will be flown to Toronto, one
picked by the judges the other by an online vote, starting
at midnight Oct. 11. The big-prize package, which includes
$10,000 and the opportunity to be heard all across Canada,
will be awarded during a live nationwide CMT telecast Oct.
24.
You can see the top-10 performers now at www.cmt.ca.
Remember this? "The Chev got stuck and the Ford got stuck,
got the Chev unstuck when the Dodge showed up, but the Dodge
got stuck in the tractor rut, which eventually pulled out
the Ford, with some difficulty!"
If you own a truck or know someone that does, you are
already familiar with Corb Lund and the Hurtin' Albertans.
The band was named roots artist of the year at this year's
Canadian Country Music Awards for the fourth year running,
and have a new album titled
Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!
The album is scheduled for release on Nov. 13, with the guys
touring this fall, including a stop for the very first time
in Newfoundland. Check them out Nov. 24 right here in
Halifax at the Marquee.
Tickets are on sale now.
Music Nova Scotia's 11th annual awards nominations were
announced last week. Up for country artist/recording of the
year are Rylee Madison (Me &
Cinderella); Jesse Beck (Back
from Nowhere); Emma Lee (The
Reason); Ryan Cook (Sunny
Acres); and Audra Raulyns (All
That).
There was a great group to choose from this year, so it's
truly an honour just to be nominated.
Winners will be announced during Nova Scotia Music Week from
Nov. 8 to 11 in Liverpool, which is proving to be quite the
party town, getting the awards for the second straight year.
If anybody else wants them, the bar has been set.
Emerson Drive has performed twice in HRM this past year,
both shows at the Rodeo Lounge in Burnside.
What made these shows special to many was the group's
hospitality. Instead of hiding backstage, they came out into
the crowd and signed autographs, took pictures, and shared
some friendly banter with the fans.
It's that kind of attention that fans remember.
Their former bass player, Patrick Bourque, passed away Sept.
25 at his home in Montreal. Patrick had left the band in
August, but is being remembered as one of the nice guys in
the business.
Bill Hart has been nominated
for MIANS, ECMA, and CCMA awards and has been travelling up
and down the dial in Atlantic Canada for more than 15 years.
He hosts the morning show on FX1019.
The Chieftains lead
the charge of musicians heading to Cape Breton for 11th Celtic Colours
International Festival.
October 4, 2007 - Halifax Herald
By Stephen Cooke, Entertainment Reporter
IT’S NOT hard to tell Paddy Moloney, founder of the
pioneer Irish music ensemble the Chieftains, is excited to
be heading back to Cape Breton this weekend to kick off the
11th Celtic Colours International Festival.
"Have the leaves changed colour? Or has climate change
been playing with the seasons?" he asks eagerly over the
phone from Ireland.
Clearly Moloney has vivid memories of the Chieftains"
last Celtic Colours appearance, at the festival’s very first
concert in 1997. He’ll be pleased to know that the
festival’s timing remains impeccable when it comes to
hitting the peak of foliage transformation, while the
group’s 7:30 p.m. performance on Friday night at the Port
Hawkesbury Civic Centre sets a high bar for the rest of the
week to live up to.
"It’s so unique where it is; it’s exciting and wonderful
to go there," says the pipes and tin whistle virtuoso, who
will be joined Friday by fellow Chieftains fiddler Sean
Keane, vocalist and bodhran player Kevin Conneff and
flautist Matt Molloy, plus some special Cape Breton guests.
"There’s no over-the-top commercialism — at least there
wasn’t when I was there, anyway — about the festival, it has
a lovely country feel to it. It’s like us going down to the
country to visit our musical cousins in another part of
Ireland, you know?
"It’s flourishing here as well, there’s more festivals
and music, and they’re all brilliant. People are looking for
us a lot now back home. There was a period when we were
spending so much time away, to the point where people were
wondering if we were still together or not, then all of a
sudden, bang, we’re back up there more popular than ever."
The Chieftains continue to tour in this, their 45th year
of performing and recording, and as usual Moloney has a
number of irons in the fire, including contributing music to
the upcoming fantasy feature film about the Loch Ness
Monster called The Water Horse: Secret of the Deep, and an
in-depth BBC documentary about the group.
Things weren’t much different a decade ago when the
Chieftains enjoyed an extended stay in Nova Scotia, with
more than just their Celtic Colours appearance to keep them
occupied.
"It was when we were there to work on the Fire in the
Kitchen album, which has 12 or 14 of your super, super
artists, singers and musicians and everything," Moloney
recalls. "It’s always puzzled me, when I was involved in the
Celtic Congress going back to the late ’50s and early ’60s,
and there was no mention of Nova Scotia at all. There was
Cornwall, Wales, the Isle of Man and Scotland, Galicia,
Brittany and Ireland. But a few years later I started to
hear some of the great music from there and met up with some
of the musicians.
