A Prairie Home explosion
U.S. radio appearances drive album sales for The Wailin’ Jennys




It helps to have friends in high places.

The Wailin’ Jennys will tell you exactly that if you catch them during the handful of days they’re not on tour.

They can even point to their own career as an example: since catching the discriminating eye of larger-than-life American radio host Garrison Keillor last year, the Jennys have been learning just how friendly those Prairie Home Companions can be.

“When it started, I don’t think we had a sense of the magnitude of it,” founding Jenny Nicky Mehta says of the band’s regular appearances on the National Public Radio show. “I’m glad we didn’t, because we would have been absolute wrecks. That has put us in front of audiences the numbers of which we haven’t dealt with before.”

The numbers Mehta refers to are indeed staggering: the radio show reaches over four million people.

“When we do Prairie Home Companion our album goes up to the Top 20 on Amazon, then it goes back down again,” she laughs. “But the exposure that the show has given us in the States? We couldn’t ask for anything better.”

(At press time the Jennys held both the No. 2 and 4 spots on Amazon’s Top Sellers list.)

What’s more, just this past week the Jennys appeared on U.S. TV in a special television edition of A Prairie Home Companion — along with Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep. The show hit the tube July 2 and will be rebroadcast on July 9.

Most local music fans would be inclined to agree that the Jennys deserve such treatment. Since forming after a 2002 jam at Sled Dog Music, the neo-roots trio has become a darling of the Canadian acoustic scene. Critics raved over the honeyed harmonies of the Jennys’ 2004 debut CD, 40 Days, and the group’s touring schedule was packed with trips across Canada, the U.S. and Australia.

That said, the Jennys’ road to success hasn’t always been smooth. In October 2004, only six months after releasing 40 Days, founding member Cara Luft announced she was leaving the trio to return to her solo roots. While the unexpected move cast an uncertain shadow on the Jennys’ future, co-founders Mehta and Ruth Moody went on a search for a new alto voice.

Acting on advice from friends, the duo hooked up with Montreal singer/songwriter Annabelle Chvostek, who had been making waves in the Quebec music scene with her progressive, pan-global style. The chemistry was instant, and Chvostek was inaugurated as the newest Wailin’ Jenny mere weeks before 40 Days scored a 2005 Juno Award for best roots and traditional album. The reconstituted group hit the road soon after.

Now fans who haven’t heard the new lineup live will be able to hear it on their stereos, because the Jennys released the sophomore disc Firecracker on June 6.

While the record is sure to spark interest in Luft’s departure, Moody and Mehta say that as far as they’re concerned that chapter of the band’s history has been long since closed. Even stepping in the studio to record the new disc with Chvostek felt like familiar territory, Moody explains.

“We’d been working with Annabelle for only eight months when we started recording, but we’d toured so much it felt like we had done a lot. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh man, this feels new.’ It felt like we had all sort of worked with each other musically enough to be on the same page and know what we wanted to accomplish.”

Though the Jennys were all on the same page, they’ve moved forward a chapter or two since 40 Days. The new album is more eclectic, with varied peaks and valleys. Even the sound seems fuller and more enveloping.

“I think we took a few more risks,” Mehta says. “That was about having fun really, and being creative. I think it’s a little bit darker, so in a sense it’s more balanced.”

Part of that newfound depth undoubtedly comes from Chvostek’s contributions. Though her songs mix well with the sparkling Jennys sound, the songwriter’s experimental flair manifests itself on tunes such as The Devil’s Paintbrush, which wields a subtle, sharper edge.

Some of the evolution also comes from Moody and Mehta’s own musical growth.

“There’s no real rule for what makes a Wailin’ Jennys song,” Moody says. “What makes it sound like us is what we do with the harmonies. But on this record, for instance, there’s quite a diversity of styles.

“Nicky and I started writing slightly differently. I wrote one song on the banjo, which was quite a departure for me, and Nicky started getting poppier.”

Besides the music, there’s another upside to having Chvostek on board — Mehta notes that having a fresh start helped alleviate the stress of following up a Juno-winning album with an equally successful record. Then again, the Jennys haven’t had the chance to dwell on it.

“I didn’t ever feel a lot of pressure from (the Juno win), mostly because we never really seem to get any time to reflect on anything... This really felt like a new ensemble,” Mehta says. “We were still doing similar enough stuff, but it felt different enough that it felt like a new band. I think if the original lineup was there, the pressure would be more obvious.”

For a complete schedule of events visit www.winnipeg folkfestival.ca.