I love it when friends...

I love it when friends......

...find music that makes them think of me, and call me and tell me about it. Such was the case several years ago, when my dear friend Ruth Ann (we go way back to the late seventies, when we used to sing and perform together) told me that I just had to hear "The Wailin' Jennys."

Waylon Jennings? I asked. No, she clarified. And it clicked.  So I went home and began my Wailin' Jennys quest. Score! I found them on I-Tunes. I called across the room to my companion, who was doing what we both spend many of our waking hours doing: perusing music on our favorite download services, and we listened to sound bites from their album "Forty Days, released in 2004. 2004! How could I have not heard of them until now? The strains of "One Voice" drifted across the sunroom and our cats, lazing on the Oriental rug, perked up their ears.

"This is the sound of one voice..."

Hey, guys, this isn't cloying stuff. It isn't creamed-over, schlocky vanilla kitsch, prettified for girly ears. They sound heartbreakingly beautiful, of course, but there's just enough grit and growl undertone...subtle, of course --just a edge, but enough to blast out anything that might have otherwise smacked of middle-of-the road ear candy. I do claim to like ear candy...but I digress.

"This is the sound of one voice
One spirit, one voice
The sound of one who makes a choice
This is the sound of one voice
This is the sound of one voice."

"This is the sound of voices two
The sound of me, singing with you..."

Oh, stop. I know. You are thinking: Trite words. You are thinking warm-fuzzy, bleeding heart new-age touchy-feely. It isn't like that. It's far more sophisticated. Far beyond anything I've heard in a long time. It's not jaded. It's not edgy. It's not tired, and it's not cynical, and - to me - that is very, very refreshing. I want more.

This is the sound of voices three....
Singing together in harmony...."

It isn't really the words, actually. Sometimes the words are what songs are all about; in this case, it's the way their voices blend. It's the perfect acoustic instrumentation, backing them up.

"This is the sound of all of us. Singing with love and the will to trust. Leave the rest behind, it will turn to dust...this is the sound of all of us."

And that is only the first cut. The second one, Saucy Sailor, is reminiscent of Maddy Prior and Silly Sisters. The third one, Arlington, rocks--it is singable and gorgeous. Some of the songs are prettier than others. But they are all compelling. And the Jennys have a new CD now, called Firecracker. I hear that the the more Celtic-inclined of the three Jennys has left the group, being replaced by another equally fine singer who is morphing their sound into more of an Emmylou Harris "All the Roadrunning" effect; in fact - I read somewhere that that album, in which Emmylou knocks my socks off with Mark Knopfler and is way at the top of my playlist, might overshadow the Jennys. I hope not. If you like one sound, you'll like the other.

I've seen the Jennys in concert now, and they are a class act. I have everything they've recorded. I hope they tour in Illinois or Wisconsin again soon.


If I had one wish right now, it would be to be able to sing like the Jennys - and to be able to find two other women (preferably, two of my four sisters) to sing like that with my guitar and dulcimer. In fact - all five of us would work for me.