"I just couldn’t understand how this wealth of wonderful
music and song, all connected to Scotland and Ireland, could
be left out. There was original stuff happening, and
eventually a lot of younger musicians like the Rankins and
the Barras and so on."
Fire in the Kitchen was a landmark album for Canadian
traditional music acts, from Cape Breton’s Ashley MacIssac,
Barra MacNeils and the Rankins to Quebec’s La Bottine
Souriante, introducing them to the audience the Chieftains
had spent decades building up. While not purely a Chieftains
CD per se — the entire group doesn’t play together on every
song — the record remains a strong primer in Canadian Celtic
music, and continues to sell well in the U.S. and even
Japan.
"We put it in with the Chieftains’ pile, if you know what
I mean," chuckles Moloney. "I brought the lads over, and
there’s not much point in bringing them and not putting them
on every track, when they’re around. It really is a calling
card for us to that part of the world, and to those great
musicians and singers, it was great fun to do it.
"Two weeks in Halifax, with the best musicians, I’ll
never forget it, such a great, great time. There’s nobody on
that album I didn’t enjoy working with, or felt they weren’t
a great talent."
Moloney is happy to revive that Fire in the Kitchen
feeling at Friday’s gala concert, with four Cape Breton acts
"all brilliant in their own right."
"Mary Jane Lamond was on Fire in the Kitchen, and came on
one of our American tours several years ago, a lovely lady
and so talented," he says. "Wendy MacIsaac is such a
talented fiddler, and dancer as well; and the MacGillivrays,
Fiona and Ciaran from the Cottars, who we’ve been delighted
to have on tour with us as well.
"And last but not least, the great Ashley himself. For
many years he came on tour with us, and he’s on our 40th
album Water From the Well, and I could tell you stories till
the cows come home about having Ashley on tour with us,
there are so many and they’re so funny."
Prompted for one, Moloney recalls taking the whirling
Creignish dervish on tour to China in the mid-’90s, where
the iconoclastic fiddler didn’t have to try too hard to
stand out.
"He got told to go home by the police, because bicycles
were bumping into him when he went down the middle of the
street on his roller skates, with his blonde hair sticking
up and coloured glasses. I’ll never forget it as long as I
live," laughs Moloney.
"Another trip was to Japan, and I was about to announce
his appearance at the first show, and all of a sudden there
was this commotion behind me. There was the bold Ashley
going around on his roller skates, zipping in and out of
everyone on stage, and I said ‘Here he is, Ashley MacIsaac!
Ta-daaa!’ as he landed on the floor right in front of me.
"Only Ashley could get away with it, but he’s a genius.
He has every fiddle tune locked away in his head, backstage
in the dressing room he’d play for hours and never repeat
himself."
Members of Sydney Mines’ Barra MacNeils also received
invitations to the Orient from the Chieftains, and Moloney
couldn’t stop by Cape Breton without checking in with the
talented musical family. He’ll be joining singer-songwriter
David Francey as a special guest at the group’s 20 Years and
Counting anniversary show on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Sydney
Marine Terminal at 7:30 p.m.
"We had Ryan playing keyboard and pipes on the road with
us, and Boyd playing fiddle; they came to Japan and
everything. So then I got the invitation to appear with them
at their special anniversary concert, which is the last
concert. I said I’d definitely do it, and then the committee
got involved and said, ‘Well, if Paddy’s coming over, why
not have the whole band come over and do a show?’
"So that happened, and then we ended up getting scheduled
to play in Toronto, Ottawa and London, Ontario. So the trip
has turned into a mini-Canadian tour. So on the 6th, the
band goes back home, I go to Boston to get my pipes fixed by
a great pipe and reed maker down there, and then I’m back to
join in the Barra MacNeils concert. I don’t know what I’m
doing yet, but I’ll be there. I love the Barra MacNeils."
For further information about Celtic Colours, including
ticket sales, visit the website at
www.celtic-colours.com or phone 1-888-355-7744.
Church, Crowe, Rankin
team up for concerts at Alderney Landing
October 10, 2007 - Halifax Herald
By Stephen Pedersen, Arts Reporter
CINDY CHURCH has recorded 14 albums, won three music awards
and been nominated for six more since her first recording in
1983.
She has sung in The Great Western Orchestra and is
currently performing and recording with Quartette and Lunch
At Allen’s and touring her Hoagy Carmichael show The
Nearness of You with pianist Joe Sealy and bassist George
Koller.
Yet, as she sat at a sunny cafe table in Halifax last
Friday, she said with a slow smile, "It’ll be my 50th
birthday in 2008. And this is all I’ve done in the last 25
years. I wish I had other skills."
On Thursday and Friday, Church joins singer-songwriters
Susan Crowe and Raylene Rankin for two concerts in Alderney
Landing Theatre beginning at 8 p.m. The second concert will
be recorded for future broadcast by CBC.
Guitarists Jamie Robinson and Clarence Deveau will
accompany the trio.
"Singing together," Church said, "I love singing harmony
more than lead. I’ve done it, inserting myself in there,
since I was a kid — it comes very naturally."
As an ensemble singer, Church’s skill at blending her
voice into a group has given a satiny-silver sheen to every
ensemble she has sung in, from the Great Western Orchestra
to Quartette and Lunch At Allen’s.
As a soloist, the Bible Hill native has one of the
sweetest-sounding voices ever to come out of the Maritimes.
The other is Raylene Rankin, with whom she has never yet
performed. Crowe’s dramatic alto will anchor the trio.
"Susan and I have known each other for a long time,"
Church said. "We have co-written songs together. And I’ve
always been a huge fan of Raylene’s. Each of us will
contribute repertoire to the concert. Jamie has worked with
both Susan and I and Clarence has worked with Raylene."
Church’s love of singing was nourished within her family.
She recalls singing with her brother as a child. But she
grew up without any exposure to the sound of a classical
orchestra.
"Then, while I was in junior high in Onslow, I had an
epiphany," she said. "The Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra played
at an assembly. I said to myself, "Oh my god, I’ve got to be
a part of this.’ "
In high school in Truro at Cobequid Educational Centre,
she asked Ron MacKay if she could play flute in his band.
There were too many flutes, so MacKay put her on bassoon.
Church was happy to play bassoon for him. "He was so
exceptional, as every one who has ever had the honour of
having him as a teacher knows," Church said.
As a founding member of Quartette since 1993 with Caitlin
Hanford, Sylvia Tyson and Gwen Swick (who replaced Colleen
Peterson in 1996), Church has made six recordings. A seventh
will be coming out later this fall. During March break 2008
(when Hanford, a school teacher, will be free to travel),
they will begin touring the album and continue in the summer
music festival season.
Church’s association with Lunch At Allen’s began as a
result of singer-songwriters Murray McLauchlan, Ian Thomas
and Marc Jordan getting together at Allen’s Restaurant on
Toronto’s Danforth Avenue, for what they called "curmudgeon
lunches."
With such a trio, it was a natural step from dining and
ranting to working together as performers. But they felt
they needed a female voice in the mix for the sound they
wanted. McLauchlan invited Church to join the group, offered
her 10 gigs up North, and Lunch at Allen’s was born.They
have since recorded two CDs.
During the last 25 years, Church has had her ups and
downs — one of the occupational hazards of the artistic
life. "There have been times when I thought I really wished
I knew what to do to get out of this," Church said.
"But then I think — I get to travel, I have so much free
time, and I’m my own boss. And then, musically, when
everything comes together, there’s nothing like it."
The Alderney Landing concerts have been organized as
fundraisers for the NDP.
Tickets are $25 (plus HST) for general seating and are
available from the Alderney Landing Box Office at
1-888-311-9090 or from
www.ticketpro.ca.
Rankin, Crowe, and
Church join forces in two concerts
October 11, 2007 - Halifax Daily News
By Dean Lisk
She's been at different festivals where they've all
performed, but Raylene Rankin said this will be the first
time she has sung with Susan Crowe and Cindy Church.
"I've never performed with either," Rankin said. She and the
other well-respected folk-artists are appearing together at
the Alderney Landing Theatre.
The concerts - taking place tonight and tomorrow evening -
will feature the accomplished singers performing in a
song-circle format; singing their own material, but also
helping each other out on harmonies and melodies.
"It's supposed to be comfortable and relaxing, and I think
the combination will work," Rankin said. They will be
accompanied on guitar by musicians Jamie Robinson and
Clarence Deveau.
While Rankin is a member of the much-loved Rankin Family
musical group, Church is a vocalist renowned for the clarity
and emotive precision of her voice, and Crowe is a two-time
Juno nominee and beloved folk artist.
Rankin had the opportunity to work with Crowe on a song last
year, and it was through that relationship that she was
asked to appear as part of the Alderney Landing show.
"It's a real challenge, but one that I welcome," Rankin said
about working with Crow and Church. "It only broadens your
musical experience to work with other people who have
different styles of writing, singing, and performing - so I
am looking forward to it."
- WHAT: Cindy Church,
Susan Crowe and Raylene Rankin
-
WHEN: Tonight and
tomorrow, 8 p.m.
-
WHERE: Alderney Landing
Theatre
-
TICKETS: $25. Call
1-888-311-9090 or visit www.ticketpro.ca
November 12, 2007 - Playback
By Kara Nicholson
Bravo! has unveiled a lineup of holiday programming heavy
on performances by Canadian musicians including the
Barenaked Ladies and The Rankin Sisters, though the arts
channel also left room for some Tchaikovsky and Gordon
Pinsent. The Rankin Sisters return to their Nova
Scotia hometown to perform holiday carols in The Rankin
Sisters - Home For Christmas, a one-hour special narrated
by Down East author Alistair MacLeod, which will air Dec.
11.
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